In 2000, the Security Council at the UN passed Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security which calls for women to participate in peacebuilding, be protected from human rights violations, and have access to justice.

A further nine resolutions have been passed: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), 2467 (2019) and2493 (2019) which form the basis of the UN's programme on women, peace and security. Resolution 2538 (2020) covers all aspects of women in peacekeeping.

Each nation state is called upon to develop and implement a national action plan (NAP).

The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) report entitled ‘Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the OSCE Region’ was released at the beginning of 2020, and can be accessed here.

Inclusive Security, an NGO dedicated to promoting inclusive peace processes, has produced a guide for creating NAPs. It is available for use by policymakers, government officials, and civil society leaders as they develop, implement, and track progress on national action plans (NAPs) and other strategies for advancing women’s participation in peace and security. See the following links to learn more:

Security Glossary

Guide overview:
https://www.inclusivesecurity.org/publication/creating-national-action-plans-a-guide-to-implementing-resolution-1325/

Creating National Action Plans: A Guide to Implementing Resolution 1325:
https://www.inclusivesecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Inclusive-Security-Guide-to-Implementing-1325-national-action-plans.pdf

Review of National Action Plans

The countries listed below have National Action Plans which have been analysed to draw out the key points, in particular as to whether the country has considered increasing the participation of women in the security sector, including the military and police. Please click on the name of a country to see the review of its NAP: