Switzerland’s Fourth National Action Plan (NAP 1325) 2018–2022 (extended into 2024)

• Switzerland’s Fourth National Action Plan (NAP 1325) currently covers the period 2018–2022 (extended into 2024) and is coordinated by the Inter-departmental Working Group (IDWG 1325) under the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Switzerland ) (FDFA) and partner federal departments.
• The development of this NAP was done with input from Swiss civil society, partner organisations and Swiss diplomatic missions abroad — an advance over previous versions in terms of inclusivity.
• The NAP emphasises a “whole-of-government” approach: multiple federal departments (foreign affairs, defence/civil protection/sport, justice/police, home affairs) are involved.

Objectives / Goals

Switzerland’s NAP (2018-22) is structured around five overarching goals:

1. Effective involvement of women in conflict prevention
   
   • Ensuring that women are actively and meaningfully included in early warning, prevention of violent conflict, mediation, and dialogue.
2. Women’s participation in and influence on conflict resolution and peace processes
   
   • Supporting women’s roles as mediators, negotiators, signatories, and decision-makers in peace processes.
3. Protection against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in conflict, refugee, and migration contexts
   
   • Addressing prevention, response and accountability for sexual & gender-based violence related to conflict, displacement, migration.
4. Women’s participation in peace missions and security policy
   
   • Increasing the number and influence of women in peace operations, security institutions, and ensuring gender perspectives in security/defence policy.
5. Multi- and bilateral commitment by Switzerland to the WPS agenda
   
   • Switzerland’s external engagement: ensuring that its foreign, development, humanitarian, and security policies reflect WPS, and that Switzerland’s international cooperation promotes WPS.

Key emphases / cross-cutting themes

• The NAP explicitly links with Sustainable Development Goal 5 (gender equality) and with the context of preventing violent extremism (drawing on UNSCR 2242 (2015)).
• It also emphasises the gender dimension of arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation — a relatively novel focus in Swiss WPS policy.
• Inclusion of men and gender-sensitive context analysis: the NAP stresses that gender-sensitive measures must consider different roles and needs of women and men, and that men are also engaged in implementing WPS.

Working approaches / implementation features

• The NAP’s working approach includes: concrete measures; clear indicators (quantitative/qualitative) for monitoring; gender-sensitive context analyses; involvement of Swiss diplomatic representations abroad and civil society; linking with domestic measures where relevant.
• Although the NAP does not specify a dedicated central budget, each organisational unit (federal department, diplomatic mission, partner organisation) is responsible for allocating resources to its WPS measures.
• Monitoring and evaluation: The IDWG 1325 meets regularly (at least bi-annually) to review implementation and to adapt the NAP as needed. There are some published implementation reports and peer reviews.
• Switzerland is active in multilateral WPS-networks, for example, the Women , Peace & Security Focal Points Network, where Switzerland co-chaired in 2022 (with South Africa).

Civil Society / Consultations

• Civil society participation and monitoring: Swiss civil society is directly involved in the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the NAP.

UN Peacekeeping as of 31 March 2025

As of March 31, 2025, Switzerland has contributed 21 personnel for peacekeeping missions (of which only 1 was women).

Outlook / Additional Notes

• The process for a fifth National Action Plan is underway (or expected) beyond 2022/2024, with civil society consultations having taken place in 2023.
• Switzerland emphasises both its domestic policies (gender equality, security policy) and its external role (peace operations, diplomacy) in the WPS agenda.

Of note

• Switzerland, being a neutral state with a strong humanitarian and peace-mediation tradition, uses the NAP as a vehicle to mainstream gender and WPS concerns into its peace policy and security policy.
• The inclusion of civil society is a step forward in making WPS implementation more participatory and transparent.
• The focus on arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation is notable because WPS policy often emphasizes participation and protection, rather than disarmament.
• The linkage to SDG 5 and prevention of violent extremism reflects broader global trends in WPS implementation.

‍References

NAP document 2018-22 extended to 2024

https://wpsfocalpointsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Frauen-Frieden-und-Sicherheit_en.pdf

UN statistics

https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/05_missions_detailed_by_country_84_march_2025.pdf

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