WPS Agenda: Resolution 2242(2015)

Resolution 2242 was adopted on October 13, 2015. The resolution, eighth in line, situates the WPS agenda as a central component of global efforts to address specific challenges of gendered nature in the contexts of armed conflict, rising violent extremism, climate change, and displacement across borders. The resolution specifically connected women’s participation with the attainment of sustainable peace and establishes a new tool to implement the resolution on ground.

What does Resolution 2242 say?

Sponsored by 71 countries* and adopted unanimously, the resolution received record-breaking support. The resolution was also backed by a record 113 speakers who registered to speak during the debate, which made it one of the most popular resolutions in the history of the Security Council.

Broadly, the resolution addressed substantive areas that included the integrating a gender analysis on the impacts of violent extremism, greater consultations with women’s organizations affected by violence in armed conflict, and the establishment and pursuit of new targets for the number of women peacekeepers. The resolution makes the case for the use of incentives for troop-contributing countries and also calls for greater levels of participation of women in decision-making and in peace and security contexts.

The resolution also takes a different route in comparison with previous resolutions that called for the increased training and participation of women in peace processes. This time, the resolution specifically mentioned the need to train mediators on inclusive processes, and linked the participation of women to the pursuit of sustainable peace. Within these areas, the resolution also specifically called for measures to address the funding gap for women’s organizations in these contexts, and recognizes the “Global Acceleration Instrument on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Engagement” as an important means to mobilize more resources. The resolution specifically calls on donors to track their aid against gender targets.

Further, it also presented the Security Council’s intention to create an Informal Expert Group on the WPS Agenda in order to ensure consistency in information flows on the impact of conflict on women and efforts to secure their participation. The Security Council is expected to invite more regular briefings from civil society, the UN Women’s Executive Director, and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. The resolution also encourages sanctions regimes to cover human rights violations of women and have access to gender expertise more consistently.

In a nutshell, resolution 2242:

• Encourages the assessment of strategies and resources with respect to the implementation of the WPS Agenda

• Highlights the importance of collaboration with Civil Society

• Calls for increased funding for gender-responsive training, analysis and programmes

• Urges gender as a cross cutting issue within the countering-violent extremism and counter-terrorism agendas

• Recognises the importance of integrating WPS across all country situations

• Calls for the training of mediators toward addressing the WPS agenda through their work

• Prioritizes consistency in information flows and donor-driven tracking of the achievement of gender targets

References

• Security Council Resolution 2242 (2015) on Women, Peace and Security (Read)

• Security Council Resolution 2242 on Women, Peace and Security: Progressive Gains or Dangerous Development? (Read)

• UN resolution 2242: gender, generation, and counter terrorism (Read)

• 25 October 2016 - Women, Peace and Security: The promotion of women at the UN is not a marketing ploy (Read)

Engage further:

Read the text of Resolution 2242 (2015) here.

*Names of Sponsor countries: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela