On 13th November 2024, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), in collaboration with the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham (POLSIS) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women, Peace and Security (APPG-WPS) convened a parliamentary roundtable to discuss how to negotiate, design and implement effective peace processes and how the UK can promote inclusive peace processes abroad.

 The discussion was chaired by Baroness Fiona Hodgson, Chair of the APPG-WPS and was led by a panel of experts who shared their insights from academic research, policy, parliament and practice. Speakers were: Dr Giuditta Fontana, Associate Professor in International Security at the University of Birmingham, Dr Fatiha Serour, Co-founder of Justice Impact Lab and Chair of the Africa Group of Justice & Accountability (AGJA); Eva Tabbasam, Director of Gender Action for Peace and Security UK (GAPS-UK); and Fabian Hamilton, Member of Parliament for Leeds North East. Alice Copland, FPC’s Policy and Parliamentary Affairs Manager, also provided her insights.  

This expert briefing provides an overview of the key insights, plus recommendations for the UK Government to take action and ‘lead by example’ to support the realisation of effective peace agreements. 

Key Insights: 

The discussion was prompted by a recently concluded research project led by the University of Birmingham – ‘Learning from Failure: How to Prevent Civil War Recurrence’, which was funded by the United States Institute for Peace (USIP).2 Previous research has found that 40% of civil wars and conflict relapse into large-scale violence after the signing of a Peace Accord. Furthermore, 90% of conflicts in the first decade of the 21st century occurred in countries that had previously experienced conflict.

Research, evidence and experience has shown that there are specific factors that can increase the likelihood of a peace processes are more likely to be stable and resilient when women are included in peace negotiations,4 and when peace agreements map socio-economic measures to include women in post-conflict society.5 Despite this, there has been a backsliding of women’s rights and the inclusion of women in peace negotiations remains low. The panel shared their insights from academic research, policy and practice to discuss what makes a peace process successful in ending violent conflict; the role of inclusion, particularly of women, in creating sustainable peace; and how the UK Government can, through its Foreign and Development policies, support the promotion of sustainable, inclusive peace processes globally.  

The following 4 key takeaways emerged from the roundtable discussion: 

1. The characteristics of peace settlements matter for preventing the recurrence of civil war; 
2. The inclusion of women and civil society organisations at all stages of a peace process is essential for sustainable peace; 
3. Key lessons for embedding the inclusion of women in peace negotiations and peace processes can be identified; 
4. Distinct challenges to the inclusion of women in peace processes remain;

Recommendations for the UK Government 

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, penholder for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS) at the UN, and with a strong WPS National Action Plan (NAP), the UK is in a strong position to support peace agreements that will end conflict and to influence positive change toward the inclusion of women in peace processes.  

The UK Government should use its influence to ‘lead by example’ as a donor, diplomat and advocate for the WPS agenda, with inclusion as a core principle of a new Foreign and Development policy.  Monitoring, adaptation, reform and resources are essential in the long term for conflict transitions, therefore the UK should carefully select in which contexts it will involve itself and be prepared for long-term commitment.  

In particular, the UK Government should: 

1. Use influence in multilateral institutions, including the UN Security Council, to advocate for gender-responsive peacebuilding mechanisms and close the gap in financing for women’s organisations. Given the current lack of funding opportunities, commit at least 15% of overseas development aid to gender organisations who are doing frontline work in different contexts and expand the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund.6 
2. Leverage instruments included in the UK’s Women Peace and Security (WPS) National Action Plan (NAP) to create coalitions of local, state-level and international actors invested in implementing and monitoring individual peace processes. 
3. Identify and empower existing civil society networks and context-specific mechanisms through dedicated technical, diplomatic and financial resources. Where the UK is engaged in a conflict-affected context, nurture and/or build grassroots coalitions to detect discontent or potential spoilers to a peace process and devise context-appropriate action so they can be addressed. This may occur through the UK Peace Builders Framework.7  
4. Link networks and actors with other third parties and multilateral actors. This could include further implementation of work carried out through the Network of Women Mediators across the Commonwealth which is mentioned in the WPS NAP.  
5. Institutionalise and promote women’s participation and inclusion to support the creation of gender-focused sub-commissions and formal roles for women at all stages of peace processes. To inform this work, fund monitoring bodies with clear gender metrics to track progress, similar to those used in Mindanao and Colombia.