New GAPS report: Assessing UK Government Action on Women, Peace and Security in 2015

Following the publication in December of the UK government’s annual Report to Parliament on its progress against the UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (UK NAP), GAPS has today published its shadow report Assessing UK Government Action on Women, Peace and Security in 2015. The shadow report draws on the expertise of GAPS member organisations, as well as the inputs of civil society in conflict-affected countries through a survey of women’s rights organisations in the six focus countries of the UK NAP: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Libya, Myanmar, Somalia and Syria.

The report commends the UK government for its work to promote Women, Peace and Security on the international decision-making stage, including through the commitments it made at the High-level Review of 1325 in October last year. Looking ahead to 2016, GAPS calls on the UK government to continue to demonstrate its role as a leader on the Women, Peace and Security agenda on the global stage at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.

Further still, the UK must do more to go beyond undertaking a series of actions on this agenda, and commit unwavering support for women’s meaningful inclusion, backed up by much needed resources and institutional systems. As champion governments such as Sweden affirm their commitment to ‘Feminist Foreign Policy’, GAPS calls on the UK government to step up and commit to the following minimum standards of engagement on Women, Peace and Security through its own planning, activities, reporting and accountability processes:

1. Affirm that comprehensive action across the Women, Peace and Security agenda is a UK government priority, with women’s human rights at its core.
2. Ensure the meaningful participation of women from conflict-affected contexts in all related UK-hosted peace, security, and development talks, and call for women’s meaningful engagement in those hosted by other countries.
3. Guarantee that the UK government’s Women, Peace and Security plans can be resourced and implemented – earmarking finances for this agenda, tracking spending through gender markers in wider development, humanitarian and stabilisation funding, and through a dedicated budget for the NAP.
4. Guarantee consultation of women’s rights organisations and local civil society in the design and review of UK Women, Peace and Security objectives and ensure that the views of women and girls and their reflections on new and emerging issues are integrated in UK government planning.
5. Commit to strengthen transparency with an open book on the UK’s progress against Women, Peace and Security commitments including clear monitoring and reporting processes.

You can download the report here.