The Australian Government is a committed global champion of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
In 2000, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) formally acknowledged, through the creation of Resolution 1325, the disproportionate impact that conflict and war has on women and girls, as well as the critical role that women can, and already do, play in peacebuilding efforts.
UNSCR1325 is grounded in four pillars:
- Participation: aims to ensure equal participation of women at all levels of decision-making, including in national, regional, and international institutions.
- Protection: ensures that women and girls’ rights are protected and promoted in conflict-affected situations or other emergency and humanitarian situations, such as in refugee camps.
- Prevention: focuses on the prevention of conflict and all forms of violence against women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations.
- Relief and recovery: aims to ensure that women and girls’ specific relief and recovery needs are met; and reinforcement of women’s capacities to act as agents in relief and recovery processes in conflict and post-conflict.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the whole-of-government lead on WPS. Our actions to implement these commitments across government are guided by the second Australian National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security 2021-2031, a whole-of-government approach developed in consultation with civil society.