Good Practices from the Western Balkans Featured in the UN Secretary-General Annual Report on Women, Peace and Security

The UN Secretary-General's Women, Peace and Security Report for 2024, released in September, was prepared pursuant to the Security Council's request for updates on progress across all areas of the women and peace and security agenda, highlighting gaps and challenges. It tracks trends across conflict-affected countries based on data and analysis provided by entities of the United Nations system, including peacekeeping operations, special political missions and country teams, inputs from Member States, regional organizations and civil society, and analysis from other globally recognized data sources.

The report warns of the stagnation and regression across key women, peace, and security indicators and describes the main factors undermining progress, including increased geopolitical divisions, number of conflicts, and arms proliferation. “In 2023, the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled compared with the previous year, the number of United Nations verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence was 50 per cent higher than the year before, and the number of girls affected by grave violations in situations of armed conflict increased by 35 per cent.”

Another set of factors relates to the reduced opportunities to advance the women and peace and security agenda due to the escalating backlash against women’s rights and gender equality and the fact that the decision-making on peace and security matters remains overwhelmingly male-dominated. “As long as oppressive patriarchal social structures and gender biases hold back half our societies, peace will remain elusive. For that reason, the Secretary-General’s policy brief on A New Agenda for Peace strongly emphasizes the promise of women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in political and public life and at all levels of decision-making on peace and security.”

The Secretary-General is urging the Member States to increase women’s full, equal and meaningful participation at the local level; secure the financing for the implementation of national action plans and dedicate funds specifically for supporting women’s organisations;   ensure an enabling environment and non-discriminatory access for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence; support the adoption of gender-responsive small arms and light weapons-related legislation and senior gender-responsive leadership.

Even though deep concern is expressed in the Report regarding the insufficient progress on the WPS agenda in general, it provides several examples of good practices at the country and regional level of the implementation of the women and peace and security agenda.

One such good example mentioned in the report refers to the Strengthening of Regional Cooperation on Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans project, implemented in close partnership between the Ministries of Defence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia and UNDP SEESAC.

“In the Western Balkans, UNDP supported gender equality and parity initiatives in the defence sector that included coaching programmes for high-ranking officers and military leaders on how to integrate a gender perspective, and changes in military education and training material, thereby contributing to a steady increase in the share of women in uniform.”

Since 2012, UNDP SEESAC has supported the four Ministries of Defence to further strengthen the gender perspective in security sector reform in line with the Women, Peace and Security and Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. Apart from tailor-made activities at the national level, SEESAC facilitates regional cooperation among MoDs, strengthening their capacities to implement gender-responsive and evidence-based policies and increasing the participation of uniformed women in the armed forces in the Western Balkans.

To boost the gender responsiveness of the military leadership, in 2024, SEESAC completed the eighth cycle of the Gender Coach Program (GCP). GCP is a mentorship program aimed at enhancing skills and nurturing the commitment of the senior military leadership to tackling gender equality within their institution. As a follow-up of the regional baseline study on integrating a gender perspective in military education, the Network of Gender Military Trainers with SEESAC support completed and promoted the online course on gender equality among their respective Ministries and Armed Forces staff. The online gender course is intended for all personnel aiming to increase and standardize their knowledge on the importance of gender equality in defence.