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IWA Women, Peace and Security Program

Introduction

In 2019, I was asked by Dr. Hrach Gregorian, President of the Institute of World Affairs (IWA), if I would be willing to create a Women, Peace and Security Program for IWA. I had just retired from teaching at Whittier College and was eager to find some new projects to engage me,  given the time that I then had. With my background doing research on women and conflict and security, I was happy to accept his offer.  Since IWA is a small organization, our goal was to identify gaps that existed in the field that we could fill in, either working alone or in partnership with other organizations.  To get a sense of the field, we planned to convene a workshop in Spring 2020 in Washington D.C. that would bring together a number of researchers from academe, government and the private sector who were doing work in the field.  Unfortunately Covid intervened making it impossible to meet in person. Instead, we hosted two Zoom workshops, one in the spring and a second in the fall. The goal remained the same: to identify gaps that we could help address.  It was from those discussions that we realized that one of the most glaring gaps was a compilation of resource materials that would be readily available on-line and that would be “live,” allowing us to update it as things change. It is that material that follows.

Many people were involved with putting this resource material together.  I would like to thank everyone involved in developing and creating this data base starting with my current intern, Sara Sabbagh, and then in reverse order, Ann Kathrin Luerssen, Jessica Hill, Eleanor Holloway, Rosemarie Ferraro, and the first two interns who started the work, Beatrice Neal de Souza and Shannon Short. All are (or were) graduate students at American University School of International Service, and I am grateful to the Office of Career Development for their support of our interns and this research. It is important to note that the information and sources one can find here are not complete. This database is a living document that will continue to grow and change as new gender analysis tools are created and the work of countries and organizations for Women, Peace and Security (WPS), and Gender Equality continues to develop and change. The links were working at the time we uploaded them but, as we know, links can change. We would like to point out that in chapter two, National Action Plans (NAP) on Women Peace and Security (WPS), when no clear information was found, it is assumed that a country does not have a NAP. Finally, we hope that these resources will help researchers and everyone interested in the topic to gain a better and broader understanding of WPS and Gender Equality in general.

I would like to personally thank all my interns, who embraced this task with enthusiasm and without whose help, this would not have happened. Thanks also to all the participants in the various Zoom meetings who offered their advice and suggestions about how to approach the topic. Of course any errors remain my responsibility. I would also like to thank Dr. Gregorian, who understands not only my areas of interests, but the need that we at IWA could fill. I hope that we lived up to his expectations.

Joyce P. Kaufman
Director, Women, Peace and Security Program
May 2024

1. Gender Resource Materials: Policy Recommendations and Tools

In this chapter one can find useful gender-specific materials such as policies, policy recommendations and tool kits that show how one can include a gender perspective in policy design, conflict analyses or peacebuilding and other humanitarian aid programs and projects, to name just a few. These materials demonstrate that it will benefit not just underrepresented groups such as women but the whole society to include a gendered point of view. There are more tools and policies but this will give those interested in the topic a first idea.

1.1 Gender Policy Recommendations

Alliance for Peacebuilding: Lifesaving Humanitarian Response For Women and Girls in Afghanistan: An Urgent Call for U.S. Action (December 2021).
Recommendations for the United States Government, Capitol Hill, and general policy community.

ICAN: Reclaiming Power, Restoring Peace: Key Findings from ICAN’s WPS Forum (December 2022)
4 key recommendations for States, UN, donor communities, and INGOs.

ICAN: The Adoption of the United Nations Resolution on Financing for Peacebuilding Strengthens the Power of Women Peacebuilders (October 2022).
9 key recommendations for donors, states, and the UN.

ICAN: Action Points to Guarantee the Rights, Safety, and Health of Women and Girls in Afghanistan (October 2021).
Recommendations for the international community (States, UN, donor communities, INGOs, etc).

Humanity & Inclusion, Human Rights Watch, International Disability Alliance, Women Enabled International and the Women’s Refugee Commission: Joint submission on promoting and protecting the human rights of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations (2021).
This submission sets out information and recommendations on promoting and protecting the human rights of women and girls with disabilities in conflict and post-conflict situations. The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights member states, the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, and other stakeholders.

Women’s Refugee Commission: Afghan Women’s Rights Remain on the Periphery of Talks With Taliban (January 2022). Recommendations for the United States Government.

1.2 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): The New Gender and Security Toolkit (tools and policies)

In this section one can find the new Gender and Security Toolkit which consists of 9 tools (numbers 1 to 7 and 14 & 15) and policies that provide guidance for governments, international as well as regional organizations and further security and justice institutions to integrate not only a gender perspective but actual gender equity in their reforms, actions and plans (OSCE). The original OSCE toolkit from 2008 included 13 tools in total and can be found here but in the new version the tools 8 to 13 are excluded. We followed the newer version here.

Tool 1: Security Sector Governance, Security Sector Reform and Gender (2019)
“The Tool:
– introduces why gender matters in security sector governance (SSG) and security sector reform (SSR), and outlines the benefits of integrating a gender perspective. It explains key concepts that are used in the Toolkit: gender, intersectionality, masculinities, femininities, gender equality and gender perspective, and also SSG and SSR. It gives an overview of some of the relevant international, regional and national legal obligations with respect to gender and SSG and SSR processes.
– presents a vision of what integrating a gender perspective and promoting gender equality mean for security and justice providers, for management and oversight of security sector and justice services, and for SSG and SSR processes.
– presents several different pathways for the security and justice sector to integrate a gender perspective into SSG and SSR and advance gender equality. It focuses on: defining security needs in an inclusive, gender-responsive manner; adopting policy frameworks to integrate gender equality into justice and security governance; gender training for security and justice providers; using staff with specialized gender expertise; changing masculine institutional cultures to increase women’s participation and diversity.
– provides advice on how to overcome resistance to working on gender equality within the security and justice sector.
– suggests elements of an institutional self-assessment checklist on integrating a gender perspective.
– lists other useful resources to support work on gender equality with the security and justice sector, and in relation to SSG and SSR.”

Tool 2: Policing and Gender (2019)
“This Tool explains:
– why a gender perspective is important for policing;
– what policing that advances gender equality and integrates a gender perspective looks like;
– how policing can advance gender equality and integrate a gender perspective.
The Tool includes:
– case studies drawn from a variety of specific contexts;
– suggestions for assessing the integration of a gender perspective by police services;
– other useful resources.”

Tool 3: Defence and Gender (2020)
“The Tool:
– explains why it is important for armed forces and other defence institutions to integrate a gender perspective and promote gender equality;
– outlines key legal and policy frameworks that require armed forces to prohibit discrimination, prevent gender-based violence (GBV) and promote the equal participation of women;
– provides a vision of what a defence sector that integrates a gender perspective into its work and advances gender equality will look like;
– offers practical guidance on how armed forces and other defence institutions, supported by effective external oversight, can achieve gender equality and effective integration of a gender perspective;
– presents case studies that illustrate where efforts to integrate a gender perspective and promote gender equality have been successful;
– suggests elements of a self-assessment checklist for defense institutions;
– lists other useful resources.”

Tool 4: Justice and Gender (2019)
“This Tool:
– describes why gender is important to the work of the justice sector and introduces key concepts;
– provides a vision of what a justice sector that integrates a gender perspective into its work and advances gender equality will look like;
– discusses what measures need to be taken to achieve a justice sector that integrates a gender perspective and promotes gender equality;
– presents case studies that illustrate where efforts to integrate a gender perspective and promote gender equality in and through the justice system have achieved sustained results or represent important progress;
– suggests elements of a self-assessment checklist for justice institutions;
– lists other useful resources.”

Tool 5: Places of Deprivation of Liberty and Gender (2019)
“This Tool:
– sets out in more detail why it is important to integrate a gender perspective into policies and practices concerning places of deprivation of liberty, covering key definitions related to the topic, including a discussion on non-binary understanding of gender and the importance of understanding intersectionality.
– highlights how integrating a gender perspective can help places of deprivation of liberty fulfil their purpose, as well as have a positive effect beyond the institutions themselves.
– provides a vision of what places of deprivation of liberty would look like if they successfully integrated a gender perspective into their policies and practices. This can be used to evoke and inspire change in places of deprivation of liberty.
– offers some specific steps that can be taken to integrate a gender perspective effectively within places of deprivation of liberty. While no country has completely integrated a gender perspective across all aspects of the functioning of places of deprivation of liberty, there are increasing examples of pockets of good practice from across the globe.
– provides a sample checklist that can be adapted for various places of deprivation of liberty and used by monitoring bodies to assess the integration of a gender perspective at such institutions.
– lists other useful resources.”

Tool 6: Border Management and Gender (2020)
“The Tool:
– provides a framework to identify the multiple and varied gender aspects of border management;
– gives examples of progress made to integrate gender equality into border security management and promising practices;
– highlights global trends and major issues that impact on border management, both internally and externally, and discusses standards that can be used in policy frameworks and capacity building;
– suggests elements of a self-assessment checklist for border management institutions;
– lists other useful resources.”

Tool 7: Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender (2020)
“The Tool:
– explains the importance of parliamentary oversight of the security sector in achieving gender equality, and likewise how the delivery of security can benefit from parliaments integrating a gender perspective into their oversight;
– provides a range of examples that illustrate how pursuing gender equality enhances a parliament’s oversight function;
– sets out a vision and strategies to deepen efforts to integrate a gender perspective in parliamentary oversight of the security sector;
– offers key recommendations for integrating a gender perspective into the parliamentary oversight of the security sector;
– lists other useful resources.”

Tool 14: Intelligence and Gender (2020)
“The Tool:
– describes why gender is important to the work of intelligence services, and introduces key concepts concerning intelligence, control and oversight of the intelligence sector, and gender;
– explains how an intelligence service that embraces and promotes gender equality is better suited to fulfill its mandate;
– provides reference frameworks for shaping policies and procedures and/or when conducting reform in the intelligence sector, addressing intelligence services, intelligence practitioners and intelligence policy-makers, and also parliaments and civil society;
– outlines a vision of what intelligence services that integrate a gender perspective into their work and advance gender equality will look like;
– illustrates what measures need to be taken by governments, oversight bodies and intelligence services to ensure that intelligence services integrate a gender perspective and promote gender equality;
– provides a self-assessment checklist.”

Tool 15: Integrating Gender in Project Design and Monitoring for the Security and Justice Sector (2020)
“The Tool:
– highlights why gender matters in project design and monitoring, and outlines the benefits of integrating a gender perspective;
– provides guidance on how to conduct a gender analysis and examples of gender analysis tools suitable for use with the security and justice sector;
– explains how project design can be strengthened through a theory-of-change approach;
– provides information on how to score projects using gender equality markers;
– gives an overview of key aspects of project monitoring, evaluation and learning;
– introduces elements for a self-assessment;
– lists useful resources.”

1.3 Gender Mainstreaming Tools

Catholic Relief Services Peacebuilding, Governance, Gender, Protection and Youth Assessments: A Basic Guide for Busy Practitioners (2017)
“The assessments described in this guide can be used to ground strategic plans and implement effective, holistic projects, especially in key areas such as health, agriculture, and emergency programming. In order to deepen expertise in these areas, field staff need to deepen their understanding of what is at play in the countries where they work. What follows are basic, “good enough” guidelines for assessing conflict dynamics, governance patterns, gender relations, protection issues and youth concerns. Glossaries of key terms are also included.”

Conciliation Resources: Gender and conflict analysis toolkit for peacebuilders (December 2015)
“This Toolkit provides practical guidance to peacebuilding practitioners on gender and conflict analysis. It is based on Conciliation Resources’ experience in conflict-affected contexts and draws on our participatory approach to conflict analysis. The Toolkit was developed over a two-year time frame and involved various members of staff, partners, and numerous external experts.”

International Alert: Measuring gender’ in peacebuilding: Evaluating peacebuilding efforts from a gender-relational perspective (April 2016)
“This report aims to help peacebuilders to better capture the impact of integrating gender into peacebuilding projects. It is based on a review of existing design, monitoring and evaluation tools and approaches to examining gender in a peacebuilding context, discussions with practitioners and academia, as well as case studies.”

International Organization for Migration:  Gender and Communications Toolkit (2015)
“This toolkit should be a able to raise awareness of the need for more gender-sensitive projects and communications by providing guidelines for an efficient gender analysis before designing and implementing a project, by helping you address your own perception of gender and how it can affect your work, also by giving examples and inclusive language for written and oral communications as well as visual and audio materials” (IOM).

Megan Bastick & Camille Risler: Tools for gender-responsive and conflict-sensitive climate programming (2022)
“This compendium has been developed for Climate Justice Fund (CJF) and International Development staff and the organisations they work with in Scotland and overseas. It is directed at individuals working on CJF and International Development programming at various levels: shaping the strategic direction, activating project requests or tender processes, reviewing and selecting projects, working in-country designing and implementing projects, and doing project monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL). It is intended for all development practitioners, not only those working on climate-focused projects” (Bastick and Risler June 2022, p. 3) One can find multiple tools presented by the authors in this document.

OCHA Gender Toolkit (2020)
“This toolkit is designed to provide practical guidance to OCHA staff to effectively integrate gender into their day-to-day activities. It supports the implementation of the 2012 OCHA Gender Equality Policy.” (Global Development Commons 2020)

Saferworld: Gender Analysis of Conflict
“This toolkit is aimed at: helping peacebuilding practitioners to integrate gender perspectives into conflict analysis processes; building understandings of the relationships between gender and conflict, particularly how gender norms influence conflict dynamics, and vice versa; providing the foundation for designing gender-sensitive peacebuilding programs that are based on thorough gender analysis of conflict.” (Saferworld)

Trocaire: Gender mainstreaming resource pack: A practical programming guide (2014)
“A resource pack designed for program staff and managers to aid in gender mainstreaming within their program activities. The pack aims to clarify the terminology associated with gender mainstreaming, discuss what it means in practice, and highlight the essentials of mainstreaming in programming.” (Trocaire 2014)

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Toolkit (2021)
“For mainstreaming Human Rights and Gender Equality into criminal justice interventions to address trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants” (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime February 2021).

United States Institute of Peace:  Gender Inclusive Framework and Theory (GIFT) (2018)
A conceptual guide that facilitates the integration of gender analysis into project design. Useful for those looking to integrate gender analysis into their projects and programs (both newbies and experts on gender issues).

WIIS: Practical Guidance on Using Law to Empower Women in Post-Conflict Systems (2014)
“UNSCR 1325 provides a strong framework and mandate for advancing gender equality and empowering and protecting women. It incorporates binding international law on the rights and protection of women and children such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Geneva Conventions and many others. Using the 1325 Women, Peace and Security framework as a synthesis of existing international law on the rights and protection of women in conflict and transition provides powerful tools to build inclusive and sustainable peace and security.”

Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE): Preventing and responding to GBV during the war and in post-war settings (2022)
“WAVE (Women Against Violence Europe) launched this project in collaboration with OSCE to improve the support to survivors of violence and civil society organizations (CSOs) in conflict and post-conflict areas. Based on the expertise of women’s organizations, this toolkit not only presents the harm and challenges posed by conflicts but also documents promising first-hand practices with concrete examples from four WAVE members, including their initiatives and recommendations as women’s organizations who experience and have experienced war.”

Women Engage for a Common Future: The Gender Impact Assessment and Monitoring Tool (2019)
“Our gender impact assessment and monitoring tool (GIM tool) has been developed in the framework of the Women2030 program, with the explicit objective of helping women and gender civil society organizations to implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a particular focus on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5. The 2030 Agenda was built on the foundation of and expands upon the Millennium Development Goals by promoting sustainable development, human rights and gender equality in the economic, social and environmental realms.”

Violence, Gender & WASH toolkit: Making water, sanitation and hygiene safer through improved programing and services (2017)
“This toolkit has been developed in response to an acknowledgement that although the lack of access to appropriate water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) is not the root cause of violence, it can lead to increased vulnerabilities to violence of varying forms.” (Global WaterAid)

2. National Action Plans (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)

2.1 What is a NAP?

According to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, “National Action Plans for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 are national-level strategy documents that outline a government’s approach and course of action for localizing action on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. These documents outline objectives and activities that countries take, both on a domestic and international level, to secure the human rights of women and girls in conflict settings; prevent armed conflict and violence, including against women and girls; and ensure the meaningful participation of women in peace and security.”

As of April 2024, 107 countries have adopted their own NAP. All but one can be found on the website of the Women Peace and Security Programme of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, which is also one of the main sources used in this document for the country and regional NAPs. Note that some countries have already implemented multiple NAPs. To quickly see if a country has already launched several NAPs, one can find the information in the brackets following the passage (country name) NAP’s.

107 Countries has adopted a National Action Plan on WPS (as of July 2023)

Source: The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), 2023. Click the image to visit their website.

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom is currently the most reliable source of data on NAPs for WPS. The graphic you see provides a timeline for when countries released their first NAP for WPS. The yellow asterisks represent countries that have only ever released one NAP for WPS. That is 56 of the total 106 countries. Additionally, our team made a shocking and disappointing discovery when analyzing this data:66% of all launched National Action Plans on WPS are outdated as of March 2024
Out of the 107 total released plans, as of March 2024, only 21 remain active within their implementation periods:

  • UK, 2027
  • Finland, 2027
  • Uganda, 2025
  • Netherlands, 2025
  • Estonia, 2025
  • France, 2025
  • Australia, 2031
  • Ghana, 2025
  • Burundi, 2027
  • Ukraine, 2025
  • Latvia, 2025
  • Slovakia, 2025
  • Cyprus, 2025
  • Bulgaria, 2025
  • Mexico, 2025
  • South Africa, 2025
  • Malawi, 2025
  • Kazakhstan, 2025
  • Chad, 2027
  • Sri Lanka, 2027
  • Somalia, launched in 2023

Of the 70 total expired NAPs, we acknowledge that 14 NAPs only just expired in 2023, so it is possible that there are efforts towards strengthening their WPS agenda for future periods.

  • Spain
  • Cote d’Ivoire
  • Liberia
  • Sierra Leone
  • United States, 2023
  • Croatia
  • Mali
  • Georgia
  • South Korea
  • Poland
  • Luxembourg
  • Republic of Congo
  • Azerbaijan
  • Gabon

A myriad of reasons can be responsible for why the number of NAPs with active implementation periods remains so low; however, it is our prediction that a combination of an ongoing global pandemic with local social, political, and economic issues have pushed the entire WPS agenda to the backburner as countries deal with what they consider to be more pressing and immediate issues. Any scholar who studies issues related to women and conflict knows how contradictory this assumption is, especially when we consider how peace agreements are more sustainable when women are involved in their drafting and implementation. Yet, according to UN Women data, as of October 2023, women’s representation in conflict negotiator roles dropped 3% between 2021 and 2023 and an astounding 7% since 2020. While we acknowledge that some countries have only released one NAP might be undergoing some sort of civil conflict flare up or that some of these NAPs only just expired at the turn of the year in 2023, this number is representative of a global norm that even UNSCR 1325 has not been able to change: the WPS agenda is not a priority at the international level.

Implementation Period:
We understand that an implementation period for a NAP ending does not mean that a country does not have plans to launch an updated NAP with a new implementation period or continue work on WPS; however, it also appears that a majority of countries do not consider an implementation period expiration an indication of launching a new plan. Some countries have taken to release updated commitments instead of a full, updated NAP. What this tells us is that an implementation period is just for the launch of the WPS agenda in a country, and the truth of its actual integration within a country and its effectiveness can only be revealed when that implementation period ends. Further, the presence of an NAP on WPS does not indicate that WPS agenda is being maintained either.

Additionally, our research shows that 5 countries have initiate NAPs with only a launch year and no full implementation period:

  • Djibouti, 2017 with 2022 commitments
  • Peru, 2021
  • Morocco, 2022
  • Austria, 2012 but had 2019 commitments
  • Somalia, 2023

There is an unspoken expectation for a country to update its NAP after an implementation period ends, however, a NAP doesn’t actually “expire”.

Case study: United States

The United States has a robust WPS strategy, which is led by the Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. The GWI office’s priorities are:

  1. Women’s economic security
  2. Women, peace, and security
  3. Gender-based violence prevention and response
  4. Cross-cutting issues, such as: Gender and Climate, Girls and Young Women, Multilateral Affairs, and Intersectionality

The U.S. is in a similar boat as countries like Spain and South Korea, where their NAPs on WPS expired just in 2023, yet the United States is unique because it launched a new strategy plan in October 2023 that recommitted the country to the WPS agenda. There is no official implementation period, but it does outline how a country can be committed to WPS without an updated National Action Plan.

2.2 Countries with a NAP

This section contains country-specific NAPs on WPS, listed in alphabetical order and, if available, further government documents and programs about and for women and gender equality. Even though most countries have official websites for their ministries/committees/councils that focus on women and gender equality, some of them were not working when we tried the link. In some of these cases, we realized that a few of the ministries have an active ministry Facebook page, even though their official website seems to be under construction. This is why there are also Facebook links available for some countries.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s NAP (1st 2015-2022)
In 2021, the Taliban regime abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The Taliban government ended and destroyed Afghanistan’s previous efforts for WPS and continues to restrict women’s rights on all levels (Heather Barr September 29, 2021 Foreign Policy in Focus; Kathy Gannon September 18, 2021 AP News).

Albania

Albania’s NAP (1st 2018-2020)
National Strategy and Action Plan on Gender Equality 2016-2020, (published 2016)
National Strategy for Gender Equality 2021-2030 (published 2021), developed on behalf of the Government of Albania by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection in cooperation with other ministries and local bodies and organizations focusing on Gender equality and GBV
Ministry of Health and Social Protection
Men and Women – Institute of Statistic (INSTAT) of the Republic of Albania

Angola

Angola’s NAP (1st 2017-2020)
Ministry of Social Action, Family and Women’s Promotion (MASFAMU)

Argentina

Argentina’s NAP (1st 2015-2018)
Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity
National Council of Social Policies’ Gender Indicators
Secretariat for Policies Against Violence for Gender Reasons
Ministry of Health’s page on ‘Gender and diversity in the Hospital’
Ministry of Health’s page on ‘Gender identity and comprehensive health care for LGTBI+’
Ministry of Economy’s page on ‘Economy, Equality, and Gender’
Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity’s page on ‘Federal Disarmament Campaign with a Gender Perspective’
Violence and abuse hotlines website

Australia

Australia’s NAP (2nd  2021-2031)
Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Gender Equality page
DFAT is responsible for coordinating the whole-of-government implementation of Australia’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security 2021-2031, and supporting the Ambassador for Gender Equality.

Armenia

Armenia’s NAP (2nd 2022-2024), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia (Press release, 2022) = Final Document
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
Armenia’s first NAP (2019-2021)

Austria

Austria’s NAP (2nd adopted in 2012)
Federal Chancellery Republic of Austria: Women and Equality
Gender Equality in Austria, Milestones, successes and challenges 2022 (Report of the Federal Chancellery Republic of Austria)
Austrian Development Agency: Gender Equality
Federal Ministry Republic of Austria, European and International Affairs: Women Peace and Security SC-Res 1325

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s NAP (1st 2020-2023)
The State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s NAP (1st 2019-2022)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NAP)
Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Belgium

Belgium’s NAP (4th 2022-2026)
Instituut voor de gelijkheid van vrouwen en mannen/The Institute for the equality of women and men (Federal Government Agency)
Belgium’s previous NAPs can be found here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s NAP (3rd 2018-2022)
Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees

Brazil

Brazil’s NAP (1st 2017-2019)
Ministry of Women
The area of Minas Gerais has its own ‘Assisting women in situations of gender-based domestic and family violence’ program
As of March 8, 2023, the government has stated an intention to reenact the ‘Women Living without Violence’ program

Bulgaria

Bulgaria’s NAP (1st 2020-2025)
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs / Министерство на труда и социалната политика

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso’s NAP (1st 2013-2016)
Ministère de la Promotion de la Femme et du Genre, MPF (Ministry of Women and Gender)

Burundi

Burundi’s NAP (3rd 2022-2027)
Ministère de la Solidarité Nationale, des Affaires Sociales, des Droits de la Personne Humaine et du Genre / Ministry of National Solidarity, Human Rights and Gender

Cameroon

Cameroon’s NAP (1st 2018-2020)
Ministère de la Promotion de la Femme et de la Famille / Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family

Canada

Canada’s NAP (2nd 2017-2022)
Canada’s National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security: Global Affairs Canada. This site includes various implementation plans and reports.
Department of Women and Gender Equality
Policy on Gender Equality for international development projects
Gender Equality Tools and Resources
Funding for Women and Gender Equality
Employment and Social Development: Gender Based Analysis Plus Centre of Expertise
​​Health Portfolio Sex and Gender-Based Analysis Policy
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Women’s Voice and Leadership Program

Central African Republic

Central African Republic’s NAP (2nd 2019-2022)
Ministre de la Promotion de la Femme, de la Famille et de la Protection de l’Enfant / Minister for the Promotion of Women, the Family and Child Protection (Official site of the Ministry is under construction:https://www.famille.gouv.cf/)
Ministère: Promotion du Genre, Protection de la Femme, Famille et Enfant (Facebook page)

Chile

Chile’s NAP (2nd 2015-2018)
Ministerio de la Mujer y la Equidad de Género / Ministry of Women and Gender Equality

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2020)

Côte D’Ivoire

Côte D’Ivoire’s NAP (2nd 2019-2023)
Ministère de la Femme, de la Famille et de l’Enfant (mffe) / ministry of Women, Family and Children

Croatia

Croatia’s NAP (2nd 2019-2023)
Office for Gender Equality (Ured za ravnopravnost spolova)

Ministry of Social Policy and Youth (Ministartsvo socijalne politike i mladih)

Cyprus

Cyprus’s NAP (1st 2021-2025)
Ministry of Justice and Public Order: Administration & Woman Issues-Gender Equality Sector

Czechia

Czechia’s NAP (2nd 2021-2025)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Women, Peace and Security
Government Council for Gender Equality
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Czechia’s first NAP (2017-2020)

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Democratic Republic of the Congo’s NAP (2nd 2019-2022)
Ministère du Genre, Famille et Enfant RDC / Ministry for Gender, Family and Children1

Denmark

Denmark’s NAP (4th 2020-2024)
Ministry of digital government and gender equality

The Danish Parliament: The Gender Equality Committee

Djibouti

Djibouti’s NAP (1st 2017, a 2nd was announced for 2022 but that is not yet available)
Ministère de la Femme et de la Famille – Ministry of Women and Family

El Salvador

El Salvador’s NAP (1st 2017-2022)
The Salvadoran Institute for the Advancement of Women (ISDEMU) 

Estonia

Estonia’s NAP (3rd 2020-2025)
Ministry of Social Affairs

Finland

Finland’s NAP (4th 2023-2027) (so far only available in Finnish)
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health: Gender Equality

Finland’s older NAPs can be found here.

France

France’s NAP (3rd 2021-2025)
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Department
Ministry of Culture

High Council for Equality between Women and Men (2021). 2020-2021 Report on the state of sexism in France
Délégation aux droits des Femmes et à l’égalité (Delegation for Women’s rights and Equality) (Economic, Social and Environmental Council)

Gabon

Gabon’s NAP (1st 2020-2023)
Republique Gabonaise Ministère de la Santé et des Affaires Sociales (Republique Gabonaise Ministry of Health and Social Affairs)
Ministry of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, Responsible for Human Rights and Gender Equality

Gambia

Gambia’s NAP (1st adopted in 2012 for no specific period)
Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Welfare

Georgia

Georgia’s NAP (3rd 2018-2020)
UN Women reports that Georgia adopted a new (4th in total) NAP for 2022-2024 but we could not find the document. The UN Women story can be found here.
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia Joined the Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence

Germany

Germany’s NAP (3rd 2021-2024)
Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth
Overview of Equality Policies page
Gender Equality Policy in Germany
Gender Equality Policy in Europe

Ghana

Ghana’s NAP (2nd 2020-2025)
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection

Guatemala

Guatemala’s NAP (1st adopted in 2017 for no specific period)
Secretaría Presidencial de la Mujer (SEPREM) / Presidential Secretariat for Women
La Defensoría de la Mujer Indígena (DEMI) / The Office for the Defense of Indigenous Women
La Secretaría de Obras Sociales de la Esposa del Presidente de la República(SOSEP)
Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social / Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare: Services Worker Women

Guinea

Guinea’s NAP (1st 2009-2013)
Ministère de l’Action Sociale de la Promotion Féminine et de l’Enfance, République de Guinée
Guinea-Bissau/ Ministry of social Action and Promotion of Women and Children

Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau’s NAP (1st 2010-2011)

Indonesia

Indonesia’s NAP (2nd 2020-2025)
Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection
Ministry of Women’s Empowerment performance documents
Ministry of Women’s Empowerment planning and budget documents

Iceland

Iceland’s NAP (3rd 2018-2022)
The Government Offices Gender Equality Plan
Prime Minister’s office: About Gender Equality

Iraq

Iraq’s NAP (2nd 2021-2024)
Head of Ministry’s Human Rights Department meets Director General of the Iraqi Women Empowerment Department

Ireland

Ireland’s NAP (3rd 2019-2024)
Commission on the Status of Women (Department of Foreign Affairs)
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Italy

Italy’s NAP (4th 2020-2024)
Dipartimento per le politiche della famiglia (Department for Family Policies)
2018 report on equality between men and women (published March 2018)
National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) (includes passages about gender inequality and the disadvantages women face, published November 2021)
Launch of the ‘Qui non sei sola’ project to combat gender-based violence (Ministero del tourismo and Dipartimento per le poltichi della famiglia, March 2023)

Japan

Japan’s NAP (2nd 2019-2022)
Gender Equality Bureau
Main policies index website
Monistry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality
The Government of Japan: Women’s Empowerment
KIZUNA, the official magazine of the Government of Japan: Improving Women status creates an Empowered Society

Jordan

Jordan’s NAP (1st 2018-2021)
Jordan Ministry of Social Development and Women’s Affairs
The Jordanian National Commission for Women

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s NAP (1st 2022-2025)
National Commission on Women and Family, Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kenya’s NAP (2nd 2020-2024)
Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action

Kosovo

Kosovo’s NAP (1st 2013-2015)
Republic of Kosovo Office of the Prime Minister Agency for Gender Equality

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan’s NAP (2nd 2018-2020)

Latvia

Latvia’s NAP (1st 2020-2025)
Ministry of Welfare Republic of Latvia

Lebanon

Lebanon’s NAP (1st 2019-2022)
National Commission for Lebanese Women
Ministry of Social Affairs

Liberia

Liberia’s NAP (2nd 2019-2023)
Government site of the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection under construction: https://mogcsp.gov.lr/

Lithuania

Lithuania’s NAP (2nd 2020-2024)
Ministry of Social Security and Labour

Luxembourg

Luxembourg’s NAP (1st 2018-2023)
Ministry of Equality between Women and Men
Women’s Labor Committee

Malawi

Malawi’s NAP (1st 2021-2025)
Government of Malawi, Ministery of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare

Mali

Mali’s NAP (3rd 2019-2023)
Ministère de la Promotion de la Femme, de la Famille et de l’Enfant, MPFLE (Ministry of Women, Family and Children)

Malta

Malta’s NAP (1st 2020-2024)
Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s rights
A Social Vision for Malta 2035 (Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s rights)

Mexico

Mexico’s NAP (1st adopted in 2021)
National Institute for Women
Gender Violence Against Women Alert
Program to Strengthen the Mainstreaming of the Gender Perspective
National Center for Gender Equity and Reproductive Health

Moldova

Moldova’s NAP (1st 2018-2021) However, it seems like Moldova just approved a 2nd NAP, but the document is not publicly accessible.
Strengthening the Parliament’s role in enhancing gender equality and addressing the needs of vulnerable groups in the Republic of Moldova (2022-2024)
Ministry of Labour and Social Protection

Montenegro

Montenegro’s NAP (2nd 2019-2022)
First NAP can be found here (2017-2018)
Ministry of Justice

Department of Gender Equality

Morocco

Morocco’s NAP (1st 2021-2024, not publicly available yet)
Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development

Mozambique

Mozambique’s NAP (1st 2018-2022)
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action

Namibia

Namibia’s NAP (1st 2019-2024)
Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (MGEPESW)
MGEPESW Strategic Plan 2017-22 (uploaded 2020)
MGEPESW Strategic Plan 2020/21 – 2024/25  (published 2021)

Nepal

Nepal’s NAP (1st 2011-2016)
Ministry of Women, Children and senior Citizens

Netherlands

Netherlands NAP (4th 2021-2025)
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
Equal Rights and opportunities for women and girls (Government of the Netherlands)
Gender & LGBTI Equality Policy Plan 2018-2021: Putting principles into practice

New Zealand

New Zealand’s NAP (1st 2015-2019)
New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade: NAP implementation report
Ministry for Women / Manatū Wāhine
Gender Action Plan (2021-25) (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, published March 2021)

Niger

Niger’s NAP (2nd 2020-2024)
Ministere de la promotion de la femme et de la protection de l’enfant (Ministry of Women’s Promotion and Child Protection)
Promotion of Gender and Women (2017)

Nigeria

Nigeria’s NAP (2nd 2017-2020)
Federal Ministry of Women Affairs
Kaduna State Government (Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development)
Ministry of Women Affairs and social Development (niger state in Nigeria)

North Macedonia

North Macedonia’s NAP (2nd 2020-2025)
Equality between men and women (Government of North Macedonia)
Gender Equality Index North Macedonia (2019)
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy

Norway

Norway’s NAP (4th 2019-2022)
Women’s rights and gender equality (Ministry of Foreign affairs, 2021)
Annual report 2020: Women, peace and security (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Culture and Equality and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, published 2022)
Women’s Health Commission submits report (Ministry of Health and Care Services, 2023)
The government’s action plan for gender and sexuality diversity (2023–2026)(published February 2023)
The Norwegian Government bolsters efforts for gender and sexual diversity in new action plan (Ministry of Culture and Equality, press release 2023)

Palestine

Palestine’s NAP (2nd 2020-2024)
Ministry of Women’s Affairs
Mechanisms and Tools
Social Statistics
Ministry of Women’s Affairs strategies (Includes NAP)

Paraguay

Paraguay’s NAP (1st launched in 2015)
Ministry of Women
Ministry of Women Reports
Laws pertaining to women (Legal Framework)
Page for ‘Women Victims of Violence’

Peru

Peru’s NAP (1st adopted 2021)
Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations

Philippines

Philippines’ NAP (2nd 2017-2022)
Philippine Commission on Women (Has information by focus area as well as sections such as GEWE indicators, mainstream monitoring system, plans, legislation, etc.)
Philippine’s Magna Carta of Women
Digital GAD Library
Gender Statistics
Laws and Policies on Women
Violence Against Women and their Children Hotlines by region.

Poland

Poland’s NAP (1st 2018-2021)
Ministry of Family and Social Policy
Counteracting domestic violence page (Includes laws, programs, databases, guidebooks, campaigns, etc.)

Portugal

Portugal’s NAP (3rd 2019-2022)
Secretary of State for Equality and Migration
Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (Has sections on equality, violence against women, LGBTI, Trafficking in Human Beings, Gender Statistics etc)
Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality Projects

Republic of Congo

Republic of Congo’s NAP (2nd 2021-2023)
Ministry for the Advancement of Women and the Integration of Women in Development – the website is currently ‘under construction’. Will be posted here when ready.
Information on the Minister for the Advancement of Women
Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity, and Humanitarian Action

Republic of Korea

South Korean’s NAP (3rd 2021-2023)
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family
Gender Equality Policy
National Reports on CEDAW Implementation and WPS NAPs

Romania

Romanian NAP (1st 2014-2024)
Ministry of Family, Youth, and Equal Opportunities
National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men (Has tabs for legislation, victim assistance, and projects)

Rwanda

Rwanda’s NAP (2nd 2018-2022)
Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion
Directorate General of Gender Promotion and Women Empowerment (This landing page highlights legal and policy framework, notable health-related facts, and peace & security sections among others)

Senegal

Senegal’s NAP (2nd 2020-2024)
Women’s movements page (Collection of civil society/NGOs on women’s issues in Senegal)
Minister of Women, Family and Children

Serbia

Serbia’s NAP (2nd 2017-2020)
This page details which social welfare benefits will be paid each month (such as maternity leave pay)
More information on social welfare in Serbia
Family laws (includes laws against domestic violence)
Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue Department for improving the position of Roma and Roma women
Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue Bylaws
Project on gender equality that is not active (2020-2021), but is still advertised online.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone’s NAP (2nd 2019-2023)
Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children’s Affairs’ National Policy on Gender Mainstreaming (https://mogca.gov.sl/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/National-Policy-on-Gender-Mainstreaming.pdf)
Ministry of Social Welfare’s website (which is not fully filled in)
Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children’s Affairs website (which is not functioning)

Slovakia

Slovakia’s NAP (1st 2021-2025)
Slovak government’s page on gender equality
Documents page for gender-related documents divided by Slovakia, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations
Committee on Gender Equality
Committee on Gender Equality’s documents page (includes NAP)
National hotline for women experiencing violence

Slovenia

Slovenia’s NAP (2nd 2018-2020)
Human Rights Ombudsman page on Women
Human Rights Ombudsman page on LGBTQ+
Equal Opportunities pledge page
Interesting note on the government’s landing page for Human Rights: “Human rights may exceptionally be temporarily suspended or restricted during a war or a state of emergency…”

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands’ NAP (1st 2017-2021)
Ministry of Women, Youth, Children, and Family Affairs
National Gender Equality and Women’s Development Policy (2016-2020) https://solomons.gov.sb/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/National-Gender-Equality-and-Womens-Development-Policy-2016-2020.pdf
Gender Equality and Women’s Development from the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs (Access to several different strategic plans and reports on women and girls empowerment and gender equality by the ministry up until 2020 and 2023)
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Policy 2022-2024 (Solomon Island Electoral Commission)
Gender Equality Plan for Solomon Island 2020-2022 (Government of Australia and Government of Solomon Island, published 2020)

South Africa

South Africa’s NAP (1st 2020-2025)
Social Development Department’s documents on Trafficking in Persons
Social Development Department’s document on Gender-Based Violence
Gender-Based Violence Command Centre
Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Department
Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Department’s women-centered resource center which has indicators, assessments, emergency response plans, etc.

South Sudan

South Sudan’s NAP (1st 2015-2020)
Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare
Reports page which includes the 2019 report on the Implementation of Women, Peace, and Security Agenda
Plans page which includes the 2019 report on the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
Guidelines for establishment and management of safe homes for survivors of gender-based violence.

Spain

Spain’s NAP (2nd 2017-2023)
Ministry of Equality
General Directorate of Sexual Diversity and LGTBi Rights Page (Includes a guide for refugees on LGTBI rights in Spain)
General Directorate for Equal Treatment and Racial Ethnic Diversity
The Women’s Institute (Created by/ is organized under the Ministry of Equality)

Sudan

Sudan’s NAP (1st 2020-2022)
Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Child Affairs (unfortunately website was not working June 08, 2023).
Quarter-Century Strategy for the Advancement of Women 2003-2027 (Republic of the Sudan Ministry of Welfare and Social Development General Directorate for Women and the Family 2002)

Sweden

Sweden’s NAP (3rd 2016-2020)
Paulina Brandberg, the Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life, has a webpage of her own on the Government’s main website
The Council of the European Union had a conference with a focus on economic empowerment and men’s violence against women. This page includes a write-up and the supporting documents used during Sweden’s presidency.
Gender Equality page of Sweden
Swedish Gender Equality Agency (Government Agency under the Ministry of Employment to better implement gender equality policies)

Government Offices of Sweden: Women Peace and Security

Switzerland

Switzerland’s NAP (4th 2018-2022)
Diversity page of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport
Access page for official documents (warning: there is a fee)
Women Peace and Security, page of the Confederation Suisse (Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft), Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, with the current NAP and reports of the first years of implementation

Tajikistan

Tajikistan’s NAP (2nd 2019-2022)
Government-sponsored news article about the Women’s Police Council

Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste’s NAP (1st 2016-2020)
Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion’s webpage (which is mainly statistics)
Secretary of State of Equality and Inclusion signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CARE International Timor-Leste

Togo

Togo’s NAP (1st 2011-2016)
Ministry of Social Action, Promotion of Women, Literacy

Tunisia

Tunisia’s NAP (1st 2018-2022)
Ministère de la Famille, de la Femme, de l’Enfance et des Personnes Âgées (Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Seniors (MFFES)) (website of the ministry was not accessible (June 21, 2023)

Uganda

Uganda’s NAP (3rd 2021-2025)
Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development
National Women’s Council
Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP)
Gender-related laws
Gender-related policies (including old NAPs, but the most recent is housed here)
Gender-related publications

Ukraine

Ukraine’s NAP (2nd 2020-2025)
Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy’s Gender Policy website

United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates NAP (1st 2021-2024)
The Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah

United Kingdom

United Kingdom’s NAP (5th 2023-2027) (includes the document and further information about the NAP)
Gender Equality Policy Hub

  • The UK’s Gender Equality Policy Hub is a website housing resources and links to the UK government’s myriad of gender and equality initiatives including but not limited to:
    Gender Equality Policy Map

Government Equalities Office
Office for National Statistics Center for Equalities and Inclusion
Old NAPs of the United Kingdom’s (1st-4th)

United States of America

United States’ NAP (3rd 2019-2023)
United States Strategy on Women Peace and Security (2019)
USAID’s Implementation of the U.S. Strategy On  Women, Peace, and Security
United States Government Women, Peace, and Security Congressional Report (July 2022)
The first Progress Report to the President on the Implementation of the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality (February 23, 2023)
Gender Policy Council (March 8, 2021)

Uruguay

Uruguay’s NAP (1st 2021-2024)
Ministry of Social Development’s gender page
National Council for the Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking and Exploitation
National Gender Council
Gender Information Systems (Statistics)
National Advisory Council for a life free of gender violence

Yemen

Yemen’s NAP (1st 2020-2022)
One government-sponsored news article about the minister of social affairs attending a WPS conference in Abu Dhabi

2.3 Countries without a NAP

Chapter 2.3 includes some of the countries and their governmental efforts for gender equality and women’s rights but do not have a national action plan. They are again listed in alphabetical order and while we were able to find quite a lot of information for some of the countries included, it was difficult or impossible to find information about some of them, as noted.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Algeria

Ministry of National Solidarity, Family and Women’s Affairs (website not working, last tried July 12, 2023)
Meeting on Gender Equality (2015)

Belarus

Belarusian Women’s Union
There appears to be a “National Council on Gender Policy” at the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, which was established in 2000 as the government agency responsible for coordinating and reviewing the implementation of the governments gender policies which among others include multiple NPs to ensure Gender Equality. However, we were unable to find a website for this council nor the NAP’s to ensure gender equality. The Council of Ministers website can be found here. Next to the “National Council on Gender Policy” is The Labor and Social Security Ministry responsible for the Implementation of the Gender Equality  NAP’s (United Nations Population Fund, Gender Equality; Belarus, Official Website of the Republic of Belarus; BELTA, 06 January 2021).

China

All China Women’s Federation (ACWF) (founded April 1949).

  • It is the government body in charge of Women Rights in China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC)

Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the UN:

Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China: China aims for better protection of women with revised Laws (Updated 2022/11/01, will take effect in 2023)
Ministry of foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China: Speech of the president Xi Jinping at the World Conference of Women in 2020

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

We were unable to find any information about WPS and Gender Equality in North Korea.

Dominican Republic

When the Dominican Republic in 2010 amended its Constitution it added important parts to support gender equality under the law. This included, Article 39 “Right to Equality,” Article 42 “Right to personal integrity”, which condemns gender based violence, and Article 55 “Rights of the family,” stating the value of domestic work and that women and men are equal (Comparative Constitutions Project presents Dominican Republic Constitution 2010 and Dominican Republic Constitution 2015).

Ecuador

República del Ecuador/Republic of Ecuador Constitution of 2008, specifically addresses gender equality in multiple chapters (last updated 2011)
Second National Open Government Plan of Ecuador (2022-2024) with a focus on human rights, interculturality, the environment and gender. (download available only in spanish)
National Council for Gender Equality (Consejo Nacional para la Igualdad de Género)

Egypt

National Council for Women:

Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China)

Hong Kong Women’s Commission

Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau: The rights of the Individual, Equal Opportunities.

India

Ministry of Women and Child Development
Women Empowerment Schemes
‘Woman-related legislation’ from 1961 onwards (also includes an archive)

Israel

Israel does not have a NAP. There were plans for it but politics got in the way and implementation plans got pushed back. Nevertheless, Israel was one of the first countries to ratify a legislation relating to 1325, ​​“Equality of Women’s Rights Law (Amendment No.4), 5765-2005.” (Anat Thon Ashkenazy October 31, 2011).2
Council for the Advancement of Women in Science and Technology (Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology).
Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality within the Knesset.
Ministry of Social Equality

Ministry of Welfare and Social Security: Women

Kuwait

Kuwait does not have an active government body that focuses on Women, gender equality or follows up on the WPS agenda. As of October 2022 it seemed like that the government was planning to establish a ministry for women and child affairs, connected to the Ministry of Social affairs (TimesKuwait 2022). However, we were unable to find any more specific information about this plan and if the ministry was actually created or not. The website “Kuwait Government online” states that His Excellency Shaikh Firas Saoad Al-Malek Al-Subah is the Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of State for Women and Children’s Affairs, but we are unable to access the provided ministry link or find any supportive information about this ministry. When when we were talking to some of our Kuwaiti contacts in the early summer of 2023 we were told that there is no such ministry for Women so we have to assume that the ministry does not exist, but the information is inconclusive.

Malaysia

The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (Malay: Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat)
Laws and Policy on Gender Equality

Russia

Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation

First National Action Strategy for Women (2017 – 2022) (Decree dated March 8, 2017)
Second National Action Strategy for Women (2023 – 2030) (Decree dated December 29, 2022 No. 4356-r) (Focused on labor participation)

Saudi Arabia

Service to report domestic violence webpage
Women’s Empowerment page (focus on inclusion of women in the workforce)
Family Affairs Council, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Singapore

White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development
Ministry of Social and Family Development

Taiwan (Province of China)

Gender Equality Committee of the Executive Yuan
Protection of women’s rights under CEDAW (2018)
Taiwan Gender Equality Week 2022 (Office of the President, Republic of China (Taiwan))

Thailand

Gender Equality Act B.E. 2558 (2015)
The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security

Türkiye

Ministry of Family and Social Services page
Gender Disaggregated national statistics page
Projects Conducted by the General Directorate on the Status of Women
General Directorate on the Status of Women specialization theses
Turkiye’s National Action Plan to Combat Violence Against Women (2016-2020)

Vietnam

Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs

Qatar

The Kingdom does not have a government body that is responsible for women or gender equality (Debre November 2022).
Ministry of Social Development and Family
Qatar Foundation

Qatar Foundation for Social Work

Emiri Resolution No. (23) of 2002 regarding the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (this includes in Article 3 that the Supreme Council for Family Affairs should work to improve the lives of women).

2.4 Regional Action Plans (RAPs)

In chapter 2.4, one can find the “regional action plans” on WPS of various region specific organizations and institutions, such as the European Union (EU) or the African Union (AU). Next to the RAPs one can further find the organizations/institutions specific work and efforts for gender equality and women’s rights in general within their region and across borders.

European Union (EU)

In 2018 the EU foreign affairs council adopted its first conclusion on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and further welcomed the EU’s strategic approach to WPS. The Council “recalled that the responsibility for the implementation of the WPS Agenda lies with the EU Member States as well as with all relevant European Union Services and Institutions” (EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2019-2024). However Gender Equality played a role since the 1990s and continued/continues to grow systemically as the following documents and websites of the different EU bodies show:
EU Gender Action Plan III (GAP III) 2021-2025
EU Gender Action Plan II (GAP II) 2016- 2020
EU’s first Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development (2010-2015)
Strategy and Action Plan to enhance Women’s Participation in Civilian CSDP Missions 2021-2024 (European Union External action EEAS = The Diplomatic Service of the EU)
European Commission: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025

European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (includes a Gender equality index and other helpful tools focusing on the EU member states)

Council of Europe: Gender mainstreaming since the 1990s
Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023
“Women on Boards” by the end of 2026 (EU Parliament, press release November 2022)

  • Member states are responsible for putting punishment rules in effect as control mechanisms. They have to implement them within the next 2 years, so until June 2026. More information about EU directives, their rules and the EU control mechanisms if a member states fails to complete the directive can be found here.

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) 2004 Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

NATO Women Peace and Security (last updated April 17, 2023)

NATO’s WPS GLobal Database, this website shows news and developments concerning women rights and gender equality in the NATO member states.
NATO/EAPC Policy on Women, Peace and Security: Policy and Action Plan 2018 (this includes a good timeline of the Women/Gender, Peace and Security efforts of the NATO)
Action Plan for the Implementation of the NATO/EAPC Policy on Women, Peace and Security 2021-2025 (October 2021)
Gender Perspectives in Armed Forces – National Action Plans (NAPs) of members, partners and other nations (every NAP is available in a pdf format in english).
Gender Perspectives in the Armed Forces – Publications (last updated 2017)

African Union (AU)

African Union Continental Results Framework: Monitoring and reporting on the Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa (2018-2028)

Women, Gender and Youth Directorate (WGYD)

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Action Plan (2022)
Gender, Rights, of Women and Children

ASEAN Declaration on the Gender-Responsive Implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and Sustainable Development Goals
ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework 2021-2025 (September 2021)

Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)

Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) Regional Action Plan (RAP) for the implementation of Resolution 1325 and related Security Council resolutions (2020-2024)
ECCAS Mission and priority areas (includes gender equality and women empowerment)

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS): Guidelines on Women, Peace and Security (2020)

International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)

International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Regional Action Plan for the Implementation of UNSCR 1325 (2018-2023)

League of Arab State (LAS)

League of Arab States (LAS) Regional Action Plan on Women Peace and Security in the Arab Region (2015-2030)
Arab Declaration on “Belonging and Legal Identity”

Pacific Island Forum

Pacific Islands Forum Regional Action Plan (2012-2015)
Economic Empowerment of Women (August 2022)
Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration 30 August 2012, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Strategy on Women, Peace and Security (2018-2022)
SADC Gender Policy
Gender Equality & Women Empowerment (great access to documents, programs and so on).

The East African Community (EAC)

The East African Community (EAC) Regional Framework on United Nations Security Council Resolution ( 2015-2019)
Gender and Women

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa Regional Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008). Adopted in 2013
IGAD Gender News
Online Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy Training Programme for Women and Girls in the IGAD region

3. United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security

In chapter 3, one can find all United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) related to WPS up until July 2023. They are divided into two sets of categories. The first “deals in short with the need for women’s active and effective participation in peacemaking and peacebuilding.” The second “focuses on preventing and addressing conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV)” (UN Political and Peacebuilding Affairs).

3.1 Resolutions on Women’s active and effective participation in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding

  • UNSCR 1325 (2000)
    • “This was the first landmark Security Council resolution on women, peace and security. The resolution 1325 (2000) addresses the impact of war on women and the importance of women’s full and equal participation in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction. The resolution also calls for special measures to protect women and girls from conflict-related sexual violence and outlines gender-related responsibilities of the United Nations in different political and programmatic areas” (UN Peacemaker).
  • UNSCR 1889(2009)
    • The resolution 1889 builds on 1325 and “ calls for the establishment of a global set of indicators to track the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), emphasizes the need to ensure gender mainstreaming in all post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery processes and requests the Secretary-General to report on women’s participation and inclusion in peacebuilding and planning in the aftermath of conflict” (UN Peacemaker).
  • UNSCR 2122(2013)
    • With resolution 2122, the Security Council  “puts stronger measures in place for women to participate in all phases of conflict prevention, resolution and recovery, placing the onus of providing them with seats at the peace table” and urges and encourages member states, as well as regional organizations and the United Nations itself to focus more on and to ensure the participation of women (UN Meeting Coverage and Press Releases).
  • UNSCR 2242(2015)
    • With resolution 2242, the security council “decided to integrate women, peace and security concerns across all country-specific situations on its agenda.  It expressed its intention to dedicate consultations to the topic of women, peace and security implementation, convene meetings of relevant Council experts as part of an informal experts group on women, peace and security, and invite civil society to brief during its country-specific considerations.” It further requests that the Secretary-General initiates, in cooperation with the member states, a strategy to increase the number of women in UN peacekeeping operations to double the number of women that are currently (2015) active by 2020 and ensure their meaningful and effective participation. Next to the member states, 2242 urges the Secretary-General and other relevant UN bodies to recommit themselves and to increase their efforts to integrate gender perspectives and women’s needs in their work; this also includes the Security Council’s own work. This, among other calls and requests, further includes the call for the strengthening of the efforts to end sexual and gender-based violence against women committed also by UN peacekeepers (UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases; UNSCR 2242, 2015).
  • UNSCR 2493 (2019)
    • With resolution 2493, the Security Council urges “States to recommit themselves to its women, peace and security agenda further creating safe environments for women leaders, peacebuilders, human rights defenders and political actors around the globe” (UN Meetings Coverage and press release).
  • UNSCR 2538 (2020)
    • The Resolution is on the role of Women in peacekeeping operations. 2538 builds on previous resolutions such as 2242 and again stresses the importance of the participation of uniformed and civilian women in peacekeeping efforts/missions. It calls upon and encourages member states, the United Nations Secretariat and regional organization to put a higher effort in cooperating with one another to achieve higher women participation at all levels and in all positions of peacekeeping missions. It further urges the Secretary-General to continue the evaluation and monitoring of the progress and to report the progress of this and other related resolutions in the secretary-general’s annual briefing (UNSCR 2538, 2020).

3.2 Resolutions on prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence

  • UNSCR 1820 (2008)
    • In connection to WPS 1325, resolution 1820 “recognizes sexual violence as a weapon and tactic of war; Notes that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide, stresses the need for the exclusion of sexual violence crimes from amnesty provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes and calls upon the Member States to comply with their obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such acts, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and girls, have equal protection under the law and equal access to justice, and stresses the importance of ending impunity for such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation” (UN).
  • UNSCR 1888 (2009)
    • Resolution 1888 further “strengthens the implementation of Security Council resolution 1820 (2008) by assigning leadership on the issue of conflict-related sexual violence within the United Nations and establishing effective support mechanisms. 1888 emphasized the need to address sexual violence from the outset of peace processes and mediation efforts, calls for the establishment of a rapid response team of judicial experts and an improved monitoring and reporting mechanisms on trends, early warning indicators and patterns of attack” (UN Peacemaker).
  • UNSCR 1960 (2010):
    • Security Council resolution 1960, connected to the previous resolutions further “provides the accountability architecture needed to list and de-list perpetrators, as well as to monitor patterns and trends of conflict-related sexual violence. 1960 also calls for an expanded mandate to comprehensively address sexual violence, when used as a tactic of conflict or emerging as a consequence of conflict” (UN Peacemaker).
  • UNSCR 2106 (2013):
    • In 2013 the Security Council 2106 introduced “a new resolution to strengthen efforts to end impunity for a scourge that affects not only large numbers of women and girls but also men and boys” (UN Women).
  • UNSCR 2467 (2019):

4. United Nations (UN)

4.1 Timeline of the UN efforts for Women’s rights and Gender Equality leading up to 2000

The following timeline lists the achievements for women’s rights and gender equality by the UN before 2000 and the passage of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

1945 – UN Charter, in Article 1 states that it is, “… promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion;” (Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs, last updated March 10, 2021)

1946 – The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is created by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to exclusively promote and support the empowerment of women and gender equality and to further document and report the reality of women’s lives.

1948 – Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the CSW achieved gender-neutral language in this declaration). Gender Equality was made part of international human rights law. (UN)

1975 – General Assembly (GA) declares 1975 as the International Women’s Year, which included the first UN Conference on Women, in Mexico City, Mexico. (UN Conferences Women and Gender Equality)

1976-1985 – Just five months after the first conference in Mexico City, the GA proclaimed the “UN Decade for Women” to launch a new period of international efforts for the empowerment of women by starting the conversation about gender equality (Marcella C. Gemilli; UN Conferences Women and Gender Equality; UN Digital Library).

1979 – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women New York, 18 December 1979 (CEDAW) (United Nations General Assembly)

1995 – Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China.  The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action went a bit further than the Nairobi strategies. It “asserted women’s rights as human rights and committed to specific actions to ensure respect for those rights.” (UN)

4.2 UN Women

In 2010 the UN created a body that was focusing on Women, specifically to accelerate “progress in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.” (UN).

Where we are

Campaigns

Trustfunds

UN Women provides funding to “to fuel innovative, high-impact programmes by government agencies and civil society groups through two funds”:

Flagship programme initiatives

Global Database on Violence against Women

National Mechanisms: “Typically serving as central coordinating units for women’s affairs within national governments, national mechanisms promote the integration of gender equality measures across national policies and programmes.” (UN Women)

5. US-based Civil Society Organizations (CSO); a partial list

6. Existing WPS Indexes & Resources (ongoing)

Footnotes

  1. We would like to thank Madame la Ministre du Genre, de la Famille et de l’Enfance, Mireille Masangu, for her kind words and help throughout our research.
  2. After talking to representatives of Israel’s Embassy in DC we were able to confirm that Israel does not have a NAP. We would like to thank the members of the Embassy for their kind help.