Women, Peace and Security
Overview
Women’s voices and leadership are key to sustaining peace, stability and development in the region. ASEAN is committed to advancing women, peace and security (WPS) as a regional priority agenda.
The WPS agenda in ASEAN is guided by the commitments to implement the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and other related resolutions on women, peace and security. Other key reference instruments are the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and ASEAN policy statements and plans of action on the promotion of the women, peace and security agenda as well as the protection of women’s rights.
Since the adoption of the Joint Statement on Promoting Women, Peace, and Security in ASEAN by ASEAN Leaders at the 31st ASEAN Summit in 2017, ASEAN has set important milestones in implementing the WPS agenda through concerted multi-sectoral efforts and partnerships:
- The ASEAN Women for Peace Registry was established in 2018 as a creative initiative to mobilise resource and consolidate knowledge for capacity building and advocacy on a gendered approach to peace and conflict in the region.
- Aligning efforts of the ASEAN Committee on Women, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children and the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation have been pivotal to ASEAN’s collective action in mainstreaming women’s rights and gender equality in peace and security.
- Furthermore, ASEAN women military and law enforcement officers have also made a positive impact globally through their active participation in UN peacekeeping operations.
To further enhance women’s engagement for sustainable peace, ASEAN has embraced an all-encompassing approach to women, peace and security from the angle of preventing and countering violent extremism, disaster management and climate change to women in peace processes and post-conflict rehabilitation. Recognizing the mutual reinforcement and interconnectivity of economics and peace , regional efforts are forged to articulate women, peace and security in the context of economic integration. Women’s economic empowerment is also enforced as a form of conflict prevention, resolution and recovery.
Priority Areas of Cooperation
ASEAN continues to work in the following areas to achieve transformative change:
- promote cooperation to safeguard women’s economic well-being and welfare, thereby, enabling them to become catalysts for sustainable peace, harmony and prosperity;
- encourage enhanced role of women in political leadership in their respective communities and countries, across all decision-making contexts to steer efforts towards sustainable peace, stability and security;
- foster women’s transformative roles in peace processes at the community, national and regional levels;
- synergize efforts at the national, regional and global level as well as to facilitate cooperation and collaboration with all stakeholders; and
- intensify cooperation with ASEAN’s external partners, the United Nations and other regional and international organisations in the joint efforts to advance the WPS agenda, through strengthening global networks for women in peace and security.
Major Sectoral Bodies/Committees
- The implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in ASEAN has led to collaboration across sectors in different modalities. The ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) have been pivotal to ASEAN’s collective efforts in mainstreaming women’s rights and gender equality in peace and security.
- The Women Peace Security Advisory Group was formed in October 2019 and currently comprising members from ACW and ACWC. Members of the Advisory Group can be expanded to relevant sectoral bodies from three ASEAN Community pillars: Social-Cultural Community, Political-Security Community and Economic Community, to promote cross-sectoral actions and capacity building to enhance operational linkages to existing frameworks and policies (e.g. disaster prevention and management, defence and security, and women economic empowerment, among others.
- The ASEAN Women for Peace Registry was launched in 2018 to create a pool of experts to support the implementation of the Joint Statement on Promoting Women, Peace and Security in ASEAN.
