STATEMENT BY
H.E. DR. ISATA MAHOI
MINISTER OF GENDER AND CHILDREN`S AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE
Thank you, Mr. President, for convening this high-level open debate.
I thank His Excellency António Guterres, UN SecretaryGeneral, for his briefing and the comprehensive annual report on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), which highlights the urgent need to address deteriorating conditions for women and girls.
I also thank Dr. Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director; Ms. Olga Uskova, Founder and CEO of Cognitive Technologies; and Ms. Noura Erakat of Rutgers University, for their important insights.
Mr. President,
The WPS agenda remains a vital framework for advancing women’s rights to full participation, protection, and leadership in peace and security. Yet, 25 years after the adoption of resolution 1325, women and girls continue to face alarming levels of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), targeted attacks, forced displacement, and reduced funding for women-led peacebuilding, all compounded by accelerated drawdowns of UN peace operations. The Security Council must speak with one clear and resolute voice to advance the four pillars of the WPS agenda.
As we commemorate the 25th anniversary of resolution 1325, our actions must go beyond symbolism. The Secretary-General’s report not only provides a detailed analysis of the state of women and girls but also offers a roadmap for change. Despite progress, women remain disproportionately affected by conflict and restrictive policies, and their participation in peace processes, critical to sustainable peace, remains too limited.
With conflicts intensifying, hard-won gains in gender equality and women’s protection are under severe threat. Reproductive rights are being rolled back, depriving millions, including survivors of sexual violence, of essential health care. From Sudan to Haiti, Gaza to Ukraine, significant gaps persist in protecting women and girls and meeting their needs. In Sudan alone, over six million displaced women and girls face systemic sexual violence as a weapon of war, compounded by attacks on hospitals and restrictions on aid, driving maternal and infant mortality higher. Similar accounts emerge from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gaza, Haiti, Myanmar, Ukraine, and beyond, rooted in entrenched gender inequality.
In light of these realities, Sierra Leone proposes three key priorities for strengthening the WPS agenda: First, protecting women and girls from violence, particularly sexual and gender-based violence, must remain central to peacekeeping and peacebuilding mandates. As we strengthen the protection-of-civilians components of peace operations, we must ensure women and girls can access humanitarian aid, sexual and reproductive health care, and justice, all within a survivor-centred approach. This requires integrating WPS across every phase of peacekeeping, political missions, and transitions, including drawdowns.
Such integration demands stronger collaboration among UN peace operations, regional organizations, national governments, civil society, and community groups, partnerships that are even more crucial amid funding shortfalls. We support calls to increase the participation of women peacebuilders in implementing UN-supported projects and to adopt more flexible financing models for the UN Peacebuilding Fund and other pooled funds, enabling direct access for civil society organizations.
Second, women’s inclusion in peace processes is essential for lasting peace. Sustainable solutions must reflect a comprehensive understanding of conflict dynamics and diverse perspectives. We urge all mediation actors to sign the Secretary-General’s “Common Pledge for Women’s Full, Equal and Meaningful Participation in Peace Processes,” launched during last year’s WPS debate, to fast-track women’s direct involvement in peace talks.
Sierra Leone’s own experience illustrates the transformative impact of women’s participation in peace and security. Women were pivotal in our transitions from the UNAMSIL peacekeeping mission in the aftermath of civil war to the integrated missions UNIOSIL and UNIPSIL that supported post-conflict peacebuilding.
Our government continues to invest in gender equality as part of our peace and development agenda, including through the adoption of three National Action Plans on WPS. Legislative reforms such as the Domestic Violence Act, Devolution of Estates Act, Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act, Child Marriage Act, and the “Hands Off Our Girls” initiative championed by the First Lady, as well as President Dr. Julius Maada Bio’s declaration of rape as a national emergency, reflect Sierra Leone’s commitment. Broader legal reforms to strengthen women’s political, social, and economic rights have further advanced WPS implementation.
Third, the Security Council must remain steadfast in promoting the WPS agenda and strengthening justice and accountability for victims. As the first African country to cochair the Security Council’s Informal Expert Group on WPS, Sierra Leone has consistently championed stronger WPS mandates in peace operations.
In the past two years, the Council has repeatedly called for women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in peace talks, including in Sudan and South Sudan. It has imposed sanctions on perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence in Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, and Sudan, and affirmed that sexual violence and trafficking constitute grounds for sanctions against members of Da’esh. It has urged the Taliban to reverse restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan, reaffirmed women’s rights to know the fate of missing relatives and to access custody, property, and land, especially relevant in Syria, and called for non-discriminatory access to sexual and reproductive health care for survivors in conflict and post-conflict settings.
Mr. President,
Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and twenty-five years after resolution 1325, the gains we have made in advancing gender equality and amplifying women’s voices must be protected and expanded. Sierra Leone reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the principles of resolution 1325 and the broader WPS agenda.
We fully support the Secretary-General’s call for increased overseas development assistance to support gender equality and women’s organizations in conflict contexts. It is time to turn words into action, by setting ambitious policies and measurable targets for women’s political, social, and economic empowerment at national, regional, and global levels, and by providing the resources needed to achieve them.
Let us invest in a future where women and girls live as equals, a future defined by peace, stability, and opportunity for every man, woman, boy, and girl.
I thank you.