State Secretary Dr Melita Gabrič participated in the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women and peace and security in New York, where she advocated for the greater inclusion of women in peace processes, enhanced funding for women’s organizations at the local level and reinforced accountability for severe violations of the rights of women and girls in conflict zones.

“No progress will be made unless we end the violence, silence the guns and return to diplomacy. We must combat impunity and ensure accountability for gross violations of women’s and girls’ rights. Let women and girls be part of the solution for a more peaceful world. Let us work together to dismantle patriarchy in favor of genuine equality,” she emphasized.

As a current member of the Security Council, Slovenia is deeply concerned about the lack of substantive progress towards the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all aspects and stages of peace and security efforts. Slovenia, therefore, supports initiatives to make peace processes more inclusive by establishing quotas for women, strengthening support for local women’s organisations in crisis-affected settings and fostering safe environments that enable women to participate fully in peacebuilding efforts.

“Empowering women and ensuring their leadership and decision-making roles is not only a matter of fairness, but it is also essential to building inclusive and resilient societies,” added State Secretary Gabrič. She endorsed the Secretary-General’s Common Pledge on women’s participation in peace processes.

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda, established by the UN Security Council through a series of ten resolutions over the past 24 years, provides a framework for addressing the impact of armed conflict on women and supporting their role in conflict resolution. The UN Secretary-General’s annual report on women, peace and security, which served as the foundation for the Security Council Open Debate, underscores a deterioration across all global indicators on the situation of women and girls. Alarmingly, the number of women and girls killed in armed conflict doubled in 2023, while cases of sexual violence in conflict increased by 50 %.

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