Gender Action for Peace and Security

GAPS-UK | The leading UK’s network on Women, Peace & Security Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) is the leading UK’s network on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), uniting 17 international NGOs and civil society organisations working across peacebuilding...

🚨Last week we launched our new website gaps-uk.org

At a time when progress on WPS matters more than ever, we hope the website improves access to information and amplifies the diverse voices of women and girls affected by conflict and insecurity.

#WPS #UNSCR1325

On this anniversary, we stand in solidarity with all those advancing peace, equality, and justice in the most challenging contexts. #WPS25 #ReclaimWPS25

This month we supported the #ReclaimWPS25 initiative, decentralising and bringing the agenda back to communities, gathering regionally with WROs and CSOs and reflecting on progress, challenges and strategising for the future.

🌐 We must heed this warning. The WPS agenda is a global framework and its implementation is a collective responsibility. As penholder for WPS at the Security Council, the UK plays a pivotal role. #WomenPeaceSecurity

📢 The UN Secretary-General report offers a stark warning: “Amid record levels of armed conflict and violence, progress made over decades is vanishing before our eyes. Generational gains in women’s rights hang in the balance around the world".

We are witnessing a growing backlash against gender equality, rights, a shrinking of civic space, and detrimental cuts to funding that threaten the survival of the organisations, networks and institutions that uphold peace and security in their communities.

🚨 Today is a moment to recognise and celebrate the efforts of all of those who pushed for, shaped, and have sustained this agenda. However, this anniversary comes at a time of escalating global crises.

The evidence is clear: women’s meaningful inclusion makes peace and security durable and societies more resilient. The WPS agenda goes beyond negotiations. Across the world women & marginalised groups drive peace, support survivors, lead crisis responses, work with displaced communities & beyond.

UN Resolution 1325 was born from decades of activism by women’s rights advocates & activists, pracitioners and peacebuilders. It reshaped how we understand peace & security at the local, national and international levels.

📢 25 YEARS OF WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY
On 31 Oct 2000, the UN adopted Resolution 1325 on WPS, a landmark moment recognising that peace is impossible without women’s full & meaningful participation. #WPS25 #ReclaimWPS25

We encourage you to explore, share within your networks, and join the collective efforts using #ReclaimWPS25+

@sihanetwork.bsky.social @saferworld.bsky.social @paxforpeace.nl @womenforwomen.bsky.social @genderplatform.bsky.social

📍 All information can be found on the GAPS website: gaps-uk.org/call-to-acti...

🗓️A full overview and a list of upcoming events can be found here: wo-men.nl/en/wps-25-ev...

Over the past months, conversations and collective planning have taken place to shape these convening’s, which will be hosted in different parts of the world this Autumn. They will provide an important space for dialogue and mobilisation at a time of shrinking civic space and rollbacks on progress.

In response, the WPS community is mobilising collectively to host regional convening’s that create space for individuals and organisations that have made the WPS agenda what it is today to continue advancing their efforts.

📢 Call to Action: Reclaiming the WPS Agenda at 25 #ReclaimWPS25+

This year is the 25th anniversary of the WPS agenda, a key moment for reflection and recommitment. At the same time, this year's WPS Week in New York has become increasingly inaccessible for many.

We are grateful for The Duchess of Edinburgh's ongoing leadership and support of the WPS agenda at this critical time @amnestyuk.bsky.social @careintuk.bsky.social @womenforwomen.bsky.social @saferworld.bsky.social @womankindworldwide.bsky.social

Since 2019, The Duchess of Edinburgh has been publicly committed to WPS and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). This includes support to promote and protect women peacebuilders, mediators and activists, and support for all survivors of CRSV, including children born of CRSV.

As we approach the 25th anniversary of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325, this timely meeting was a space for UK-based NGOs to discuss progress made, ongoing challenges and what needs done to progress the WPS agenda forward over the next 25 years

Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) was delighted to bring together UK civil society leaders with HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh for an engaging discussion on advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda

↪️To support women and girls in Gaza, the UK must act to stop genocide, end all arms sales to Israel and use its diplomatic levers to demand a lasting ceasefire agreement (4/4).

↪️UN Women reported in May 2025 that over 28,000 women and girls have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. While the UK provides humanitarian support, it also continues to supply arms to Israel (3/4)

↪️But this support will not meet come close to meeting needs on the ground or addressing the violence that jeopardises women and girl's safety daily (2/4)

UK announces new support for women and girls in Gaza UK announces new life-saving support for pregnant women and new mothers, and menstrual hygiene kits for thousands of women and girls.

🧵The announcement of £15m in aid for Gaza and £3m in support for women and girls is welcome and follows longstanding calls for specific funding for women and girls (1/4)

www.gov.uk/government/n...

The UK is the Penholder for WPS at the UN. In the face of a global rollback on women’s rights and increasing gender backlash, the UK must show leadership and stand firm in its commitments to gender equality.

⤵️ Aid cuts will have a significant impact on women and gender equality. Without this target, women’s rights organisations will risk losing crucial support.

UK may scrap pledge to spend 80% of foreign aid on gender equality projects Exclusive: Critics warn move could worsen impact of Donald Trump’s rollback of funding for diversity and aid projects abroad

🧵Disappointing news for UK action on gender equality and the WPS agenda. The Government’s target was meant to ensure that 80% of aid spending included gender equality as a component. Losing this would be a significant step backwards.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

In this piece for @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social, we explore why sidelining WPS and human security is not just disappointing, but a serious missed opportunity- one that risks undermining the UK’s leadership role on the global stage and its ability to respond to the challenges of our time. 👇🏽

The 25th anniversary: WPS as hope and action Mind the GAPS · Episode

How can the UK Government provide innovative and genuine leadership on issues of #gender justice to advance the #Women, #Peace and Security agenda? Listen to Saferworld's Lewis Brooks and Shelagh Daley on the Mind the GAPS podcast from @gaps-network.bsky.social.

Erased from Security: Why the 2025 SDR fails the Women, Peace and Security agenda The Strategic Defence Review is sub-titled ‘Making Britain Safer’, so where is human security? Eva Tabbasam argues for the urgent recentring of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in UK defence an…

🚨New Blog post:

The SDR is sub-titled ‘Making Britain Safer’, so where is human security?

Eva Tabbasam of @gaps-network.bsky.social argues for the urgent recentring of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in UK defence and security strategies.

rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/06/12/e...

The UK's rollback on gender equality in aid spending in unacceptable. We're proud to join @gaps-network.bsky.social in calling for urgent action to protect women and girls globally.

Read and share the joint statement here⬇️