NATIONAL STATEMENT: ANNUAL UNSC OPEN DEBATE ON WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY
Statement by H.E James Larsen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations
6 October 2025
President,
Twenty-five years since the adoption of Resolution 1325, the transformative potential of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda remains largely unrealised. This anniversary must be a call to action.
We meet today against the backdrop of devastating conflict, democratic erosion and deepening inequality.
Australia is deeply concerned by deliberate efforts to reverse global progress on gender equality.
Around the world, women and girls remain excluded from peace processes and underrepresented in the institutions charged with upholding peace and security. They are disproportionately targeted by sexual and gender-based violence and denied access to justice and economic opportunities.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban continues to demonstrate its contempt for the human rights of women and girls – banning girls’ education above sixth grade, confining women and girls to their homes and restricting access to essential medical services. Australia calls on the Taliban to comply with Afghanistan’s international legal obligations.
Earlier this year the European Court of Human Rights found Russia was responsible for a pattern of manifestly unlawful conduct on a massive scale in Ukraine, including the use of rape as a weapon of war.
In Myanmar, there are reports of the junta perpetrating sexual violence and deliberately obstructing access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. Some 220,000 women face high-risk pregnancies.
The erosion of women and girl’s rights undermines peace and security. It impedes our collective ability to prevent conflict and build resilient, inclusive societies.
President, we wish to highlight three areas where Australia is driving progress on the WPS agenda.
First, guided by our National Action Plan on WPS, Australia invests in women’s leadership in conflict prevention and peace processes. The data is clear. When women participate, a peace agreement is 35 percent more likely to last over 15 years.
Through our support for initiatives like the Southeast Asia Women Peace Mediators Network, Australia helped to facilitate historic cross-border dialogue between communities in Timor-Leste and displaced groups in West Timor, catalysing a community-led roadmap for reconciliation.
Second, Australia is strengthening our support for women in peacekeeping. Partnerships – including with the Elsie Initiative Fund and UN Women – have proved effective in reducing barriers to deployment.
While the pace of change remains slow, the data tells an encouraging story. More women are now deployed on UN Peace Operations than ever before, and Australia will continue to invest in the next generation of women leaders.
Third, Australia is investing $1.5 million in the Global Survivors Fund, to support victim-survivor-led interim reparative measures and to demonstrate leadership at a time when global investment in WPS is declining.
We are horrified by the 87 per cent increase in documented cases of conflict-related sexual violence over two years. Behind every verified case are countless survivors whose suffering remains invisible. Accountability must be non-negotiable - perpetrators must be brought to justice, and survivors must have access to the full range of reparative measures they deserve.
President, the WPS agenda is not a box to be ticked — it is a prerequisite for durable peace grounded in justice, inclusivity and human rights.
Twenty-five years on from Resolution 1325, we call on member states to redouble, not walk back, their commitment to the WPS agenda – and ensure that women and girls are not only protected, but positioned as agents of peace.
Thank you.