Samantha Lewis
The fifth National Action Plan has been launched by the UK government, to protect women and girls in situations of conflict and other global threats, by directly addressing their needs.
On Thursday 23 February 2023, the new five year strategy sets out how the National Action Plan (NAP) will meet its Women, Peace and Security (WPS) commitments was announced, stating that its plan will focus on 12 countries where threats to women and girls are more severe.
“The scale of suffering by women and girls in conflict is unacceptable”
James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, said: “The scale of suffering by women and girls in conflict is unacceptable, from the abhorrent sexual violence that wrecks communities to the years of education lost.
“We must do more, as a united global community, to reduce the impact of conflict on women and to ensure they are central to any negotiations around resolving conflicts. The UK is putting women and girls at the heart of our work on peace and security”.
What is the National Action Plan (NAP)?
The UK NAP is the government’s five-year strategy that lays out how it will meet its WPS commitments under UN Security Council Resolution 1325; it’s jointly owned by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The five main focuses include ‘Prevention, Protection, Participation, and Relief and Recovery”.
For the first time, the UK’s fifth NAP includes input from the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Northern Ireland Office, as well as highlights the impact on women of global threats like cybercrime and climate change.
“The UK is proud to champion the Women, Peace and Security agenda and this National Action Plan takes an important step forward. It responds to the new global context, strengthens our ability to deliver on WPS and demonstrates that UK Defence are committed to playing a leading role,” says James Heappey, Minister for the Armed Forces.
The Focus of the Next Five Years
There are many elements to the UK’s fifth National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (2023 to 2027), including the mission to strengthen the UK’s existing policies, domestic systems, diplomacy and military cooperation.
“The NAP is underpinned by the UK’s commitment to defending freedom, democracy and the rules-based international system, including international humanitarian and human rights law,” says the press release.
As stated by the press release, the outline of the plans ambitions is as follows:
- “Promotes the meaningful inclusion of women and girls in resolving conflicts. Full and equal participation in decision-making is vital to ensure lasting peace, and makes agreements 35% more likely to still be in place 15 years later.
- Continues to prioritise tackling the scourge of sexual violence in conflict, building on the international conference the UK hosted last year to strengthen the global response. Evidence has shown that an estimated 20 to 30% of women and girls in conflict-affected settings experience sexual violence.
- Outlines the UK’s work with women’s rights organisations, women peacebuilders and human rights defenders”.
The UK will also drive reform in the humanitarian sector to better protect women and girls from the disproportionate impact of conflict, as rates of sexual and gender-based violence are higher in places of conflict.
Some of the countries that the plan will focus on are Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.
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Sam Lewis
Samantha Lewis is a journalism graduate with a first class honours. She is currently a freelance journalist based in Leeds