Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIK Zahir Tanin participated as a panelist at the high-level seminar “Increasing the participation of women in peace processes”, organised by UN Women and the Government of Italy in Rome on December 3 and 4, 2019. The event included addresses by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, Emanuela Del Re, the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Asa Regnér and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee.  

During the session “Roles of key actors shaping peace processes: What regional and international policies and practices have proved most effective?”, SRSG Tanin identified a number of global trends that have resulted in setbacks to the advancement of human rights, including women’s rights.

“The fact that only 81 governments - 42 per cent of UN Member States -  adopted Women, Peace and Security Action Plans, despite many Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. The lack of dedicated resources to advance these plans is a very telling story about the challenge of commitment needed for further progress,” SRSG Tanin said. 

SRSG Tanin encouraged women leaders and organisations to continue exerting pressure on governments to advance Women, Peace and Security commitments and underlined the need for multilateral actors, such as the United Nations, to continue to support such efforts. He noted three important opportunities for advancement of women’s participation in peace and political-related processes in Kosovo, including the recent upsurge of women in politics following the October election; the strong influence of women’s networks such as the Regional Women’s Lobby for Peace, Security and Justice in Southeast Europe; and the high priority given to engagement of women influencers under the UN Action Plan for the Western Balkans on sustaining peace through trust-building, dialogue and reconciliation.

More than 130 participants attended the event, including members of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network, representatives from other regional networks of women mediators, Member State officials, representatives from regional and international organisations, and women peacebuilders, academia and think tank representatives.  The two-day meeting provided an important opportunity to share best practices and lessons learned in advancing women’s meaningful participation in peace processes and the implementation of peace agreements. It was also a forum to identify and agree on concrete commitments governments can adopt and implement towards more gender-inclusive peace processes and peace agreements ahead of the 20-year anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2020.