Background

The Summit of the Future is expected to have ambitious outcomes on the key challenges facing the international community and peoples of the United Nations. Achieving "A New Agenda for Peace", presented in July 2023 in preparation of the Summit, requires a new cooperative approach to rebuild trust in a multilateral system that recognises the interdependence between international peace and security, sustainable development and human rights underpinned by the rule of law.

Parliaments and Parliamentary Diplomacy have an instrumental role to play in building consensus on this new approach and in ensuring that strengthening international peace and security does not come at the cost of addressing the interdependent challenges of sustainable development and human rights. In the current turbulent geopolitical context, Parliaments have a particularly important role in the area of Peace and Security, whereby adopting laws, budgets, policies and parliamentary partnerships are essential in the implementation of long-standing inclusive approaches to conflict prevention and peacebuilding, in particular the Woman Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

The New Agenda for Peace specifically addresses the need to transform gendered power dynamics in peace and security and stresses that the realisation of the WPS agenda in its entirety is urgent and more political will is needed.

Objectives and key topics

This side event will focus on the role of Parliaments as well as Parliamentary Partnerships and Diplomacy in the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

Parliaments play a key role in the oversight and adoption of laws, budgets and policies and this event will also examine whether parliaments working in partnerships could be more effective in the implementation and oversight of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

Deepening Parliaments role and partnerships in implementing this agenda would represent an ambitious and action-oriented outcome of the Summit, in order to ensure that the United Nations delivers on existing commitments, especially ahead of the 25th anniversary of the UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

Draft Programme

• Opening Remarks:
  • Marta Temido, Vice-President of the Human Rights Subcommittee of the European Parliament
  • Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and Head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York

• High Level Interventions:
  • Elizabeth Mary Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support at the United Nations
  • UN Women Representative (tbc)
  • Cristal Downing, Director of the Gender and Conflict project at International Crisis Group

• High Level Exchange with:
  • Members of the European Parliament (15-Member delegation)
  • Members of National Parliaments
  • NGOs
  • PSC Ambassadors