Corporate report

UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2018 to 2022: annual report to Parliament, 2021

Published 19 July 2022

Acronyms

AU	African Union
CRSV	Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
CSO	Civil Society Organisation
CSSF	HMG Conflict, Stability and Security Fund
FCDO	UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
GBV	Gender-Based Violence
GENAD	Military or Government Gender Adviser
GIWPS	Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
IDP	Internally Displaced Persons
INGO	International Non-Governmental Organisation
IPV	Intimate Partner Violence
LGBT	Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
MSHT	Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking
MOD	UK Ministry of Defence
NAP	National Action Plan
NDA	No Data Available
ODA	Official Development Assistance
OSCM	Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation, UK FCDO
P/CVE	Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism
PSVI	Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative
SEA	Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
SGBV	Sexual and Gender Based Violence
SO	NAP Strategic Outcome
SOC	Serious and Organised Crime
SRH	Sexual and Reproductive Health
UN	United Nations
UNSCR	United Nations Security Council Resolution
VAWG	Violence against Women and Girls
WHRDs	Women Human Rights Defenders
WPS	Women, Peace and Security
WRO	Women’s Rights Organisation

Section 1: Ministerial foreword

2021 saw real challenges to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, with the progress made over the last 20 years in advancing the rights of women and girls under threat. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rollback of women’s rights in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in August.

But in many ways 2022 has been even worse. The conflict in Ukraine is on a scale not seen in Europe for decades, and it has brought previously unimaginable scenes to our doorstep – including the use of rape as a method of war.

As a friend and close ally of Ukraine, it is critical we keep the plight of Ukrainian women and children at the forefront of our agenda, working with every arm of government, with civil society and our international partners.

The UK is proud to be a global champion of this agenda, which is crucial to sustainable global peace and security, advancing human rights, economic growth and poverty reduction.

Women and girls are at the heart of our work across the world and central to our defence and foreign policy efforts. This includes empowering women at all levels of society and protecting the rights and needs of women and girls in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

Tackling sexual violence in conflict is one of the UK Government’s top priorities. We have rallied a global coalition to explore all options, including an international convention, to put an end to these heinous crimes. We have promoted justice for survivors and helped them to rebuild their lives, including through a £1.4 million contribution to the Global Survivors Fund. In November, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, launched the Call to Action to Ensure the Rights and Wellbeing of Children Born of Sexual Violence in Conflict. This is a first step in galvanising action to support children who can be marginalised and stigmatised by their families and communities due to the circumstances of their conception.

The UK continues to ensure its response to humanitarian crises around the world includes the provision of support to survivors of gender-based violence as a key lifesaving intervention.

We promote women’s meaningful participation and leadership in the design and implementation of relief efforts. Following the success of the internationally recognised ‘What Works to Prevent Violence’ programme, we launched the £67.5 million successor programme in October, marking the first global effort to scale-up proven violence prevention approaches worldwide.

Publication of the MOD’s policy on Human Security in December demonstrated a renewed focus on WPS and gender in military operations. This policy will ensure that, through gender-sensitive conflict analysis and an expansion of Human Security training to defence personnel, military operations and defence engagements are underpinned by a consideration of Human Security factors.

We have seen the benefits of this approach in our peacekeeping deployment to Mali. By delivering bespoke pre-deployment training, developed in collaboration with civil society, our troops have been able to operate in a gender-sensitive way, more effectively engaging with the local population to produce better mission outcomes.

The UK has continued to support women’s meaningful participation in peace and security. Our £1.2 million for the Elsie Initiative Fund has helped increase women’s leadership and presence in security roles and our ongoing commitment to the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth Network of over £2 million since 2018 has supported UK peace efforts in conflict-affected countries including South Sudan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

The Armed Forces has continued to use its world-renowned expertise in Human Security to upskill international partners including Vietnam, Ghana and Kazakhstan through the delivery of specialist training courses. Additionally, our Human Security adviser course has run throughout the pandemic, which trains officers not just from the UK, but from other national armed forces to understand and integrate Human Security and gender into military operations and planning.

The UK also took stock of new and emerging threats to WPS in 2021, including in relation to climate change, international serious and organised crime and gendered disinformation; and we are developing responses to these threats.

We will proudly continue our longstanding leadership on the WPS agenda, including through developing a new action plan to commence in 2023, to build a fairer and safer world for women and girls.

• The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Minister for Women and Equalities
• The Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP Secretary of State for Defence

Section 2: Introduction

This fourth annual report to Parliament sets out progress against the objectives outlined in the National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS 2018-2022. The FCDO and the MOD own the UK NAP jointly.

2021 in brief

Since the formal merger of the Department for International Development (DfID) with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to form the FCDO in 2020, the Foreign Secretary has put women and girls at the heart of the UK’s foreign and development policy.

2021 marked the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has amplified gender-based inequality and led to a spike in gender-based violence (GBV), including online abuse, globally at a time when avenues for seeking redress were increasingly limited.^{[footnote 1]}. The pandemic revealed the fragility of hard-won progress on WPS, as political commitments risked being rolled back or reversed as attention and resources were redirected to the prevailing public health emergency.^{[footnote 2]}

The pandemic risked reversing decades of progress on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). It led to disruptions in SRHR service provision with an impact on unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal and newborn deaths, as well as HIV care. Moreover, the combination of the pandemic, poverty, violence, child marriage and pregnancy shut girls out of the classroom: girls with no education are three times as likely to marry by 18 as those with a secondary education; if all girls had a secondary education child pregnancy could fall by 59%. The impact on adolescent girls has been significant.

The UK therefore continued to put gender equality and tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) at the heart of the UK’s response and recovery effort in 2021, supporting Women’s Rights Organisations (WROs) on the frontlines, including an unearmarked £1 million boost to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women for their new COVID-19 Crisis Response Window, in addition to our longer-term support to the Trust Fund.

2021 was a year of UK leadership on education. With the G7, we agreed new targets to get 40 million more girls in school and 20 million more girls reading by 2026. We also raised $4 billion for the Global Partnership for Education, boosting the world’s poorest countries’ COVID recovery.

In 2021 the MOD published its Joint Services Publication (JSP) 985 on Human Security in Defence^{[footnote 3]}. The policy covers seven cross-cutting themes, including WPS, reiterates UK Defence commitments to WPS, and acknowledges that gender is an essential factor in creating peace and security.

The UK continued to prioritise addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV)

In 2021 the Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, made CRSV one of her top priorities. She wants to increase the level of ambition in how we address this issue, responding to the severity and scale of the crimes being committed and the atmosphere of impunity around them.

In November 2021 the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK would explore options for strengthening the international consensus on tackling sexual violence in conflict, including a new international Convention. We are in the early stages of working through what the content of a new agreement might be, but the benefits could include strengthening States’ commitments on supporting survivors and holding perpetrators to account.

The Foreign Secretary also announced that the UK would host an international Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) conference in 2022. This will take place from 28 to 30 November 2022. This will be a key opportunity to show UK leadership and rally international support to agree further action on sexual violence in conflict and to eliminate this crime.

On 22 November 2021, Lord Ahmad launched the Call to Action to Ensure the Rights and Wellbeing of Children Born of Sexual Violence in Conflict. This is a first step in galvanising international action to support the tens of thousands of children who, due to the circumstances of their conception, are marginalised and stigmatised by their families and communities. So far, the Call to Action has been endorsed by seven Governments (the UK, United States, Norway, Mexico, Guatemala, Kosovo, and South Sudan) and three UN agencies (UN Special Representatives of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, for Children and Armed Conflict and on Violence Against Children). The next steps are to continue building support for it and working with those who have endorsed to translate their support into concrete commitments to support this vulnerable group. The UK will lead this collaborative work to capture commitments as part of a ‘Platform for Action.’

In 2021 the UK contributed a further £1.4 million to the Global Survivors Fund, adding to our initial £1.3 million contribution in 2020. Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Dr Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad launched the Global Survivors Fund in October 2018. The Fund aims to provide redress across the world for CRSV survivors, with a particular focus on reparations. The UK also took up a seat on the board of the Global Survivors Fund, working alongside other board members to support the Fund’s work.

The UK continued to fund the development of the Murad Code. The International Institute for Criminal Investigations worked with Nadia’s Initiative and other partners to develop this global code of conduct for documenting the experiences of CRSV survivors.

The UK continued to deploy the PSVI Team of Experts to support partners across the world in tackling CRSV.

This year, the UK reaffirmed its commitment to the Call to Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies and made several new and ambitious commitments to respond to the needs and priorities of women and girls in conflict and crisis. These included strengthening women’s meaningful participation and leadership in humanitarian action, promoting gender-responsive crisis resilience, and galvanising action for more effective responses to GBV in emergencies.

Worsening conflict and instability in Afghanistan and Myanmar, however, led to reductions in the UK’s ability to implement WPS work in these contexts in 2021. In addition, the ongoing impact of Covid, including implications for ODA budgets, resulted in reductions to WPS programming in some UK focus countries, including in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria.

Nevertheless, the UK supported a wide variety of WPS activities in 2021, particularly focused on tackling VAWG (NAP Strategic Outcome 3) within NAP focus countries and across our global network, which are outlined in this report. A key UK achievement was our continued leadership at the UN Security Council to defend the WPS normative framework against rollback and to respond effectively to the persistent implementation gap.

In 2021, the UK helped to secure stronger WPS language in UN Security Council products, with WPS referenced in 63% of all UN Security Council Resolutions. The UK also led efforts to address reprisals against women human rights defenders and peacebuilders, supporting the development of UN guidance and providing emergency grants to those facing intimidation or reprisal in conflict settings.

Looking ahead

While there are significant challenges ahead in progressing the WPS agenda in 2022, there is also an opportunity to strengthen the UK’s approach to WPS. Going forward, the FCDO plans to publish a new ‘Women and Girls Strategy’ in 2022. Taking full advantage of our diplomatic and development levers, the Strategy will build on the new International Development Strategy, looking to 2030 and setting out how the FCDO will continue to prioritise women and girls across all our foreign and development work. Addressing the needs of women and girls in crisis, and ensuring they have a meaningful voice and engagement, will be central to both these documents.

The UK will also develop its next WPS NAP in 2022; it is an opportunity to reflect on and respond to emerging challenges and the changing global context. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine reinforces the importance of the WPS agenda and the need to ensure women and girls in conflict remain at the heart of our foreign policy.

Tackling GBV and the PSVI will continue to be a UK priority and, in 2022, the UK will launch new grants to pilot and evaluate pioneering new approaches to prevent sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in conflict and crisis over the next five years, building the global evidence base on “what works”. The Foreign Secretary is launching a major global campaign to stop sexual violence against women and girls in conflict around the world in 2022, and the UK will host a global summit to unite the world around action to prevent sexual violence in conflict.

WPS in Ukraine 2022

Russia’s assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state. Ukraine has already suffered horrific attacks and innocent people have lost their lives – with a deteriorating humanitarian situation that disproportionately impacts on women, girls, people with disabilities and the most excluded.

The UK is committed to reaching the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict in Ukraine. Nearly 16 million people are reported to be in need of humanitarian assistance within Ukraine. Over 5 million refugees have arrived in European countries since the conflict started, making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the Second World War. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to harm, including gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse. The UK has pledged £400 million to help Ukraine, this includes £220 million in humanitarian aid and £174 million in economic support. £45 million will be used to support UN agencies and charities working on the ground to provide care, support and protection for those in Ukraine and at its borders.

Of the £45 million, £15 million will go to the UN Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF), to provide immediate life-saving assistance and help tackle sexual and gender-based violence through targeted services, legal support and crisis accommodation. A further £15 million will go to UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, to fund vital services like nutrition for pregnant women and mental health support for children. In addition, a £10 million civil society fund has been set up to support organisations including those helping survivors of conflict-related sexual violence; this is on top of new funding for women’s rights organisations and civil society actors working to support the critical needs of women and children both inside and displaced outside of Ukraine. The fund will support Ukrainian women leaders and women’s rights organisations serving their communities at the forefront of the crisis.

The disturbing reports of atrocities committed against Ukrainians, including the reports of conflict-related sexual violence will not be ignored. The UK worked with partners to refer the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court (ICC), to establish a Commission of Inquiry through the UN Human Rights Council and, with Ukraine’s support, to establish an OSCE Mission. In addition to providing financial and technical support to the ICC, we deployed specialist UK war crimes and CRSV expertise to the region to support Ukrainian and international partners in investigations. In March 2022, the Attorney General appointed Sir Howard Morrison as an Independent Adviser to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General.

Section 3: Responding to emerging WPS issues

The UK’s Integrated Review^{[footnote 4]} noted the need for the UK to adapt continually to transnational challenges such as climate change, serious and organised crime (SOC) and rapid technological change, whilst also promoting gender equality and working with WROs to tackle the discrimination, violence and inequality that hold women back.

The UK took important steps to respond to emerging WPS issues in 2021, including ensuring a gender-sensitive approach to our work on climate change, transnational SOC, digital threats against women and girls; gendered disinformation and cyber-security governance. Officials will consider how to strengthen the response to such emerging issues as part of the development of the UK’s next NAP in 2022.

Climate change and environmental degradation have reduced the security of^{[footnote 5]} and continues to disproportionately impact women, girls and marginalised people. Whilst women and girls are critical agents of change, they are too often excluded from decision making^{[footnote 6]} .

In July 2021, the UK joined the Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice at the Generation Equality Forum^{[footnote 7]} . At COP26, the UK prioritised the advancement of gender equality within climate action and finance, successfully demonstrating that gender equality should not be seen in isolation but as fundamental to many of the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change. During the Climate Change Conference, the UK drove implementation of the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) Gender Action Plan^{[footnote 8]} ; hosted a Presidency theme day on gender; and supported six women delegates from the least developed countries to attend and participate in international climate negotiations^{[footnote 9]} .

In 2021 the UK announced £165 million of funding to tackle gender equality and climate change hand-in-hand, including up to £45 million to help empower local communities and grassroots women’s groups in Asia and the Pacific to challenge gender inequalities and adapt to the impacts of climate change^{[footnote 10]}, and £120 million to build resilience, prevent pollution, protect biodiversity, strengthen renewable energy and better manage waste, whilst also supporting women’s leadership, access to finance, education and skills in Bangladesh^{[footnote 11]}.

The UK’s world-leading £11.6bn International Climate Finance fund will also seek to increase ambition on inclusion, women’s empowerment and gender equality by integrating gender responsive and inclusive approaches into the design, delivery and assessment of programmes in the next five years. The flagship UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (PACT) programme has developed Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) guidance for its country programmes. The £20.5 million Better Assistance in Crisis (BASIC) and £19 million Gender-Responsive Social Protection Programmes will also support greater coordination between climate, social protection, humanitarian and gender actors to strengthen the gender sensitivity of disaster preparedness and response.

The UK has also been the leading supporter to date of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Climate Finance Network (CFN), which has a dedicated work stream on GESI and Climate Change Finance and supports the network’s countries in integrating GESI into their climate change planning and budgeting processes. The UK continues to support industry-led initiatives, like POWERful Women^{[footnote 12]} and Equal by 30^{[footnote 13]}, which seek to address the lack of gender diversity in the green economy, and have launched the 2X Gender and Climate Investment Taskforce (with Germany’s DEG and the European Investment Bank) to develop tools to enable investors to put gender at the heart of climate finance flows, including in key sectors such as energy, agriculture, water and hygiene.

At the Carbis Bay Summit in 2021, the G7 committed to develop gender-responsive approaches to climate and nature financing, investment and policies, so that women and girls can participate fully in the future green economy. The UK continues to call for others to build on the momentum set by COP26 to deliver gender-responsive local, national and global climate action, to champion women and girls’ agency and adaptation, and to advance gender equality in climate finance.

Transnational SOC has a significant impact on WPS. Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse have clear gendered drivers and impacts to enable investors to put gender at the heart of climate finance flows, including in key sectors such as energy, agriculture, water and hygiene. At the Carbis Bay Summit in 2021, the G7 committed to develop gender-responsive approaches to climate and nature financing, investment and policies, so that women and girls can participate fully in the future green economy.

The UK continues to call for others to build on the momentum set by COP26 to deliver gender-responsive local, national and global climate action, to champion women and girls’ agency and adaptation, and to advance gender equality in climate finance. Transnational SOC has a significant impact on WPS. Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse have clear gendered drivers and impacts^{[footnote 14]} with gang violence – a form of violence closely related to the illicit drugs market – in some contexts leading to rates of death, displacement and GBV similar to those of countries in conflict^{[footnote 15]}.

In 2021 the UK supported gender-sensitive research on the drivers and enablers of SOC in Albania^{[footnote 16]}; as well as a discussion paper on Jamaica’s National Consensus on Crime^{[footnote 17]}. Both papers drew attention to the importance of gender norms, particularly harmful masculinities, in fuelling both SOC and GBV; and the need to transform these as a key component of crime prevention. The Global Security Rapid Analysis Programme, run out of the FCDO’s Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation (OCSM), also commissioned a research study in 2021 (to be completed in 2022), by Global Initiative, into community resilience to SOC in Kenya and Mozambique, with a focus on the role of women in fragile contexts.

At a programme level, gender advisory support was provided to the UK SOC programme in the Western Balkans in 2021 to improve gender sensitivity at a project level; and a new Roadmap for embedding gender within SOC policy and programming interventions in the region was produced to guide future work.

At a policy level, the UK presented on mainstreaming gender into SOC approaches at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Workshop on Organised Crime Strategies for the Western Balkans in December 2021. This presentation complemented the UK CSSF funded UNODC Serious and Organised Crime Strategy Toolkit Project, which seeks to enable policy makers to create or enhance their own national strategies to combat transnational organised crime. This is done through the development of holistic national strategies, which includes the funding of two papers on gender and human rights due for publication in late May 2022. The UK was also the expert panellist for the Western Europe and Others Group at the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice thematic session on gender in Vienna in November 2021.

Digital threats against women and girls continues to be a growing global security issue. As the world has moved increasingly online, so has VAWG^{[footnote 18]}; and an estimated 85% of women globally have now witnessed or experienced online violence targeted towards women (prevalence rates of Online VAWG by region are: Middle East 98%; Latin America and Caribbean 91%; Africa 90%; Asia Pacific 88%; North America 76% and Europe 74%)^{[footnote 19]}. Those most at risk include young women and adolescent girls, women who experience VAWG offline, racial and ethnic minorities, public figures and activists, and potentially persons with disabilities^{[footnote 20]}.

Online VAWG has significant consequences for the realisation of individual rights, global gender goals and achieving open, democratic societies^{[footnote 21]}. As such, in 2021, the UK stepped up its work to address online VAWG, taking a cross-sectoral policy approach that promotes joined up working across departments and teams working on policies and interventions aimed at tackling domestic abuse and gender-based abuse, online harms, gender discrimination and digital exclusion. In association with the FCDO, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office, Wilton Park held an expert event in November 2021 and produced a report^{[footnote 22]} which identified potential interventions to prevent and respond to online VAWG, and to identify gaps in knowledge and policy.

Continuing UK global leadership on ending VAWG

In November 2021, the Foreign Secretary further stepped up the UK’s global leadership on ending VAWG, announcing a package of over £22 million new funding to end child marriage, support survivors, and fund WROs. This included £18 million of new funding to end child marriage (through partners UNICEF and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)) that will benefit women and girls in 12 countries, including Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Yemen. UK support has already helped avert 25 million child marriages over the last decade.

A £3 million boost through the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTF) to organisations on the frontline of tackling violence was also announced in 2021, bringing our total contribution to £25 million since 2014. This will help survivors to access health and counselling, as well as helping to prevent violence, including by educating men and boys. This funding will also support work with governments to improve policies and legislation to tackle VAWG.

Building on the success of the internationally recognised ‘What Works to Prevent Violence’ programme, the £67.5 million successor programme was launched in June 2021 and is the first global effort to scale-up proven violence prevention approaches worldwide. The programme will pioneer new scalable solutions in conflict and humanitarian settings, building the evidence base on what works to prevent GBV, including CRSV, in crises.

Around the world, autocrats and their allies are increasingly deploying gendered disinformation to eliminate their critics, consolidate power and weaken trust in democracy and, as such, gendered disinformation is a growing safety and security issue^{[footnote 23]}. Gendered disinformation uses false or misleading gender and sex-based narratives against women, often with some degree of coordination, aimed at deterring women from participation in the public sphere. It combines three defining characteristics of online disinformation – falsity, malign intent and coordination^{[footnote 24]}.

Throughout 2021, gendered disinformation was used by malign state actors as a weapon to sow societal division, artificially polarise societies and further their political agenda by exploiting societal differences on issues such as abortion legislation, gender equality and women’s rights^{[footnote 25]}. Evidence suggests that, since the introduction of COVID-19 lockdowns and quarantines, online misogynistic hate speech and the spread of gendered misinformation has grown^{[footnote 26]}, though detailed data is lacking. To respond to this growing transnational threat, the FCDO has engaged across HMG and with international gender experts to better understand how disinformation is weaponised against gender equality, and will be exploring this issue further in 2022.

Gender and Cyber-Governance is of increasing global interest. The UK is proud to sponsor the Women in Cyber Fellowship, a programme run jointly with the governments of Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States. The fellowship aims to address the need for a greater proportion of representation from women at UN cyberspace negotiations. In 2021 the UK increased the number of women from Commonwealth countries in Africa and South Asia it is supporting through the fellowship from fourteen to twenty-five. A place on the fellowship includes travel to attend UN meetings of the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies and the Ad Hoc Committee established to elaborate a new international cybercrime convention, as well as access to a programme of networking and developmental events.

The UK prioritises women and girls’ specific relief needs and capacities amid worsening global humanitarian needs

Humanitarian crises driven by conflict and amplified by climate change and COVID-19 are becoming more complex and longer lasting – disproportionately affecting marginalised people, and especially women and girls and people with disabilities. Humanitarian needs and forced displacement are the highest they have been since World War II. The Foreign Secretary’s priorities on humanitarian preparedness and response and on women and girls guide the UK’s approach to humanitarian action, with a focus on empowering women and addressing GBV.

In 2021 the UK continued to enhance gender-equality and protection from GBV and to support women’s organisations to respond to crises through a range of mechanisms, including our country programmes and centrally managed partnerships. We remain one of the largest donors to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA)’s Country Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) and the Central Emergency Fund (CERF), which have prioritised support for women and girls. These are the largest direct source of funding for local and national partners on the front lines of emergency responses and they are at the forefront of directing humanitarian funding to women-led and WROs. We contributed £63.5 million to CERF and provided over £125 million to OCHA’s CBPFs in 2021 alone.

In 2021 the UK used its influence to improve the participation and leadership of women and girls in humanitarian decision-making, so that their priorities and perspectives drive reforms and progress toward more gender-responsive humanitarian action. This resulted in greater gender inclusion within CBPF mechanisms and better representation of women-led organisations and WROs within the Grand Bargain governance structures; a unique platform to advocate for the improved quality of funding for national and local actors in humanitarian action.

UK NAP Strategic Outcomes

1: Decision-making	An increase in women’s meaningful and representative participation in decision-making processes, including conflict prevention and peacebuilding at community and national levels
2: Peacekeeping	A gender perspective is consistently applied in the setting and implementation of international standards and mandates for peace operations
3: Gender-based violence	An increase in the number and scale of interventions that integrate effective measures to prevent and respond to Gender-based Violence, particularly Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) which is the most prevalent form of GBV
4: Humanitarian response	Women’s and girls’ needs are more effectively met by humanitarian actors and interventions through needs-based responses that promote meaningful participation and leadership
5: Security and justice	Security and justice actors are increasingly accountable to women and girls, and responsive to their rights and needs
6: Preventing and countering violent extremism	Ensure the participation and leadership of women in developing strategies to prevent and counter violent extremism
7: UK capabilities	HMG continues to strengthen its capability, processes and leadership to deliver against WPS commitments

Section 4: Focus countries

Focus countries

This section of the report outlines how the UK government is delivering the WPS agenda in our nine focus countries. The focus countries were selected at the start of our NAP in 2018 because they were priority countries for the FCDO, MOD and National Security Council and, through local consultations in-country, we determined there was an appetite for change.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan NAP Phase 2 2019 to 2022: the takeover by the Taliban effectively dissolved the Afghanistan NAP and the constitution. The Taliban have signalled that they intend to establish a new constitution, but as of end of 2021 no details had emerged.

Women suffered abuse and discrimination in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover in August 2021, but there had been progress since 2001. By 2021, women were increasingly active in law, media, business, and government, and they held over a quarter of the seats in Afghanistan’s (now disbanded) parliament. The number of girls in education was gradually increasing, with over 3.6 million girls in school.

The situation significantly deteriorated from August 2021. The Taliban increasingly imposed oppressive social practices and restrictions on women’s freedom of movement, preventing many women from working or travelling. Most girls were unable to attend secondary school. Some women were able to continue their university studies, but most could not. Women and girls faced increased barriers to accessing basic services and humanitarian aid, and anecdotal reports of GBV increased. The Taliban dissolved the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and appointed no women to leadership positions within their administration.

Following the reversal of many of the WPS gains of the previous two decades, the UK’s focus shifted to protecting these from further erosion. After the fall of Kabul, all non-humanitarian programming was paused. However, we regularly raised human rights issues with the Taliban, including women’s rights, girls’ education, the rights of members of minority groups and freedom of expression.

The UK called publicly for Afghan women’s rights to be respected, including at the UN Security Council on 10 September; and as co-chair of the UN Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan on 21 October. A UK Security Council Resolution on 30 August reaffirmed the importance of upholding human rights in Afghanistan; and on 7 October, the UK supported a UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur mandate to monitor human rights in the country, including the rights of women and girls.

The UK remains committed to the WPS agenda in Afghanistan, including by promoting the voice and agency of Afghan women leaders in the UK, in Afghanistan and internationally, through a variety of fora, and by using UK aid to respond to the humanitarian crisis, with a particular focus on meeting the needs of women and girls. We are committed to ensuring the principled delivery of humanitarian assistance and have made clear to the Taliban that this requires unconditional access for female aid workers, and women and girls’ access to services and jobs.

SO1: Decision-making

The UK’s focus in the first half of 2021 was on encouraging the former Afghan Government and the Taliban to reach an inclusive political settlement. This included our Peace and Reconciliation Programme which provided capacity-building support to the former State Ministry of Peace, women’s networks and CSOs, to enable women’s meaningful participation in discussions on peace. This included deploying experts, including on gender, to work directly with the Ministry and the Afghan Negotiating Team; and training 900 women to engage meaningfully in community peacebuilding decisions.

UK Ministers and officials continued to meet Afghan women, journalists and representatives from minority and at-risk groups to understand their concerns. UK officials also regularly raised human rights in their meetings with the Taliban, including during a visit by senior officials to Kabul in October 2021, and in other meetings with Taliban leaders by the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha, established in September 2021. We pressed them on key issues, including to ensure that women play a full, equal role in national life and girls of all ages can go to school. We received criticism that our first delegation to Kabul after the Taliban takeover was solely male and have since actively aimed for mixed gender delegations, although there may be times when this is not possible.

SO3: Gender-Based Violence

The UK provided over £320,000 to the UNFPA to support GBV services in six provinces in the first half of 2021, and worked with the former Ministry of Health to support the integration of these services into national health systems. The UK then adapted its support to provide protection and support for survivors of GBV through the humanitarian system, working with partners including UNFPA and UNICEF to deliver GBV services in a discreet, integrated way alongside reproductive and mental health and child protection services.

SO4: Humanitarian response

The UK scaled up its humanitarian support to Afghanistan in 2021, including to the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, through which we aimed to reach 2.8 million women and 1.5 million girls (including over 1 million women and girls with disabilities) with multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance. Our support to partners including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Rescue Committee and World Food Programme also focused on identifying and meeting the specific needs of women and girls, for example by ensuring access to food and cash distributions, health and sanitation facilities despite growing mobility restrictions.

We welcomed the Women’s Advisory Group’s engagement with the Humanitarian Country Team led by the UN Deputy Special Representative, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan. This engagement helped to ensure that Afghan women were involved in the design and delivery of humanitarian interventions.

Between April and December 2021, we brought around 7,900 Afghans to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, including through military evacuation flights. The UK also welcomed around 1,000 further Afghans particularly at risk, including women’s rights activists, judges (including female judges), journalists, and members of the LGBT community.

SO5: Security and justice

At the start of 2021, the UK worked with the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF), including through the Assisting Security in Afghanistan Programme, to increase female participation in the forces, provide mentoring, and support local WROs responsible for community security. However, our work with the ANDSF was not able to continue after August.

UK continues to play an active role in the Call to Action on protection from GBV in emergencies

In 2021 the UK continued to play an active role in the Call to Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies, including as co-Chair of the States and Donors Working Group, influencing the humanitarian system to better protect women and girls in humanitarian contexts. This included ensuring greater accountability of the humanitarian system through the GBV Accountability Framework, which we support as a member of the Global Steering Committee.

The UK reaffirmed its commitment to the GBV Call to Action in 2021 and made six new commitments including: building a global evidence base on prevention; supporting women’s leadership in humanitarian action; promoting gender-responsive crisis resilience and famine prevention; galvanising international action for adequate prioritisation and effective financing of GBV responses; strengthening GBV risk mitigation and response services, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment; and supporting disability-inclusive GBV programming. To ensure accountability, the UK reports on these commitments annually.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

DRC NAP 2018 to 2022: DRC’s WPS NAP[^27] aims to promote a secure environment that guarantees the fair inclusion of women, men and young people in consolidating peace in the DRC. Through the UK’s diplomatic efforts, ODA interventions and strong relationships with bilateral donors and multilateral initiatives, the UK supported the DRC Government to make progress on its NAP.

DRC is ranked 163/170 countries in the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) Index, an indication of the lack of peace and security for women in the country. In DRC, violence against women was endemic with 51% of women experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime; and there are particularly high levels of violence against women in conflict-affected areas, including CRSV^{[footnote 28]}.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to slow DRC’s progress against its WPS commitments. The introduction of the ‘Etat de Siege’ in both North Kivu and Ituri provinces has slowed down the justice system in these areas and, whilst civilian justice is set to be restored, there is a significant case backlog to be processed. The UK has continued to fund priority issues such as tackling GBV.

SO1: Decision-making

Through the Stabilisation Coherence Fund, a joint fund in Eastern DRC, the UK is working to promote inclusive dialogue and dispute resolution to restore security.

SO2: Peacekeeping

The UK seconds a Senior Gender and Child Protection Officer to the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), working directly to the Force Commander, to assist on the implementation of directives and advise the force on incorporating gender and child protection issues into MONUSCO activities, ensuring the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and 1612 and other resolutions. The UK has also been providing support to Female Engagement Teams who continue to work in local communities using new opportunities for peacebuilding, community engagement and awareness raising, and has been engaging with the Armed Forces of the DRC and Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) leadership in Goma to highlight the importance of gender mainstreaming and reducing GBV.

SO3: Gender-based violence

PSVI provided £140,000 to the Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Mukwege’s Panzi Foundation to tackle impunity and support survivors in Eastern DRC through the establishment of legal clinics and mobile courts, mitigating the impacts of CRSV on individuals and communities. In 2021 over 350 survivors of CRSV and SGBV were able to access legal and judicial support through three legal clinics. Support to the Global Survivors Fund (GSF) enabled them to organise a roundtable with the Panzi Foundation and the Mouvement National des Survivantes de Violences Sexuelles en RDC on the establishment of a national reparations fund for survivors of CRSV and other human rights violations. Following this, the Government announced that it would set up a fund for victims of serious crimes, starting with CRSV, and GSF has continued to work with the government in the creation of this fund.

The Panzi Foundation Legal Clinic Team

The UK’s contribution to the UN Team of Experts supported the development of national institutions and training for Congolese police and justice officials in DRC. Funding to TRIAL International also supported over 380 survivors in DRC, through access to reparations and legal representation. A project with World Vision supported faith leaders to become agents of change, tackling the stigma faced by survivors and developing action plans to prevent further violence within their communities.

The DRC Ambassador to the UK attended the Launch of the Call to Action to Ensure the Rights and Wellbeing of Children Born of Sexual Violence in Conflict held in November 2021 and signalled the DRC’s interest in endorsing the Call to Action.

The British Ambassador to the DRC Emily Maltman gave a briefing at a UK Parliamentary breakfast in December as part of the annual ‘16 days of Activism Against GBV’. The briefing highlighted the UK’s work to tackle violence against women and girls in DRC.

SO4: Humanitarian response

Protection assessments and gender analyses inform our humanitarian assistance programmes. In our £10 million cash transfer programme with the World Food Programme, women are prioritised as community representatives in committees that help guide the targeting of assistance. Women are the default point of contact for engagement with our humanitarian partners and they receive assistance on behalf of their household. We also support financial awareness-raising activities for women and adolescent girls to enable them to have a stronger role in household decision making over the utilisation of resources, including humanitarian cash assistance.

SO5: Security and justice

Through Operation PERCIVAL, the UK provides a Gender Adviser (GENAD) to the DRC Force Commander to advise Sector Commanders and the Force Leadership team on the importance of women’s representation during all levels of peace support operations. This includes working with the Protection of Civilians Team to offer support to regional teams who encounter many workers who are migrant women and who may be subjected to CRSV. The Gender Adviser also provides support to the Female Engagement Teams, who continue to work in the local communities using new opportunities for peacebuilding, community engagement and awareness. 

The MOD gender adviser (GENAD) helps to ensure a gender perspective is consistently applied in the setting and implementation of international standards and mandates for peace operations. For example, in 2021, the GENAD engaged with the FARDC leadership in Goma to highlight the importance of gender mainstreaming and issues of SGBV in the region in order to reduce the significant number of human rights violations by other actors. The UK also supported campaigns tackling Violence against Women and Harassment and Cyber Bullying by telephone screen messaging, screensavers and mass text messaging to the local population, targeting areas with increased reports of GBV.

UK supports WPS within Peacekeeping in Mali

UK peacekeepers deployed to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) as part of the Long Range Reconnaissance Group (LRRG) have teamed up with German counterparts and others to conduct unique local engagement, talking for the first time to female community leaders working on agriculture, markets, Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and water. The LRRG also held a WPS forum on 11 March as part of International Women’s Day to discuss the role of women in the peace and security space in Mali.

The UK organised a meeting with women participating in the peace process in Mali to highlight the importance of women’s participation at all levels of political and peace processes. These exchanges strengthen our understanding of the challenges to, and opportunities for, implementing the WPS agenda. The LRRG is working within MINUSMA to spread best practice. It is important such information feeds into analysis and planning to support mandate implementation.

The MOD provides WPS and wider Human Security Training to UK personnel deploying to MINUSMA. This training includes awareness raising, instruction of mandated UN pre-deployment training and practical rehearsals in a real-life environment of WPS and Human Security scenarios, to ensure military planners include these considerations at all levels and understand how to recognise, respond, report and refer infringements and abuses.

Iraq

IRAQ NAP 2020 to 2024: Iraq ratified its second WPS NAP in 2020 and PM Kadhimi launched it in March 2021. However, there has been little progress in implementation due to lack of funding and political will. The NAP includes a separate action plan for the Kurdistan Region.

The UK supported the NAP through lobbying activity and offered the Kurdistan Regional Government capacity building opportunities through CSSF technical support programming. We are supporting implementation through our WPS CSSF programme, focussed on Iraqi WROs across a range of WPS objectives. WROs are fulfilling a monitoring and evaluation role within Iraq’s NAP and therefore further support to their programming and engagement is beneficial to coordination across the NAP.

In 2021 women and girls continued to be marginalised by conservative social, religious and tribal norms in Iraq. This year, Iraq ranked 166 out of 170 countries on the GIWPS Index. COVID-19 exacerbated the socio-economic inequality and gender disparities that have long existed in Iraq and UN agencies reported an increase in reported incidents of GBV since 2019 (the 2021 GIWPS Index estimates that Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) occurs in 45% of Iraqi households, the highest figure of partner violence globally). So called ‘honour killings’ and violence against women, girls and LGBT people continued, often unreported. There has been no progress on passing a draft bill to criminalise domestic violence in Federal Iraq (first introduced in Parliament in 2014). This is due to widespread political opposition from legislators who believe it would erode Iraq’s social fabric. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has a law on domestic violence.

The October 2021 election resulted in an increased number of female MPs. Female MPs won 97 seats in Iraq’s 329-member Parliament following the October 2021 elections, they now hold a 28.9% share of parliamentary seats, for the first time above the 25% quota for female MPs. Despite this, woman have limited participation in political and decision-making processes overall and are underrepresented in higher levels of the public sector and government.

SO1: Decision-making

Through CSSF funding, British Embassy Baghdad began implementing a WPS multi-year programme in 2021. The £2.7 million programme aims to establish partnerships between Iraqi CSOs and WROs to promote WPS. The goal is to help build Iraqi grassroots WROs that are self-reliant and interconnected, advancing a localised transformative WPS agenda, contributing to inclusive peace and security in communities across Federal Iraq and the KRI.

SO3: Gender-based Violence

British Embassy Baghdad implemented two PSVI projects in 2021 – funding of £80,000 to provide technical and practical implementation of the Yazidi Survivors Law, which will provide reparations for minority females, including Turkmen, Christian, Shabak and Yazidi women who suffered from Daesh atrocities and CRSV. The UK is one of the first donors to contribute to implementation efforts and we continue to work with the government and partners to press for full financial provision of the law. Our programming benefitted beneficiaries through building understanding of the legislation and what they are legally entitled to. Through the PSVI programme with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), we have monitored increased awareness of the Survivors Law, particularly within female minority communities. UK funding will also result in an applications process for beneficiaries to register their details with the Directorate of Survivors’ Affairs.

The UK also provided £40,000 of PSVI funding towards provision of mental health and psychosocial care to women who have suffered CRSV – in 2021, over 50 women received this support. The UK hosted an international GBV roundtable to mark 16 days against GBV in December 2021. This brought together female activists, INGO’s and international missions to discuss GBV in Iraq and how the NAP and programming/policy activities are tackling this issue. We continue to work with WROs and Government partners to monitor the implementation of the NAP. The UK also played a leading role in coordinating international efforts on the Yazidi Survivors Law, hosting a roundtable with likeminded missions and UN organisations on its implementation, which has resulted in coordinated messaging and garnered more financial support for the Yazidi Survivors Directorate across international partners.

SO4: Humanitarian response

The Iraq Humanitarian Fund (IHF) allocation aims to channel money to underfunded areas of the humanitarian response, including projects that mainstream gender (especially women and girls), respond to the specific needs of persons with disabilities, or respond to GBV. The UK has funded IHF since 2015, totalling nearly £107m. In 2020, the UK’s contribution to the IHF reached approximately 277,000 people with healthcare, including 67,000 women and 95,000 girls. Data for 2021 will be published later in 2022.

UK delivers sexual and reproductive health services in fragile and conflict affected areas

In 2021 the UK’s multi-country Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme provided vital sexual and reproductive health services to displaced populations in Chad, northern Ethiopia, Mauritania, Mali and Uganda, as well as providing UNFPA with £2 million to support their work on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and GBV in Afghanistan. A new £35 million Demographic Transition in Iraq programme also began in 2021, which will run for five years (2021 to 2026). The programme will address the barriers which prevent women and men from utilising voluntary family planning services through providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health, building capacity of primary care facilities and medical colleges, raising awareness of family planning services across the population, and increasing access to family planning commodities.

The UK also produced a number of policy papers in 2021 to highlight the UK’s continued prioritisation of emergency response on SRHR including on Health Systems Strengthening^{[footnote 29]} and Ending the Preventable Deaths of Mothers, Babies and Children by 2030^{[footnote 30]}. The UK also contributed to global guidance and learning on gender-sensitive Emergency Preparedness and Response including dissemination of the Ready to Save Lives: Preparedness Toolkit for Sexual and Reproductive Health Care in Emergencies ^{[footnote 31]}. In 2022 the UK will continue to ensure a no-regrets response to GBV and SRHR, meaning we will assume GBV is occurring in sudden onset disasters, protracted crises, conflict and refugee settings, and take action to prevent and respond to it as a life saving measure from the earliest stages of the response.

Libya

Libya does not have a NAP: in 2021 the Libyan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) and UN Women began to develop a Libyan NAP. A roadmap for Libya’s NAP was launched in October 2021 at a ceremony attended by PM Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and other senior officials, CSOs, and representatives from the international community. However, a week after the launch event, some conservative groups launched an online campaign against the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between MOWA and UN Women, which has led the court of appeal to temporarily suspend the MoU and the work on the WPS NAP.

While there was some good progress on WPS in 2021, the external environment in Libya remained difficult. COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing gender inequalities and created further economic and social impacts for women, including increased risks of GBV, for women already buckling under the stress of long-term conflict. Lockdowns, curfew and restrictions imposed by the Libyan government were challenging for WROs and CSOs.

Since the 2011 uprising, Libyan women have engaged on social media and used this online space to advocate for their rights, lead campaigns and become vocal on urgent women’s rights related issues. However, during the past couple of years, there has been a widespread and dangerous pattern of online VAWG in Libya and, in late 2021, there was a significant backlash against the WPS agenda as conservative patriarchal society, Islamist political parties, groupings and religious leaders mobilised against women’s rights^{[footnote 32]}. This put further pressure on WROs and politically active women, who have been subjected to online and offline violence, including murder and abduction, and risks rolling back WPS gains to date. Personal safety continues to be an issue for activists and INGOs increasingly face challenges getting visas. The UK therefore focused WPS efforts on making a difference at community and local level, where our support has been transformational for WROs.

In 2021 a group of Libyan judges, lawyers and activists, with support of UN agencies, drafted a law which would criminalize all forms of VAWG, including cyber violence and online hate speech, and which identifies protection and prevention mechanisms as well as defining institutional responsibilities^{[footnote 33]}. The draft law was presented to the House of Representatives for discussion and approval. If passed, it would represent a milestone in the protection and promotion of the rights of women and girls in Libya, in line with international standards.

SO1: Decision-making

In 2021 the UK continued to champion women’s participation in the ongoing peace process. We ensured that participation and WPS were mentioned in high-level statements and at the UN Security Council. The UK Ambassador to Libya consistently raised protection and participation concerns with senior Libyan interlocutors.

Our Firmer Ground for Advancing Women’s Participation in Libya (FG4W) project launched in September 2021 with Democracy Reporting International. The project will strengthen the capacities of thirteen WROs through institutional capacity development and direct funding to respond to women’s needs and priorities at the local and national level.

In 2021 our peacebuilding partner, Peaceful Change Initiative, supported the participation and representation of local-level women leaders in key decision-making processes, enabling them to play an important role de-escalating tensions via Social Peace Partnerships^{[footnote 34]} across 29 communities in Libya using dialogue and mediation skills. The UK also funded the first all-female mine risk education team in Libya working with partners DCA – unlike their male counterparts, female mine risk educators can enter family compounds to speak with women directly, educating them and their children, and thus saving lives. Our local governance project, Tazeez, also worked with female elected representatives and officials to improve municipal service delivery such as urban planning, local economic development, solid waste management, green spaces and public lighting.

Our Taking the Lead project with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting ended in July 2021. The project reached more than 530 women through in-person trainings and events, including training 190 women in economic development skills and e-marketing; and providing more than 300 women with direct psychosocial support. The project also worked with men and boys in target communities to improve support for women’s economic empowerment; and succeeded in enhancing community cohesion and tolerance. The project also improved the capacity of eleven WROs to conduct needs-based research and sub-grant activities to effectively respond to the longstanding needs of women and girls in their communities. Moreover, practical training was provided to women to start their own businesses, and employ other women, creating a chain of women’s empowerment.

SO3: Gender-based violence

Within the FG4W project, a social media monitoring component was introduced in 2021 to improve understanding of the main challenges facing women candidates online. This will result in a 2022 report on gendered hate speech, misinformation and disinformation to build a comprehensive picture of the main channels, accounts and actors discussing women in elections and to better understand the relationship between online and offline GBV. This will help better equip WROs to respond to online abuse against women in the public sphere.

SO4: Humanitarian response

The UK’s humanitarian work with the World Health Organisation, which focuses on psychosocial health, introduced a GBV component in 2021, providing training and materials to ensure that supported community health centres in Libya are able to address GBV among women and children.

Myanmar

Myanmar does not have a NAP: progress on WPS in Myanmar in 2021 was extremely challenging as a result of the military coup, insecurity and threats of violence. Formal governance mechanisms working on gender equality, slowly developed over the last decade, have become defunct. Nevertheless, the UK has endeavoured to deliver on its WPS objectives.

On 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup and arrested many of the country’s leaders, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Since the coup, there has been significant opposition, in the form of public protests, boycotts, a general strike and the formation of hundreds of new armed groups or defence forces. Women were some of the first to protest the coup. There are widespread reports of the Myanmar military carrying out CRSV, particularly against ethnic minorities.

In 2021 according to local civil society monitoring, 1,384 people were killed by police or military forces and 11,289 have been arrested as political prisoners. More than 14.4 million people are in humanitarian need and hundreds of thousands of people displaced. An immediate implication of the coup was the increased dominance of men in public leadership roles – as part of the State Administrative Council. As the opposition to the military regime has become increasingly violent and militarised, the space for women’s participation has further decreased. Under previous military regimes, WROs operated clandestinely and have returned to such methods since the coup.

There is a risk that gender equality becomes de-prioritised by international stakeholders given the ongoing conflict and humanitarian needs.

In February 2021, after the coup, the UK carried out a review which ended policy engagement and capacity building with the new military regime. In this increasingly tense and insecure context, the UK has sought to integrate the core strategic objectives of the UK’s NAP across our development, humanitarian and diplomacy portfolios.

SO1: Decision-making

The UK’s major achievement in Myanmar has been sustaining women-led organisations during a period of significant uncertainty and insecurity. By ensuring flexible funding, and where relevant additional, emergency funding, the UK has enabled multiple CSOs, including WROs and LGBT-led organisations, to continue to operate. The UK continues to support the £12.5 million UN LIFT Fund, under which we have a multi-year, strategic partnership with the Gender Equality Network (GEN). With LIFT support, following the coup, GEN has formed a new, influential platform which has issued over 15 global statements, raising the voices of diverse women and advocating for accountability and justice.

In 2021 the UK provided £200,000 to the Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) Programme, which supported grassroots civil society partners to work on a range of issues including media and journalism training, building more gender-sensitive decision-making platforms, community waste management, supporting GBV survivors, and providing emergency food and psychosocial support. WVL partners forged a new network to advocate collectively for rights and inclusion. Following the achievements of WVL, the UK has entered into a multi-year partnership with WVL and its downstream partners, recognising the importance of long term, flexible support to women and LGBT led organisations.

The UK’s ongoing support to the Joint Peace Fund (JPF) has contributed to increased capacity and confidence of women’s leaders – and greater community awareness of the importance of women leaders’ participation in peacebuilding. JPF supports women-led civil society in the planning, coordination and delivery of emergency protection and assistance to women, youth and children. The JPF also provides technical support on gender mainstreaming to diverse peace actors and, in 2021, the JPF’s Technical Secretariat sought to improve internal capacities of the fund’s long-term partners, including enabling partners to collectively monitor WPS issues and maintain a focus on WPS in the conflict’s changing context. 17% of JPF’s funding is allocated to gender programming; and with JPF support, over 138 additional women participated in political dialogue, events or committee meetings in 2021.

Through the CSSF, the UK commissioned influential research ‘We are Hard to Ignore Now: Women in Myanmar’s Resistance Movement Over the Period February-March 2021’ to promote recommendations for more effective international support to gender equality and women’s rights in Myanmar following the coup. This research, which was led by women and local researchers, was widely distributed and hailed across development actors as an important product to guide donor decisions and approaches, particularly around more flexible programming, digital security, gendered political analysis, human rights, and GBV programming.

SO3: Gender-based violence

The UK funded ‘Access to Health Fund’, which has a budget of £97.1 million for 2017-2023, has integrated SGBV prevention and support in seven states and two regions in Myanmar, including promoting awareness, referrals, psychosocial support, and integrating GBV services into COVID-19 facilities.

Through our peacebuilding programme and our partner Paung Sie Facility, the UK has provided emergency GBV support to survivors following the coup and COVID-19. Service providers have increasingly shifted to remote GBV service provision and hotlines were an important means of accessing information or support. The UK provided £150,000 to UNFPA in 2021 to develop the Myanmar Minimum Standards for GBV Hotlines^{[footnote 35]} (available in English and Burmese), which helped to establish a common understanding of what constitutes minimum phone-based support to survivors. The Minimum Standards were developed through a consultative process, engaging diverse stakeholders. The Minimum Standards are available to support practitioners, organisations and donors to improve accessibility to GBV services for under-served groups (including people with disabilities, IDPs, LGBT and male survivors), to strengthen accountability of GBV stakeholders, build trust and enhance ownership of services by local communities.

The UK funded UN LIFT Fund reduces risks of modern slavery and of human trafficking survivors being re-trafficked in Yangon, Tachileik and Lashio, and equips survivors with more stable futures. In 2021 LIFT’s partner organisation provided more than 266 survivors (95% women) with training, counselling, shelter and referral services. The programme engages wider stakeholders, such as the private sector, to ensure their employment practices meet international standards. The programme also enables IDPs and host communities, particularly women, to practice safer labour migration, reducing risks of trafficking, exploitation and abuse. LIFT’s partners have provided training on ending GBV and sexual harassment within worker centres, factories and across peer volunteer networks.

SO4: Humanitarian response

Under the UK’s humanitarian programme, with a spend of £22.5 million in 2021, gender-sensitive protection monitoring and activities were delivered across the country, including in Kachin IDP camps, where the UK’s humanitarian programme, HARP, is delivering training, establishing protection and referral mechanisms to identify, prevent and respond to GBV and child protection. Through this facility, the UK increased opportunities for women to meaningfully participate in decision-making and lead initiatives with a focus on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Rakhine, including establishing gender focal support volunteers in camps and building the collective action of women’s groups.

Through the Access to Health Fund, solar powered lighting was provided in an informal IDP camp on the peri-urban outskirts of Yangon region. The provision of lights and torches reduced risks and insecurity while moving around after dark. Access to Health partners are building community awareness on reproductive rights and gender equality with the aims of reducing risks of GBV for those in the camp.

SO5: Security and justice

The UK’s partner, Myanmar Witness, received £811,116 of UK funding in 2021 to coordinate with wider human rights bodies, including the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, to support information collection around gendered rights abuses, including CRSV and abuses against children.

Gender-sensitive preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) work in East Africa

The East Africa CSSF CREATE^{[footnote 36]} programme supported organisations to research and strengthen the role of women in P/CVE in Kenya. Whilst it is almost impossible to create a complete profile of women and girls who are at risk of radicalisation, research identified specific vulnerabilities to recruitment for women and girls in the Kenya context, such as those seeking religious knowledge, those suffering domestic abuse and poverty, survivors of sexual violence, widows of terrorist fighters, and individuals who have lost family members to terrorist activities.

To respond to these findings, women influencers were supported to raise awareness within their communities on the potential gendered drivers of violent extremism, identifying those at risk, and referring them to support services.

The research, which also noted that women undertake a large variety of both combative and non-combative tasks for Al-Shabab, was also presented to Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit and other law enforcement actors in the country, to strengthen their understanding of women’s role in violent extremism beyond the stereotypical roles of victims/wives.

Nigeria

Nigeria does not have a current NAP: Nigeria is due to adopt its third NAP; the second expired during 2021. It is yet to be fully drafted, disseminated or adopted. Although the UK provided technical support to Nigeria to develop its first and second NAPs, and despite Nigeria’s Constitution enshrining the principle of non-discrimination by gender, WPS is rarely prioritised and implementation remains slow.

Men continue to dominate and control the economic and political sphere in Nigeria, and female representation in politics remains low. 2021 saw both significant successes and challenges for the UK Government in advancing WPS objectives in Nigeria. Progress during the first six months of 2021 was particularly strong as the CSSF WPS programme mobilised, strengthening the UK’s strategic partnerships with UN Women, the governments of Canada and Norway, and other leading WPS actors, and cementing the UK’s reputation as a leader in driving forward WPS. UK commitment to WPS in Nigeria meant that high-level external engagement on WPS and gender equality issues and themes was consistently prioritised and mainstreamed throughout much of the UK’s external diplomatic engagement, whether it be climate change, economic development, democracy, police reform and more.

The £800,000 CSSF-funded Nigeria WPS programme in partnership with UN Women and ActionAid Nigeria, was implemented from November 2020 to May 2021. The UK funded a smaller scale humanitarian protection programme (ProSPINE+) than originally intended in north east Nigeria. We have taken a ‘mainstreaming’ approach as far as possible, looking for opportunities to use other investments and activities (for example, our support to Regional Stabilisation in the North East) to define and deliver WPS objectives.

SO1: Decision-making

In 2021 the Nigeria WPS programme published several important studies^{[footnote 37]} on women’s participation in dialogue and mediation in farmer-herder conflicts and recommendations to scale-up women’s participation in peace processes more broadly. It also supported a study on risks to women human rights defenders across Nigeria.

Under its Freedom of Religion or Belief policy and programming, particularly in Kaduna and Plateau State, the UK supported WPS objectives within communities living through intercommunal violence. This included projects to build the capacity of youth and women to contribute to joint plans and strategies, and training Women Peace Ambassadors.

A high-level panel discussion hosted at the UK High Commissioner’s Residence for International Women’s Day in March promoted women’s meaningful inclusion in decision-making. UK programming also supported women to participate in public peace dialogues across the North West region in December 2021; and the Embassy continues to support increased political representation and participation for women in Nigeria, including through campaigns on the inclusion of women in the run-up to the 2023 General Elections.

SO3: Gender-based violence

In 2021 the £400,000 Nigeria WPS programme provided emergency support to GBV survivors in three states (Adamawa, Niger, Edo) and published a learning brief on ‘Lessons for Mainstreaming GBV Prevention and Response’ from this to inform scale-up.

Nigeria is a priority country for the UK in relation to anti-trafficking. Programmes in Nigeria included funding the multi-agency Joint Border Task Force (JBTF) to help transform the National Agency for Nigeria’s Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in order to successfully investigate and prosecute Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT) cases. The UK also funded an IOM-delivered MSHT programme through the Home Office’s Modern Slavery Fund, which focussed on strengthening direct assistance for victims of trafficking. In 2021 the UK provided £100,000 to rebuild a victim’s shelter in Edo state, completed in March 2022.

SO4: Humanitarian response

The UK’s humanitarian programming in the North East continued to provide GBV assistance to survivors and in total aided over 185,000 persons with protection services (the vast majority being women and girls). Humanitarian programming provided direct assistance to survivors of GBV (including referral to specialised services, psychosocial activities, access to micro-grants and vocational trainings, and access to justice), raised awareness on rights, and supported Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse activities. Nutrition interventions also targeted support to acutely malnourished pregnant and lactating women and their children.

SO5: Security and justice

The UK strengthened military cooperation on WPS and human security themes, including integrating it into military training programmes; providing support to Gender Focal Points in the Nigerian single services and Defence HQ; and delivering specific training to military officers on gender awareness. The UK funded the training of Nigerian military personnel on the understanding, impact and prevention of SEA, reaching 1000 military personnel to date.

Nigeria Minister of Women’s Affairs speaking at a WPS conference organised by the UK MOD in conjunction with the Ministryof Women Affairs and the Nigerian Uniformed Services

HMG also supported, through a British Military Gender Adviser, the institutionalisation of WPS across Nigerian military operations, facilitating Human Security training for Nigerian military officials at the UK Defence Academy. Following a WPS Conference that the UK Military organised in conjunction with the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Nigerian Uniformed Services, a Gender Awareness Seminar for Senior Officers was also organised through the Nigerian National Defence Academy, to influence the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN).

Other notable successes in 2021 included the UK trained Defence HQ GENAD launching a Gender Policy for the AFN; and the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff expanding the Gender Office into a Gender Directorate. A workshop, which trained Gender Desk Officers, also gave greater momentum for further training internally, with one of the students of the course going on to organise gender training for the Nigerian MOD HQ. The Gender Awareness course and the WPS Conference provide important platforms for incremental change in the narrative of WPS in the AFN.

Somalia

Somalia does not have a NAP: it is in the final stages of developing its first NAP.

Progress on human rights in Somalia remained slow in 2021, including on WPS. GBV, including CRSV, educational disadvantage and limited political participation were among the challenges faced by women and girls. COVID-19 compounded these challenges, including through a rise in IPV and reduced access to education. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) remained widespread with 99% of women aged 15-49 years having experienced it. Stigma, social norms and the preference for using traditional justice mechanisms meant that many GBV cases went unreported. Lack of physical access to legal provisions was particularly apparent for rural communities.

Key pieces of legislation such as the Sexual Offences Bill and the Child Rights Bill stalled owing to the electoral crisis. Indirect Parliamentary elections during 2021 presented challenges for female participation. Despite political commitments on the 30% women’s quota, female representation fell far short.

In Somaliland, progress also remained slow. Reporting of GBV incidents stayed at elevated levels. The UK worked closely with Somaliland to support successful local and parliamentary elections in May, including by funding an external election observation mission. However, no female candidates were elected to Parliament for the first time in Somaliland’s history. The progressive 2018 Sexual Offences law remains unratified, and its replacement (from 2020, still in draft) is widely seen as being inferior. There was no progress on revisions or implementation during 2021.

SO1: Decision-making

Multi-donor funding was channelled via the UK-led Somalia Stability Fund to pilot three local elections in Puntland, which provided people with the right to elect their representatives directly for the first time in over 50 years. In these local elections, more women than men registered to vote and nearly 30% of those elected were women. State-wide local elections are now planned for 2022.

SO3: Gender-based violence

The UK provided £400,000 to UNICEF to support the prevention of GBV and child protection activities in Somalia that reached a total of 520 GBV survivors in 2021 with medical care, legal support, safe shelter, and psychosocial first aid. UNICEF’s work also addressed acute mental health and psychosocial needs for 34,300 children and caregivers and built the capacity of 3,100 frontline workers to deliver psychosocial first aid and prevent GBV. The UK continues to lobby and support on a number of priority pieces of legislation related to tackling GBV, including the Sexual Offences Bill, Anti-FGM Bill and Child Rights Bill.

SO5: Security and justice

In 2021 the UK invested support into communities to improve access to justice services, which included a pilot project that ran workshops bringing together female community leaders, security officials and clan elders to improve awareness and women’s access to justice. Of the participating security officials, 73% stated they now had a better understanding of the different needs of women, men and children in the justice system. Female prosecutors were specifically included in training of Somaliland’s justice sector, with gaps (and opportunities) identified to focus further on women’s rights as human rights and enable access to justice.

Jubaland Security Forces engage with local communities through the Early Recovery Initiative

The UK CSSF programme promoted respect for and adherence to human rights in the Somali National Army (SNA). Through the Early Recovery Initiative project, the UK supported the delivery of gender and human rights training, working with a) the Somali MOD to develop scenario-based training to be rolled out with the SNA (training the trainer programme), and b) ensuring gender and human rights training is also as part of UK Company Collective Training (UK military training) for SNA in Baidoa (Op Tangham). The UK also supported training on gender/human rights with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Providing education and support to girls in conflict and crisis

The UK was at the forefront of developing Education Cannot Wait (ECW) – the global fund for education in emergencies – and is a leading donor following a £90 million commitment from 2019 to 2023. ECW provides emergency education programmes in sudden-onset or escalating crises and a multi-year resilience programme to address longer-term education needs, enabling humanitarian and development actors to work together. Support to girls in crisis focuses on improved learning outcomes and protection where programmes include Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, teacher training in contexts of crisis, safe spaces to learn, increased enrolment and support to inclusive education.

The UK is also the largest bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education where approximately 75% of funds go to fragile and conflict affected countries. This has supported 39 million girls living through conflict and crises to attend school since 2002. In 2021 the UK announced £430 million for GPE (2022 to 2026), a 15% uplift on our previous contribution of £225 million (2018 to 2021). We also supported girls’ education through our bilateral and centrally managed programmes, for example our Girls’ Education Challenge programme has reached over 210,000 girls and 110,000 boys in Afghanistan in a project co-funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

South Sudan

South Sudan does not currently have a NAP: the Government of South Sudan has published its progress report on the South Sudan NAP 2015 to 2020, with preparations underway to develop the new NAP on WPS for 2022 to 2026, supported by UN Women. Civil Society has produced a shadow report, providing its assessment of the progress of implementation of the South Sudan NAP.

Ongoing sub-national conflict, flooding, dire humanitarian needs, and movement restrictions introduced to control COVID-19 have exacerbated gender inequality and hampered efforts to prevent and respond to GBV in South Sudan. Political appointments have fallen short of achieving the commitment within the Revitalised Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) for 35% of representation of women on the Executive and transitional justice institutions.

South Sudan has one of the highest prevalence rates of GBV in the world and is ranked 165/170 on the GIWPS Index. Women and girls in South Sudan are exposed to a range of forms of control and violence, including CRSV, abductions, child marriage, and denial of property rights. IPV is the most prevalent form of GBV, with up to 73% of women experiencing IPV in their lifetimes. Conflict and displacement have had a devastating impact on the lives of women and girls, with CRSV, abductions and the targeting of women and children used “as a tactic to displace and terrorise rival communities”^{[footnote 38]} by warring political factions and community-based militias. In 2021 the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Human Rights Division reported on 194 survivors of CRSV^{[footnote 39]}.

The UK made steady progress in support of WPS in 2021, adapting our efforts in line with both current budgetary position and also the findings of a 2021 CSSF-funded gender analysis and a gender review of HMG’s programming and diplomatic engagement in South Sudan. As a result, the UK stepped up its efforts to deliver on SO 5: Security and Justice, whilst mainstreaming WPS actions through other work streams. The impact of this will likely be seen more clearly in 2022 and the years to come, both by increasing the number of successful convictions for GBV and CRSV, but also encouraging a culture of accountability.

SO1: Decision-making

The draft Constitution Bill provides for 35% of participants in the drafting committee and the preparatory sub-committee to be women. The UK government supported WROs to undertake preparatory activities to meaningfully participate in the process. Working with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) the UK enhanced the voices of women across South Sudan in the permanent constitution making process. The UK supported three regional consultations engaging 200 women leaders from community-based organisations, civil society, and other groups to facilitate dialogue on preparations for access, participation and influence in the process, and to outline priorities for the process and the final constitution, strengthening the relationship between regional women’s networks and women at the national level.

In 2021 the UK government provided WROs with training and supported a Gender Equality Assessment of the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan, enabling WROs to identify the key elements of the transitional constitution that need reforming to enhance the rights of women and girls in the country. The UK government convened the international community to provide a platform for WROs to share a briefing on their analysis.

At a community level, the UK responded to the findings of CSSF funded research on supporting WROs in Fragile and Conflict Affected Contexts^{[footnote 40]}, providing £121,552 in flexible funding to four WROs in Central and Eastern Equatoria and Jonglei (areas affected by conflict) in 2021. This supported WROs to access tailored organisational capacity building support, enabling them to lead programming and advocacy on peacebuilding, gender equality, women’s empowerment and participation, GBV prevention and response. The Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility (CSRF) multi-donor programme, to which the UK contributed £100,000 last financial year, also engaged women employees and women-led organisations in 2021 to strengthen their conflict sensitivity capacity. The CSRF conducted gender-sensitive training and produced in-depth research highlighting WPS and conflict sensitivity challenges (publication pending), enabling the national and international aid community to design evidenced-based programme and policy responses to conflict, humanitarian and development challenges.

Murle and Gawaar Nuer women representatives participate in follow-up peace dialogues convened by the Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund, November 2021

The UK government supported women’s participation in local peace processes through a two year, £3 million programme implemented by the Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund (POF), which supported the delivery of locally-led peace dialogues in Jonglei, Rumbek, Torit and Bentiu ensuring the inclusion of women, and other marginalised groups, in discussions. In Bentiu, the POF established WPS committees to support women’s ongoing inclusion in the implementation of agreements. These committees successfully shifted communities, and women’s own, perception of their role in decision making and the influence they could have in preventing violence. In Jonglei, women and youth participated in community dialogues which led to the signing of a pivotal peace agreement and secured the inclusion of gender provisions such as agreement to the return of abducted women and children.

SO3: Gender-based violence

The UK, as penholder for the Human Rights Council resolution on South Sudan lobbied to preserve the mandate of the Commission of Human Rights of South Sudan to report on CRSV, collect evidence and bring incidents to public attention. We also ensured an enhanced focus on CRSV in the mandate of UNMISS through our diplomatic engagement.

The UK government funded a Gender and Civil Affairs Adviser in the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM), one of the key stakeholders monitoring violations of the R-ARCSS. The adviser is investigating, verifying, and reporting cases of CRSV and maintaining on-going engagement with military commanders to prevent CRSV from occurring.

In 2021 the British Embassy Juba and the UK Mission in New York successfully secured language on the implementation of the Action Plan for the Armed Forces to address CRSV in South Sudan as a benchmark in the UNSC resolution 2577^{[footnote 41]} (on the Arms Embargo). The UK coordinated the international community’s joint statement on International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, calling on the government to expedite the Action Plan’s launch and implementation. The Action Plan has since been formally adopted.

The PSVI team provided £30,000 to World Vision and faith leaders to foster unity between communities and survivors of CRSV in Western Equatoria, a state that saw a significant outbreak of conflict in 2021 and was a hotspot for CRSV, by addressing stigma through community dialogue and engagement with essential service providers to support survivors’ social integration, psychological well-being and right to justice.

The UK government also leads the multi-donor Health Pooled Fund (HPF), which provides £14,220,395 to support access and provision of health services across eight of South Sudan’s ten states, including 4207 GBV specific consultations in 2021. HPF has strengthened the capacity of health services to provide GBV services by training staff in 623 health facilities to identify, respond, and manage GBV using the MoH/WHO Clinical Management of Rape guidelines. HPF also provides essential maternal care and access to sexual and reproductive services, supporting women to have greater decision making over their bodies.

To mark the 16 Days of Activism Against GBV, the UK government co-hosted with UNFPA an event on the Anti-GBV Bill and participated on panels addressing masculinities and with traditional chiefs on ending child marriage.

SO4: Humanitarian response

Through a 6-year, £25 million programme the UK government funded International Medical Corps to work with survivors, communities and local authorities to raise awareness on GBV, improve safety for women in their communities, provide confidential and survivor-centred case management and psychosocial support services in women and girls’ safe spaces, and referrals to health, psychosocial, protection, legal and socio-economic support. 163,117 people were reached in 2021.

The £957,875 Humanity and Inclusion (HI) programme provided mental health and psychosocial support services reaching 980 individuals, covering risk factors associated with increases in GBV. In 2021 the HI team trained the GBV Sub-cluster, (an international grouping of actors in the humanitarian response to GBV in South Sudan) on risks of GBV and barriers to accessing support for persons with disabilities and facilitated the South Sudan Women with Disabilities network to participate in the discussions on preparation of the GBV sub-cluster 3-year strategic plan for 2022-2024. Through this, the network representatives were able to highlight the barriers and challenges they are facing in accessing GBV response services and on ways in which the response can be more inclusive. As part of the GBV sub-cluster strategic planning sessions, the South Sudan Women with Disabilities representative was able to share good practices that had ensured women and girls with disabilities were part of the GBV prevention and the response system.

SO5: Security and justice

The UK began a new £100,000 programme in 2021 to improve access to justice for survivors of GBV by funding a survivor-centred redesign of the Specialised GBV and Juvenile Court in Juba. The project encompasses training for court officials, improvements to record-keeping systems as well as changes to the physical infrastructure of the Court. The UK also broadened access to justice for survivors of GBV through a project with STEWARDWOMEN to deliver legal aid clinics and provide legal representation, legal counselling and awareness to hundreds of survivors of GBV and CRSV including in harder to reach rural areas near to Nimule, Juba and Rubkona.

Syria

Syria does not currently have a NAP: the UK does not have diplomatic relations with the Syrian regime, and thus we do not support any efforts by the regime to create a NAP on WPS. We coordinate with civil society actors to implement the UK NAP on WPS, as our main stakeholder.

Syria ranks second worst on the 2021 GIWPS Index^{[footnote 42]}. In 2021 the impact of COVID-19, the deepening economic crisis, and the pervasive insecurity exacerbated already high levels of GBV^{[footnote 43]} and hindered women’s participation in all aspects of life at the local and international levels, as well as participation in some programme activities^{[footnote 44]}. Shrinking operational space for civil society impacted women-led organisations and WROs heavily. The increase in restrictions and difficult working environments in neighbouring countries forced many WROs to relocate, hindering their access to Syrian women in refugee hosting countries. Other legal and compliance issues such as counter-terrorism legislation has also affected the ability of WROs to receive funding and channel it to their local offices in their areas of operations, delaying implementation of activities.

The conflict in north-east Syria and the influence of Daesh have created deep social divisions. Many women are widowed or separated from their husbands, including from imprisoned Daesh fighters. Women are the main breadwinners, sometimes engaging in economic roles traditionally fulfilled by males. Women-headed households are at increased risk of social and economic marginalisation, in particular if suspected of association with Daesh.

The UK has therefore put women and girls at the heart of our diplomatic and programme efforts in Syria to amplify the voices, needs, and challenges of women and girls in international fora, including through facilitating their reach and participation in relevant international events. Our continuous engagement with WROs allowed us to respond to the needs of women and girls in a sensitive and inclusive way. Resorting to online as a means to conduct engagement and meetings with women political and civic activists allowed us to reach more women, particularly those based inside Syria.

The UK’s dedicated programme of support to prevent and respond to GBV, protection, education, accountability, and empowerment of feminist and women-led organisations has responded to the growing needs in Syria, as outlined in the 2018 HMG’s Shared Approach to Gender in Syria Strategy^{[footnote 45]}, although the scale of the work was reduced to reflect the budget position.

SO1: Decision-making

In 2021 the UK continued our support to WROs to further gender equality in Syria through our partnership with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) which provided: tailored capacity building to 24 Syrian WROs; 13 small flexible grants to cover their core costs; production of feminist knowledge resources in Arabic; and networking opportunities for Syrian feminist and political activists. The CSSF provided £550,000 in 2021 to fund WILPF’s Feminist Movement for Change project, which has allowed Syrian women to make their voices heard and has influenced decision-making processes to be more gender-sensitive. The flexible funding component has unblocked one of the main barriers that WROs face, enhancing their capabilities to empower Syrian women and advocate for their meaningful participation.

CSSF partner, Hala Systems, developed a gender equality and women and girls-focused engagement strategy to ensure more equitable access for women and girls to early warning of airstrikes, deployed in partnership with Syria Civil Defence (SCD). This project included efforts to expand the deployment of warnings to radio, given women’s reduced access to technology.

The UK Office for Syria conducted several engagements with women political and civil society activists throughout the year and used diplomatic leverage to amplify their voices in high level meetings with relevant stakeholders (such as the UN Special Envoy to Syria). In November, we conducted a roundtable discussion with Syrian and international organisations with a specific focus on VAWG in north-east Syria. The roundtable aimed to highlight types of VAWG and identify opportunities for support through our response. During his virtual visit to the region in February 2021, the UK Special Representative to Syria met a number of civil society actors and activists, including WROs. They discussed the challenges faced by civil society in Syria and neighbouring countries, with a specific focus on WRO challenges and needs.

SO3: Gender-based violence

In 2021 the UK continued our support to Lawyers and Doctors for Human Rights (LDHR), through our partnership with Synergy for Justice, providing £1 million to train community members to be first responders; vetting of 24 safe centres; refer cases of sexual violence to specialised support services; train doctors as expert documenters of such cases; and work to understand and address stigma with regard to sexual violence in Syrian communities. LDHR completed research documenting the pervasive use of sexual violence against detainees in Syria and made these available to justice representatives and conducted gender mapping in two communities in Idlib governorate (Maart Misrin and Ad Dana).

The UK, WILPF and Syrian WROs also co-hosted a closed briefing with representatives of a number of governments in Geneva to advocate against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in Syria. This allowed us to amplify the voices of Syrian women at the international level and push forward women-led solutions to peace and justice. The UK also hosted a roundtable discussion with women civil society actors, political activists, and a member of the Constitutional Committee in December 2021 to identify targeted opportunities to respond to VAWG in Syria.

SO4: Humanitarian response

In 2021 the CSSF provided £4.5 million in support to the SCD, which enabled them to continue to operate 33 women’s centres in north-west Syria that are staffed and led by more than 250 women from the communities they serve. The women’s centres provide essential and life-saving health services to host communities and IDPs, reaching the most marginalised populations particularly women, children, and people with disabilities. The volunteers are responsible for directly engaging women from the surrounding community and supporting other SCD teams as needed. The UK also supported SCD’s efforts to institutionalise gender sensitivity and inclusion into internal management and operations.

Syria Civil Defence volunteers provide essential and life-saving health services (Copyright: Syria Civil Defence)

Women and girls reported significantly higher levels of IPV, as well as alarming levels of child and forced marriages, and so called ‘honour killings’ in 2021. The UK provided up to £3.9 million to UNFPA’s Syria Appeal in 2021 and contributed to 953,605 people being reached with sexual and reproductive health services (antenatal and postnatal care, family planning, vaccinations and post-rape treatment), 564,236 people reached with GBV awareness and outreach activities (on early marriage, women’s rights, GBV case management) and the provision of 62 Safe Spaces providing survivors of gender-based violence with a range of specialised services (physical, psychological, legal, social, economic). In 2021 UK support to educational programmes in Syria also reached more than 100,000 girls in formal and non-formal education, with 2,431 girls and 300 female parents provided with specialised mental health and psychosocial support services.

Through collaboration with USAID on social cohesion and early recovery, in 2021 we provided £1.7 million on-farm assistance to 150 women-run farms in Raqqa Governorate, business support to 16 female juice and molasses workshop owners in Deir ez-Zour, as-well as start-up livelihoods equipment to 60 women in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour. This support enables women to support their families, enhance their living conditions, and create new job opportunities and safer working environments for other women.

SO5: Security and justice

Through our CSSF programming, we supported accountability efforts to bring justice to victims and survivors of sexual violence. In 2021 Synergy for Justice and LDHR trained a cohort of 15 Syrian medical doctors as expert documenters of torture and sexual violence based on the Istanbul Protocols. LDHR forensically documented 47 cases (35 men, 12 women) to support the pursuit of justice for these crimes. Moreover, 20 cases have been submitted to investigators, prosecution authorities or other justice actors building prosecution cases against the perpetrators.

In 2021 Synergy for Justice and LDHR published three human rights reports that detail what life is like for women and girls who are victims of arbitrary detention and sexual violence in Syria. Lacking Legal Basis^{[footnote 46]} is an analysis of arbitrary arrest and detention of women and girls in Syria. The Whole World Has Let Me Down^{[footnote 47]}, focuses on the particular horrors they face in arbitrary detention; and the Stigma report ^{[footnote 48]} focuses on the knowledge, attitudes and stigma surrounding sexual violence and its survivors in Syrian communities. Documenting the scale and nature of torture and sexual violence occurring in Syria has contributed to a global understanding of how to respond to survivors and support their quest for both justice and healing, setting an important precedent for future accountability for such crimes.

Furthermore, the UK supported five WROs working specifically on gender-sensitive approaches to transitional justice in 2021. These Syrian women-led solutions to justice brought a crucial new approach to gender sensitivity in accountability work, which has influenced international justice mechanisms approaches particularly to gendered crimes.

HRH The Countess of Wessex champions WPS and PSVI

In 2021 Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex continued to champion UK efforts to promote women’s meaningful participation and protection in peace processes including as mediators, and to support survivors and children born of CRSV. In March 2021, HRH joined Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon at a roundtable with the UK Survivor Champions (Kolbassia Haoussou and Nadine Tunasi) and UK diplomatic missions to raise awareness of UK-led survivor support in South Sudan and Bosnia and Herzegovina. HRH joined Lord Ahmad at a subsequent meeting with the British Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia in April.

HRH also championed the work of the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth Network. In March, HRH met members to highlight their work and discuss ongoing challenges that prevent women’s participation in peace processes and to hear of where these women are successfully engaged in peace processes. In June, HRH joined Minister Cleverly as Minister for the Middle East and North Africa at a meeting with the Libyan PM Dabaiba and Foreign Minister Mangoush to emphasise the importance of women’s meaningful participation and protection in all aspects of Libyan society.

HRH the Countess of Wessex and Minster James Cleverly met with Libyan PM and FM to discuss WPS in June 2021

Spotlight: Yemen

Although Yemen is not a focus country, due to the current humanitarian crisis and ongoing conflict and peace efforts, the UK has identified Yemen as a priority country since 2019 for women’s participation in peace processes.

Yemen NAP 2020 to 2022: Yemen developed its NAP in November 2020. The UK supports the NAP diplomatically, and will consider funding its application, once a funding plan is agreed.

The context for WPS in Yemen is dire and the country is third from the bottom in the GIWPS Index. There are very few women in official political institutions, including none in the Cabinet of the Government of Yemen, formed at the end of 2021. Women rarely form part of political delegations on any side of the conflict and, despite efforts to influence a range of parties in Yemen, and public messaging, there has been no progress.

CSOs have been active in response to COVID-19, working flexibly across humanitarian development and rights work^{[footnote 49]}. Yemeni women are often at the forefront of responding to acute humanitarian needs, often alongside peacebuilding activities, and COVID-19 has presented additional demands and risks. Yemeni women constitute the majority of healthcare workers along with the unpaid duties of caring for family and relatives^{[footnote 50]}.

SO1: Decision-making

CSSF funded the Senior Gender Advisor at the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen (OSESGY) until Sep 2021 to enable them to run a more effective and inclusive peace process.

The FCDO’s Yemen Overseas Network (YON) coordinated with likeminded countries through regular participation in the International Gender Coordination Group hosted by UN Women and the EU Delegation to Yemen, including co-hosting one session. YON lobbied the Government of Yemen on the need for representation of women at Cabinet level, lodging concern that the members of the Cabinet appointed towards end of 2021 were exclusively male, and engaged with civil society on WPS issues.

Public facing communications demonstrated UK support for an inclusive peace process that includes the meaningful participation of women through regular messaging via Embassy and Ambassadorial channels. The CSSF Gender Peace and Security Fund also supported WROs in Yemen in 2021 through capacity building grants.

Section 5: Indicators

Strategic Outcome 1: Decision-making

An increase in women’s meaningful and representative participation and leadership in decision-making processes, including conflict prevention and peace building at community and national levels.

Indicator and source	Afghanistan	DRC	Iraq	Libya	Myanmar	Nigeria	Somalia	South Sudan	Syria
1.1 Proportion of seats (%) held by women in national parliaments (2020)[footnote 51]	27	11.3	26.4	16	16.8	7.2	24.4	28.5	11.2
1.2 Proportion of women in ministerial level positions (2020) (%)[footnote 52]	6.5	21.2	9.1	5.6	NDA	10.3	18.5	33.3	10.3
1.3 Representation of women among mediators, negotiators and signatories in formal peace negotiations (%)[footnote 53]	N/A – no current peace talks	N/A – no peace talks since 2008	N/A no peace negotiations since 2010	23% in 2020 UN facilitated Libyan Political Dialogue Forum	17% in August 2020 21st century Panglong Union Peace conference	N/A no national-level peace negotiations	N/A – no peace negotiations since 2008	N/A – no peace negotiations since 2018.	28% in October 2019 Peace Talks (Syrian Constitutional Committee)

Notes on the data: Where it says NDA this data could not be obtained (No Data Available).

Strategic Outcome 2: Peacekeeping

A gender perspective is consistently applied in the setting and implementation of international standards and mandates for peace operations

Indicator and source	Afghanistan	DRC	Iraq	Libya	Myanmar	Nigeria	Somalia	South Sudan	Syria
2.1 Does the UN Security Council peacekeeping or special political mission mandate include women, peace & security language?[footnote 54]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A	Yes	Yes (2021)	N/A
2.2 Number of reported cases of sexual exploitation and abuse allegedly perpetrated by uniformed or civilian peacekeepers (in 2021)[footnote 55]	0	23	0	0	N/A	N/A	0	4	N/A
2.3 Number of UN peacekeeping troops who are female (in focus country missions) out of total troops56	0/1	765/12,117	14/231	19/217	N/A	N/A	52/577	841/13,060	N/A

Notes on the data: Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Somalia have Special Political Missions rather than Peacekeeping Missions. Data on number of reported cases of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers is based on reports to the UN only, recorded in their Case Management Tracking System. It does not include reports to WROs etc

Strategic Outcome 3: Gender-based Violence

An increase in the number and scale of interventions that integrate effective measures to prevent and respond to GBV, particularly violence against women and girls which is the most prevalent form of GBV

Indicator and source	Afghanistan	DRC	Iraq	Libya	Myanmar	Nigeria	Somalia	South Sudan	Syria
3.1 Intimate partner violence (experienced by women in the past year, %)[footnote 57]	35	36	45.3	18.3	11	13	21.2	27	23
3.2 The percentage of women who agree that a husband/partner is justified in beating his wife/partner under certain circumstances (2019)[footnote 58]	80.2	74.8	54.8	25.1	51.2	34.7	75.7	59.2%	NDA
3.3 Community safety (perceptions among women ages 15+, %[footnote 60]	9.8 (2019)	37 (2018)	57.6	50.4 (2019)	59.6	42.3	85.9 (2018)	42.6 (2018)	16.9 (2018)
3.4 Prevalence of gender based violence, in lifetime, % women (2019)[footnote 61]	60.8	50.7	21.2	NDA	33	16.2	NDA	NDA	NDA
3.5 Number of grantee projects in country that were newly awarded grant funding in 2021 by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women[footnote 62]	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	0

3.6 Is this a focus country of the UK Aid funded “What Works” programme to prevent violence against women and girls

NDA: What Works 2 Programme focus countries will be determined through the inception phase in 2022

Notes on the data: Where it says NDA this information could not be obtained.

Strategic Outcome 4: Humanitarian response

Women’s and girls’ needs are more effectively met by humanitarian actors and interventions through needs-based responses that increase women’s leadership and meaningful participation

Indicator and source	Afghanistan	DRC	Iraq	Libya	Myanmar	Nigeria	Somalia	South Sudan	Syria
4.1 Percentage of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) refugee and Internally Displaced People (IDP) operations that provide ‘satisfactory’ support to survivors of SGBV	NDA	100%	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
4.2 Has the country budgeted for emergency preparedness and response and disaster risk reduction plans which integrate sexual and reproductive health	NDA	Yes	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
4.3 Number of health service providers and managers trained on the minimum initial service package with support from the UNFPA[footnote 63]	413	1879	162	464	0	55	645	218	1711
4.4 Percentage of UNHCR refugee and IDP operations with at least 35% women’s participation in leadership and management structures	NDA	100%	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
4.5 Has the country applied the UNFPA minimum standards for the prevention and response to gender-based violence in emergencies[footnote 64]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Notes on the data: Where it says NDA this information could not be obtained.

Strategic Outcome 5: Security and justice

Security and Justice actors are increasingly accountable to women and girls, and responsive to their rights and needs

Indicator and source	Afghanistan	DRC	Iraq	Libya	Myanmar	Nigeria	Somalia	South Sudan	Syria
5.1 Measure of discrimination against women in social institutions (higher % means higher levels of discrimination)[footnote 65]	52.8%	39.5%	53.7%	NDA	42.4%	46%	NDA	NDA	NDA
5.2 Right to equal justice	0-1 (worst)[footnote 66]	0.75	0.25	0.75	NDA	0.75	0.25	NDA	NDA	0.75
5.3 Legal discrimination (aggregate score; out of 100, higher score means stronger gender equality under the law)[footnote 67]	38.1	78.8	45.0	50.0	71.9	63.1	47.0	70.0	36.9
5.4 Can a woman obtain a judgement of divorce in the same way as a man?[footnote 68]	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
5.5 Laws prohibit or invalidate child or early marriage 0-1 (worst)[footnote 69]	1.00	0.25	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.75	1.00
5.6 Legislation exists on domestic violence 0-1 (worst)[footnote 70]	0.75%	0.75	0.75	0.75	0.75	0.75	0.50	0.75	0.75
5.7 Legislation explicitly criminalises marital rape	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA

Notes on the data: Where it says NDA this information could not be obtained.

Strategic Outcome 6: Violent Extremism

Ensure the participation and leadership of women in developing strategies to prevent and counter violent extremism.

Indicator and source	Afghanistan	DRC	Iraq	Libya	Myanmar	Nigeria	Somalia	South Sudan	Syria
6.1 Does the country’s WPS NAP reference female participation and leadership in Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)?[footnote 71]	No current NAP	No	Yes	No current NAP	No current NAP	No current NAP	No current NAP	No	No current NAP
6.2 Does the country’s WPS NAP commit to gender-sensitive research and data collection relating to Countering Violent Extremism?	No current NAP	No	NDA	No current NAP	No current NAP	No current NAP	No current NAP	No	No current NAP
6.3 Does the country’s counter-terrorism/ countering violent extremism strategy reference women or gender as having a role in counter-terrorism/ violent extremism?	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	No	NDA

Notes on the data: Where it says NDA this information could not be obtained.

Strategic Outcome 7: UK capabilities

The UK Government continues to strengthen its capability, processes and leadership to deliver against WPS commitments

Indicator and source	Afghanistan	DRC	Iraq	Libya	Myanmar	Nigeria	Somalia	South Sudan	Syria
7.1 Mainstreaming of gender in National Security Council country strategies[footnote 72]	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
7.2 Integration of WPS into cross departmental operational plans (e.g. Country Business Plan (CBP) and programmes at the country level[footnote 73]	Yes Promotion of women’s rights integrated Into CBP	Yes WPS integrated into country strategy	Yes WPS integrated into CBP	Yes WPS integrated into CBP	Yes WPS integrated into FCDO Myanmar’s Equalities Action Plan	No	Yes WPS integrated into country strategy	Yes Promotion of women’s rights integrated into CBP	Yes Gender equality integrated into CBP
7.3 Mainstreaming of gender where appropriate and applicable in military doctrine and training materials, and appoint military gender advisers[footnote 74]	There is no UK military presence in Afghanistan	Yes MOD provides a Gender Adviser to the Force Commander	Yes NATO supports the implementation of the Iraq NAP on WPS	There is no UK military presence in Libya	There is no UK military presence in Myanmar	Yes MOD provides a Gender Adviser to the Armed Forces of Nigeria	Yes MOD provides gender and human rights training to the SNA and AMISOM	There is no UK military presence in South Sudan	There is no UK military presence in Syria
7.4 Integration of gender analysis into conflict analysis and research	Yes	NDA	NDA	Yes	NDA	NDA	NDA	Yes	Yes

7.5 Training and capacity building of UK Government staff to implement the WPS commitments

Gender Advisers and Focal Points continue to share information and expertise on gender issues across the FCDO global network. No Gender, Conflict and Stability Trainings were held for UK staff in 2021, but WPS training was provided in Somalia Syria and Myanmar.

Notes on the data: NDA = No Data Available; CBP = Country Business Plan
Gender analysis and sex and age disaggregated data forms a crucial part of the MOD’s approach to conflict analysis and the military planning process. This has been strengthened through the publication of JSP 985 in December 2021, as this JSP provides further guidance on how to do this.

Section 6: WPS across the global network

In 2021 the UK, through the MOD, provided support to Albania to promote opportunities for civil society to engage with the Albanian MOD, supported Albania’s participation in the Regional WPS Chief of Defence Network, and promoted women’s participation in the military via the Embassy’s social media coverage.

The UK continued to play a pivotal role in supporting the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH) to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325. UK support has ensured the continuation of the WPS Chief of Defence Network, which provides a forum for the Armed Forces to promote women’s role in peacebuilding, security and stabilisation. This network is crucial to delivering recommendations from the UK-funded 2020 AFBiH’s Gender Audit, such as the need to improve the access and safety of women within military facilities. Following recommendations from the audit, in 2021 the UK established a new position of Gender Adviser to the BiH Chief of Defence; and supported the ongoing refurbishment of selected AFBiH accommodation sites, including the guard facility at the AFBiH Combat Training Center and Ranges in Manjača, to comply with international safeguarding and gender sensitivity standards.

British military personnel provided direct support to their BiH counterparts via training on Human Security and WPS, highlighting the causes and consequences of CRSV and appropriate operational responses in tackling them. A Mobile Urban Training Facility was procured to support infantry training in a contemporary urban environment, building on the Human Security course and providing a platform for practical training on Human Security. BiH is a priority on PSVI and UK support in BiH aims to ensure that the rights of CRSV survivors are protected, including through supporting a decision by the UN Committee Against Torture that calls for the Government of BiH to pay reparations to survivors when the perpetrators are unable or unwilling to do so.

In Central Asia, the UK supported UNFPA to strengthen national capacities across the five Central Asian Republics to improve the prevention of, and responses to GBV through developing procedures, protocols and training packages for health, police and psychosocial support providers. The project also works with faith-based organisations to prevent GBV and harmful practices. The UK through the MOD delivered Human Security, Gender Advisor and ‘Train the Trainer’ courses across the region to improve states’ capability to participate in UN Peacekeeping and other operations.

The UK supported UN Women and relevant authorities in Georgia to draft the fourth Georgian NAP on WPS, ensuring the active engagement of government agencies, relevant municipalities, WROs, IDPs and conflict-affected women and youth. Furthermore, UN Women and the Georgia Ministry of Defence signed a MoU to work on mainstreaming WPS throughout 2021 – 2024, including increasing the participation of women in defence and security processes.

In Ghana, the UK through the MOD provided foundation-level Human Security Training to the Ghanian Army Special Operations Brigade focused on WPS and P/CVE, with the aim of mainstreaming gender across all programming, and strengthening capabilities, processes and leadership to deliver WPS commitments in all activities in conflict-affected contexts, including through developing the necessary resources, expertise and skills.

UK MOD provides WPS training to the Ghanian Army Special Operations Brigade

Responding to CRSV in Ethiopia

The UK deployed a PSVI expert to Ethiopia in 2021 to identify opportunities to scale up the UK response to CRSV and supported the deployment of four experts to the UN humanitarian system, to enhance the response to GBV and SEA. FCDO’s East Africa Research and Innovation Hub commissioned research on CRSV within the conflict in northern Ethiopia, including on who is perpetrating CRSV and for what purpose, as well as who has been targeted. This research will be carried out by a consortium of researchers and practitioners to provide real-time information to inform policy and programming.

The UK funded UNICEF to continue to work with international NGOs to deliver services and support to women and girls at risk of GBV in northern Ethiopia, including case management for survivors, provision of dignity kits and cash to women and girls to meet their basic needs, and capacity building for GBV actors to improve the quality of care. As part of child protection and GBV interventions in northern Ethiopia, UNICEF plans to reach over 30,000 girls, boys, women and men over four years, including with case management and material support for survivors of violence. UK support to the ICRC enabled them to continue to provide lifesaving support to survivors of sexual violence in conflict.

In 2021, FCDO recruited a Gender and GBV Adviser to be based in Addis Ababa to support the inclusion of women and girls in the humanitarian response though the Humanitarian Policy Fund. The UK, through CSSF, also supported courses at the Ethiopian Peace Support Training Centre for military and police officers deploying UN and Africa Union (AU) operations, including modules on international humanitarian law and GBV. The British Embassy Addis Ababa demonstrated solidarity with Ethiopian women and girls through the development of a joint statement spearheaded by Canada and UN Women in Ethiopia to mark the 16 Days of Activism on GBV

UK builds WPS capability within UN peacekeeping: In 2021 the UK provided CRSV training on SGBV investigations to Ghanaian police ahead of their deployment into a UN peacekeeping mission. The course developed investigatory capabilities in Peace Support Operations and trained police officers to investigative using a “trauma-informed victim-focused” methodology that places victim’s welfare at the heart of any investigation and action. We have also delivered this training in Zambia and in Kenya (to the East African Standby force) through BPST(A) and plan to deliver it in Sierra Leone in 2022.

In 2021 the UK through the MOD hosted its second two day WPS workshop in Indonesia specifically for female peacekeepers at the Indonesian Peacekeeping Training Centre. The workshop was designed to provide a forum for discussion and information sharing on the particular role of women in conflict zones, practices related to the integration of women within military organisations, as well as the specific challenges they face.

Since 2014, the UK has been the leading advocate and supporter of work to address CRSV issues in Kosovo, supporting over 1500 survivors. Through CSSF funding, in 2021 the UK supported four local NGOs with stigma awareness raising activities, support for access to justice, rehabilitation services and support to access to reparation programmes by the Government of Kosovo. The UK through the MOD provided support to the multinational civil-military team in Operation ALLIED SOLACE in Kosovo to support gender-sensitive needs assessments for the 850 NATO-affiliated Afghans being resettled in Alliance countries. Supported by the MOD, 2021 was the first year the Kosovo Security Force sent two female candidates on the UK Professional Qualified Officers course.

The UK also have a police officer deployed into the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), who is the gender focal point for the mission and is leading on work on GBV, including mapping domestic violence cases across the country. In Moldova, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) GBV Cooperation Across the Nistru River project has been building cooperation amongst communities across conflict lines to improve awareness and enable actors to take more effective responses to GBV. By the end of 2021, 117 medical workers and 108 local practitioners were trained on how to respond to GBV cases. In 2021 the MOD ran a Women and Ethnic Minorities programme, supporting building diversity in leadership roles in the Moldovan Armed Forces.

The UK worked across the law enforcement, judiciary and political arena in Montenegro to improve institutional responses to GBV and increase women’s participation in politics. In 2021 the UK provided rooms for vulnerable persons within Montenegrin police stations, collected evidence on inconsistent sentencing practices in cases of GBV, provided training materials to sensitise judges to GBV, and developed a Guide to Mainstreaming Best Practice in the area of GBV in Judicial Processes, as well as moving to revising the sentencing policy.

To support women’s political participation, the UK collected large amount of evidence on obstacles to, and opportunities for, women’s greater involvement with politics, including a detailed analysis of the (dis)information space and its impact on women’s political participation, supported a parliamentary group of women MPs to build their public profile and push back on the social media abuse they were subjected to, and provided expertise to political parties to improve women’s progression. In June 2021, the Royal Navy hosted a WPS event onboard ‘HMG Richmond’ in Montenegro, with members of the Montenegrin Armed Forces, to demonstrate MOD’s commitment and contribution to WPS and gender equality work. Our continuous engagement resulted in the Vice-President of Parliament acknowledging the UK as the most important partner in fostering the gender equality agenda in Montenegro.

In 2021 the UK began a new UNFPA project in North Macedonia to provide support to operationalise the new Law for Protection and Prevention from VAWG. The project supports the design of a new protocol for multisector cooperation in service provision, will increase the capacity of GBV service providers, and will design a model for integrated GBV data collection and analysis for more efficient and evidence-based policies and programmes. The project will also challenge the harmful gender norms that drive GBV through campaigning and work with perpetrators.

In Serbia, the UK started a new project to tackle GBV in September 2021, including a focus on combatting GBV in public spaces. The project aims to understand through a first-of-its kind survey what the problems are that women face outdoors related to safety and violence, e.g., on public transportation, walking alone at night. Based on the results of the survey, UN Women will work together with community groups, CSOs and local municipalities on finding national and local solutions. The project will also support and improve the capacity of shelters for survivors of GBV.

A new National Response Strategy for Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence was developed and launched in Sierra Leone with technical assistance provided under the UK’s bilateral Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment (SAGE) programme. The UK’s bilateral education programme, Leh Wi Lan, was also adapted to include new work to review and update the Sierra Leone National Referral Protocol for Survivors of GBV, to ensure this reflects the new focus on survivor-centred response set out in the Strategy. The SAGE programme and Girls’ Education Challenge programme EAGER also built out-of-school girls’ skills, knowledge, confidence and power to push back against and report violence.

In Sri Lanka, the UK responded to escalating GBV during COVID-19 by building an understanding of how to tackle the gendered drivers of conflict and exclusion in cyberspace and supported CSOs in raising awareness and offering support to GBV survivors. The UK also supported the HALO Trust and Mines Advisory Group to clear landmines, enabling the return of communities displaced by conflict. Women make up 39% of HALO’s employees, including from many conflict-affected female-headed households. Work in partnership with UNDP and UN Women enabled the sustainable resettlement of 4,218 families displaced by the war, including 40% female-headed households. Technical support for police development promoted human rights, tackled GBV and increased the representation of women and minorities. High-level defence engagement also supported greater awareness of the importance of human rights and gender equality. Technical support to Parliament facilitated cross-party parliamentary mechanisms and CSO engagement on the themes of gender and human rights. Additionally, working with UNICEF, the British High Commission, provided life-saving medical equipment to 11 public maternal hospitals for more than 2,640 high-risk pregnant mothers and infants diagnosed with COVID-19.

In Thailand, the UK funded the ‘Advancing Women Peace and Security Agenda’ project in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces, including supporting women peacebuilders to produce specific recommendations for the peace dialogue teams to ensure gender perspectives are taken into account during the dialogue, and in any final peace outcome or settlement.

In Ukraine, the UNFPA EMBRACE project worked with the Government of Ukraine to change the policy and legislative landscape to support the prevention of GBV, to establish sustainable services for survivors, and to enable the effective prosecution of those perpetrating GBV. In doing so it has helped to establish 16 shelters, five crisis rooms, and ten centres for GBV survivors across the country.

UNFPA provides support to the police in Ukraine to improve their GBV response

In Vietnam, the UK through the MOD delivered mission-specific CRSV-related training to the Vietnamese People’s Army (VPA) in preparation for deployment on the UN mission in South Sudan. In this way, the MOD ensured the VPA received the UN mandated pre-deployment training, as well as providing a bedrock platform to begin discussions on the creation of a NAP for Vietnam. The VPA passed their Pre-Deployment Validation to a high standard. There is the potential to deliver this course to other key stakeholders in the region. The UK worked with UN Women in Vietnam to support phase one (of three) of the development of Vietnam’s NAP on WPS through sharing our experiences, particularly on implementing and financing of the NAPs. Phase two and three of our support will focus on producing research and final recommendations on the scope of the NAP.

MOD provides mission-specific CRSV-related training to the Vietnamese People’s Army

Section 7: Multilateral organisations

The UK uses its Presidency of the G7 to galvanise international action on WPS

Through the G7’s first ever compact to tackle the drivers of famine^{[footnote 75]}, the UK helped to mobilise urgent funding for humanitarian assistance in the countries at greatest risk. The Compact also commits G7 nations to support action to prevent and respond to GBV, as well as the economic harm and the health impacts experienced by women and girls in conflict and crises.  During the Generation Equality Forum, the UK became a signatory of the WPS and Humanitarian Action Compact^{[footnote 76]}. In doing so, we committed to advocate for all supported humanitarian appeals to be based on inclusive consultations with women and women’s groups, and to expand and build inclusive adaptive social protection systems in collaboration with multilateral development banks and humanitarian cash providers to reach those at risk of exclusion, especially crisis and displacement-affected women.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

The UK supported the ASEAN to mainstream WPS across the ASEAN three community pillars – political/security, economic, social/cultural – and to support the development of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on WPS. Ongoing work with the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN IPR) included working jointly with the Canadian Mission to fund the development of their training module on WPS. The content has now been agreed with the ASEAN members states and the pilot phase will commence in 2022.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

Since 2020, the UK has funded a policy adviser to support the development of a NATO CRSV policy. NATO Leaders endorsed the Alliance’s policy on CRSV in June 2021, which means that NATO has a clearly defined role in preventing and responding to CRSV, all deployed personnel in all NATO missions, operations and Council-mandated activities, will receive mandatory pre-deployment and in-mission training on CRSV with a survivor centred approach, and NATO forces have a mandate to intervene in cases of CRSV in extremis, including use of force. The UK led the drafting and negotiation of this policy, including through the provision of expertise to NATO.

In October 2021, Defence Ministers endorsed NATO’s new WPS Action Plan^{[footnote 77]} (2021-2025) which identifies new priorities on the integration of gender perspectives in NATO’s work on emerging threats, counter-terrorism and climate security – having counter-terrorism as a priority area for progress as part of the new WPS Action Plan will help drive progress in this area (e.g. through NATO’s Counter-Terrorism Action Plan). The UK played a strong role in negotiating ambitious outcomes.

At NATO’s 2021 Summit in June, the NATO Leaders’ Communiqué reaffirmed Allies’ commitment to the WPS agenda, advancing gender equality, and integrating gender perspectives and the principles of WPS into all Allied work. The UK was a strong advocate for robust language and the Communiqué has set a high watermark for the Alliance’s approach, which will help us to ensure the right approach to these issues in NATO’s new Strategic Concept that Leaders will endorse in June 2022, setting the strategic direction of the Alliance for the next ten years.

In 2021 NATO carried out a number of programmes promoting gender equality, which the UK has supported through common funding. Both KFOR (NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo) and NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) have deployed gender advisors who have carried out training in country.

Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

The UK is a strong advocate of the WPS agenda at the OSCE, pressing for its full implementation across the OSCE’s politico-military, economic and environmental and human dimensions. The UK Delegation continued to promote the benefits of gender equality, including in mediation and peace processes, and to advocate for an intersectional approach in addressing discrimination.

The UK Ambassador chaired the OSCE’s Security Committee throughout 2021, prioritising a gender perspective in security-related discussions and ensuring gender-balanced panels in the Committee. As Chair of the OSCE Gender Network, the UK Ambassador worked with delegations to promote gender equality, and a zero tolerance policy and approach to sexual harassment and SEA.

Working with likeminded delegations, the UK has continued to embed the WPS agenda, including by sharing best practice on tackling GBV in a series of focussed events at the OSCE; through an initiative to enhance WPS voluntary reporting under the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security; and by highlighting the importance of gender in addressing climate change.

A Joint WPS Statement by 53 of 57 OSCE participating States at the Stockholm Ministerial Council^{[footnote 78]} further demonstrated the commitment to advancing WPS at the OSCE (and was an increase in support from 2020 when 52 States joined the statement). The UK Delegation has a gender strategy for engagement at the OSCE and a gender policy lead. Progress on WPS in OSCE decision-making bodies has been limited as the consensus-based nature of the OSCE allows any participating State to block progress. However, we have continued to work with other delegations, as well as the OSCE Secretariat, Institutions, field operations and its Chairpersonship on practical ways to advance full implementation of the WPS agenda.

The UK funded two WPS projects at the OCSE in 2021. The ‘Building an effective whole-of organisation approach to the prevention, detection and handling of SEA’ project included training staff on SEA policies, investigative training, and improving reporting mechanisms. It built on previous UK-funded projects at the OSCE to prevent and address any incidence of SEA. The ‘OSCE – Prevention of trafficking in human beings in supply chains through government practices and measures Phase II’ project continued work to provide support and capacity building to all OSCE participating States, OSCE executive structures, and other international organisations to prevent human trafficking in supply chains, including via capacity-building workshops and model guidelines on measures all States can take.

The OSCE also pledged to take action on GBV, economic justice and rights and technology and innovation at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris. The OSCE became a Catalytic Member of the Forum’s Compact on WPS and Humanitarian Action. Since then, the OSCE’s Secretary General has launched the OSCE Networking Platform for Women Leaders including Peacebuilders and Mediators.

United Nations (UN)

In 2021 the UK continued to promote women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in UN-led political and peace processes (including in Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Yemen) and pushed the Council to address significant WPS concerns in UN peacekeeping contexts such as Mali.

Following the Taliban takeover in 2021, the UK Mission to the UN (UKMIS) worked closely with women leaders from Muslim member states to take action. Qatar joined us as new co-chair of the Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan (GoFWA) and we issued a joint statement at the WPS Open Debate. We convened international meetings with the Canada-led Group of Friends of Afghanistan to keep WPS in the spotlight. Our work with the GoFWA in 2021 included holding two high-level meetings on women and girls in Afghanistan. The first took place in March, in the margins of Commission for the Status of Women, and was co-hosted with the former Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the UN and the Georgetown Institute for WPS (GIWPS), and featured a keynote from Madeleine Albright. The second meeting took place in October 2021, co-hosted with Qatar, UN Women, UNAMA, and GIWPS in the margins of the WPS Open Debate, and featured briefings from a panel of Afghan women leaders.

The UK drove progress on addressing the significant implementation gap on WPS and on securing more WPS references and stronger WPS language in UN Security Council products. This helped ensure that in 2021 WPS was referenced in 63% of all UN Security Council Resolutions, 79% of UN Security Council Presidential Statements (PRST), and 68% of decisions (resolutions and PRSTs). The UK continued to defend the robust WPS normative framework against rollback from obstructionists in the Council.

We also continued to act as coordinator of the Informal Expert Group (IEG) on WPS, co-chaired by Ireland and Mexico in 2021. The IEG is the first official Security Council Working Group on WPS and was created in 2016. It affirms the Council’s commitment in UNSCR 2242 (OP 5a) to strengthen the oversight and coordination of WPS implementation work. In 2021 we held IEG meetings each month on conflicts on the Council’s agenda, including the first-ever IEG meetings on UNIFIL (Lebanon) and BINUH (Haiti). Perhaps the most important and timely meeting was our 19 August IEG meeting on UNAMA (Afghanistan), immediately following the Taliban takeover. In total, UKMIS co-hosted and co-sponsored over 20 events on WPS during 2021, not including the significant number of expert-level meetings on specific conflict contexts.

In 2021 the UK emerged as a leader among international partners on preventing and addressing reprisals against women human rights defenders and peacebuilders, due primarily to a UK-funded project on this issue with UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This project led to the first formal meeting of the Council on reprisals against women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and women peacebuilders; and facilitated the forming of a core group on this issue, which the UK leads. This project also fully funded the development of OHCHR Good Practice Guidelines on mitigating reprisals against civil society briefers, which were adopted by likeminded member states including the US, Estonia, France, Ireland and Mexico in 2021. Our Urgent Action Fund project made clear that we were following up with concrete actions – by standing up emergency grants to WHRDs and peacebuilders facing intimidation or reprisals in conflict settings.

Our Centre for Reproductive Rights (CRR) project culminated in two high-level meetings on SRHR in conflict settings with a wide array of likeminded and middle-ground member states; and the UK’s £1.2 million in funding to the Elsie Initiative supported women’s leadership and presence in peace operations, as well as pre-deployment training delivered to peacekeepers through the British Peace Support Team (Africa) – see breakout box 14 below.

The UK also began working actively on emerging security issues for the WPS agenda, including climate and cyber security (see new and emerging issues section of this report).

British Peace Support Team in Africa (BPST(A)) drives forward the WPS agenda

In 2021 the BPST(A) continued to mainstream gender into all their pre-deployment and other training, reaching an additional 3583 peacekeepers, who now have basic gender awareness and a common understanding of core values in UN/African Union (AU) missions regarding SEA and CRSV. In addition, BSPT(A) delivered 18 WPS courses to military, police, correctional and civilian personnel across Sub-Saharan Africa, aligning with the gender and WPS commitments articulated in its 2020 Gender Policy.

Recognising the critical role that women play in promoting sustainable peace, BPST(A) supported the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre and the International Peace Support Training Centre to deliver training to 46 African women leaders in peace and security. These courses help to build networks, understanding and practical skills, to assist participants to navigate complex leadership situations on Peace Support Operations (PSOs). BPST(A) also supported AMISOM to deliver Female Engagement Teams training to 94 (85 female; 9 male) tactical level troops and officers. The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Contingent FET in Sector 2 has since successfully engaged with the Dhobley community, reaching the local Somali women with culturally appropriate rights awareness, welfare and livelihood interventions.

BPST(A) also delivered training on: Gender in PSOs; CRSV; Child Protection; Protection of Refugees and IDPs; and Protection of Civilians. Overall, 444 (127 male [29%]; 317 female [71%]) UN and AU PSO practitioners (in gender, human rights, protection, conduct and discipline and training functions) are now able to effectively deliver on their roles, having benefited from these bespoke gender training programmes. BPST(A) now has in place a mechanism to request increased female representation in the UK Short Term Training Teams to showcase best practice.

Section 8: UK Capabilities

In 2021 Senior Gender Champions continued to drive the WPS agenda across government and technical support was delivered by FCDO Gender Advisers and Gender Focal Points (GFPs) across the UK network. There are now five CSSF Gender Advisers in place across the UK network.

The cross-government Gender, Conflict and Stability Course (previously overseen by the UK Stabilisation Unit) did not run in 2021. The WPS Policy team continued to provide support and initial training to the FCDO network on WPS. The CSSF Joint Funds Unit held bi-weekly peer exchanges on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in 2021, ran masterclasses for CSSF colleagues on introducing gender and WPS and an introduction to gender analysis.

All CSSF programmes and projects continue to be required to meet the CSSF Minimum Standards on Gender Sensitivity before approval^{[footnote 79]}. WPS was integrated into the CSSF Policy Framework for 2022 – 2025 and the CSSF Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework; and a training programme on core MEL concepts for WPS programming was piloted.

At country level, specific training sessions on WPS were provided to CSSF teams in Somalia in 2021. In Syria, GFPs received a WPS course run by the WPS centre at London School of Economics. In Myanmar, learning and development sessions were held for embassy staff on WPS and Children in Armed Conflict. A Gender 101 training was provided by Gender Advisers to staff in MENA.

The FCDO’s OCSM delivered three major trainings on mainstreaming gender into SOC policy and programming in 2021, including a cross-HMG training on gender analysis and gender sensitivity in SOC policy and programming, which was attended by 134 HMG staff, specialist training for the FCDO’s anti-corruption illicit finance group, and training for the SOC Network regional conference.

Guidance notes on how to apply NAP Strategic Outcomes to policy and programming continue to be developed, with the two remaining guidance notes on SO1 (decision-making) and SO5 (security and justice) ready to be published in 2022. Capability requirements will be reviewed as part of the development of the next WPS NAP.

UK launches innovative Gender, Peace and Security portfolio projects in 2021

The UK began funding a variety of new initiatives under the CSSF Gender, Peace and Security portfolio in 2021, including supporting innovative research, toolkits and pilot projects to explore:

• the importance of flexible core funding to WROs working in fragile and conflict affected states
• intersections between gender and emerging transnational threats, with a focus on cyber and climate
• more inclusive and intersectional approaches to gender-sensitive conflict programming
• best practice for enhancing women’s influence and leadership across different peacebuilding processes
• gendered barriers to women deploying overseas with the UK armed forces
• preventative measures required to address intimidation and reprisals for women human rights defenders participating in UN Security Council discussions
• gender-sensitive security and justice interventions, including to support the reintegration of women and girls following armed conflict

These projects will play a key role in ensuring that the correct evidence, knowledge and capacity are in place to enable the UK and others to effectively deliver on their WPS commitments going forward.

Section 9: Domestic application of the UK National Action Plan

The UK NAP, although outwardly focused, works to complement domestic strategies implemented in the UK.

Violence against women and girls

The UK launched its fourth Tackling VAWG Strategy^{[footnote 80]} in 2021, building upon the enactment of the Domestic Abuse Act^{[footnote 81]}, which sets out a cross-Government approach to increase support for victims and survivors; increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice; and to reduce the prevalence of VAWG by addressing the attitudes and behaviour that underpin these crimes of violence in the UK.

While the strategy is focusing on long-term change, the UK government is also taking immediate steps to improve safety for women and girls, focusing on practical action to bolster physical safety in public spaces. This includes:

• a new national policing lead on VAWG who will report into the Home Secretary-chaired National Policing Board – they will also be the point of contact for every police force to ensure best practice is shared and that progress on improving the response to these crimes is being monitored
• a review of options to limit use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual harassment in higher education * a £5 million ‘Safety of Women at Night’ Fund, in addition to the £25 million Safer Streets Fund Round 3, that focuses on the prevention of VAWG in public spaces at night, including in the night-time economy – this could include targeting parks and alleyways, and routes from bars, restaurants and nightclubs as we see a return to the night-time economy
• criminalising virginity testing, which some women and girls are being forced to undergo, to send a clear message that this practice is wholly unacceptable in our society
• appointing two new VAWG Transport Champions, to drive forward positive change and tackle the problems faced by female passengers on public transport

The strategy also includes the following commitments:

• an additional £1.5 million per annum in vital specialist support services for those from minority groups and to increase our funding for helplines, such as the so-called ‘Revenge Porn’ Helpline
• a new 24/7 rape and sexual assault helpline
• additional support to help teachers deliver the relationships, sex and health education curriculum effectively and confidently and revise existing guidance
• investments in understanding ‘what works’ to prevent VAWG to enable us to identify the highest quality, evidence-informed prevention projects, including £1.5 million in funding for intervention programmes and £1.5 million for evidence building – this will result in high quality, evidence-informed prevention projects, for example which aim to educate and inform children and young people about VAWG, healthy relationships and the consequences of abuse
• the launch of a multi-million communications campaign with a focus on targeting perpetrators and harmful misogynistic attitudes, educating young people about healthy relationships and ensuring victims can access support

VAWG is not inevitable, either in the UK or overseas. Such measures will contribute to the UK’s whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to tackle GBV against women and girls.

In Northern Ireland, there were a number of strategic initiatives aim to tackle VAWG in 2021. The Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy^{[footnote 82]} is Northern Ireland’s current framework of priority actions to address domestic and sexual abuse in the seven year period from 2016 until 2023. The Department of Health and the Department of Justice lead jointly on its delivery through yearly action plans. Work is also ongoing on the development of a new domestic and sexual abuse strategy.

The Northern Ireland Executive has also mandated Equally Safe – A Strategy to End Violence Against Women and Girls. Work began in December 2021 and began with a Joint Call for Views with the Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy. Following a co-design process, the first Framework Strategy is intended to be ready for wide public consultation by December 2022.

Championing women peacebuilders in Northern Ireland

Following the instrumental role women played in achieving the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, women across society in Northern Ireland continue to be agents for change, sustaining peace in their communities and helping to build the capacity of other women peacebuilders overseas.

Women in Northern Ireland are also a crucial part of the work the UK supports around peacebuilding, community cohesion, and preventing and countering violent extremism in the UK. One example of this activity is the Women Involved in Community Transformation (WICT) Programme. Since 2017, the WICT programme has been led by the devolved Department for Communities in Northern Ireland under the Tackling Paramilitarism, Criminality and Organised Crime Programme, which is jointly funded by UK government and the Northern Ireland Executive. The current phase of the programme involves over 250 women across 14 new participant groups. The programme aims to build skills, knowledge and confidence of women in the community to build capacity to support community transformation. Involving the women in positive community activity and facilitating the development of relationships to support women’s engagement with political structures allows civic leadership to grow at the community level. The increased participation and engagement of women allows their voices to be heard and supports their engagement, benefiting them and their community.

The Women in Community Transformation Programme works closely with the Engage project which is delivered by the Probation Board under the Tackling Paramilitarism, Criminality and Organised Crime Programme. Engage is the provision of a dedicated resource to support women who have offended and helps them to make the transition back into local communities. Working with women both in custody and in the community, Engage builds resilience and equips women with the skills and learning to withstand paramilitary influence when they exit the criminal justice system. It enables participants to engage with their communities and supports them in desisting from further offending.

The Programme on Tackling Paramilitary Activity is committed to ensuring its work is gender-sensitive and informed. A recent research paper “Gender, Violence and Cultures of Silence: Young Women and Paramilitary Violence” highlighted the “cycle of invisibility” which has cloaked the experiences of young women in Northern Ireland. The Programme Team is therefore challenging the sometimes narrowly defined frameworks of threat, risk and harm in this work, to actively incorporate the experiences of women, knowing that women experience the effects of paramilitarism in different ways to men. The Programme, working closely with colleagues in the newly launched VAWG strategy, aims to make visible what has been hidden, in sensitive and trauma-informed ways.

1. Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Report of the United Nations Secretary General (S/2021/312, 30 March 2021): https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/report/conflict-related-sexual-violence-report-of-the-united-nations-secretary-general/SG-Report-2020editedsmall.pdf ↩

2. See Chinkin, C (30 November, 2021), ‘Groundhog day at the UN Security Council: the 2021 WPS Open Debate’: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2021/11/30/groundhog-day-at-the-un-security-council-the-2021-wps-open-debate/ ↩

3. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1040257/20211209_JSP_985_Vol_1.pdf ↩

4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/global-britain-in-a-competitive-age-the-integrated-review-of-securitydefence-development-and-foreign-policy ↩

5. Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace and Security https://au.int/fr/ node/29227 ↩

6. Bäthge, S., 2010, ‘Climate Change and Gender: Economic Empowerment of Women through Climate Mitigation and Adaptation?’, GTZ Working Papers, GTZ, Eschborn ↩

7. See https://forum.generationequality.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/FACJ_AC%20.pdf ↩

8. The UNFCCC Gender Action Plan was agreed at COP25. See https://unfccc.int/topics/gender/workstreams/thegender-action-plan ↩

9. Through the Women Delegates Fund ↩

10. Through the multi-donor CRPP Trust Fund, which is part of the £274 million Climate Action for a Resilient Asia Programme. ↩

11. Through the Bangladesh Climate and Environmental Partnership ↩

12. See https://powerfulwomen.org.uk/ ↩

13. See https://www.equalby30.org/en/content/about-campaign ↩

14. See Lockett (2020), ‘Gender and Serious and Organised Crime: Stabilisation Unit Guidance Note for HMG’, Stabilisation Unit ↩

15. Applebaum and Mawby (2018), ‘Gang Violence as Armed Conflict: A New Perspective on El Salvador’, GIWPS: https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Gang-Violence-as-Armed-Conflict.pdf ↩

16. Torchlight and Global Initiative (2021), ‘Drivers and Enablers of SOC in Albania’ ↩

17. Reitano et al (2021), ‘Actioning Social Interventions in Jamaica’s National Consensus on Crime’, Global Initiative and the University of the West Indies. ↩

18. Online VAWG is defined as legal and illegal violence, harassment and abuse committed online which disproportionately affect women and girls. This includes any act of harm that is committed, assisted or aggravated in part or fully by the use of the internet and mobile phones, computers or connected devices (see United Nations (2018), Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences on online violence against women and girls from a human rights perspective, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/38/47). ↩

19. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) completed a study of 51 countries with the largest number of persons online, based on internet penetration rates in 2020 on Online VAWG. https://onlineviolencewomen.eiu.com/ ↩

20. The Alan Turing Institute (2019), Policy Briefing Hate Speech: Measures and Counter Measure: https://www.turing. ac.uk/online_abuse_prevalence.pdf; Glitch UK and End Violence Against Women Coalition (2020) The Ripple Effect: COVID-19 and the Epidemic of Online Abuse https://fixtheglitch.org/covid19/ ↩

21. FCO Digital Development Cluster (2021), ‘Online Violence against Women and Girls: A scene-setter for the Wilton Park event on ‘Tackling Online Gendered Harms with a focus on Online Violence against Women and Girls’, Internal paper ↩

22. https://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/WP1984V-Report.pdf ↩

23. Lucina Di Meco and Kristina Wilfore (2021), ‘Gendered disinformation is a national security problem’, Brookings Institute https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/gendered-disinformation-is-a-national-security-problem ↩

24. See Jankowitz et al (2021), ‘Malign Creativity: How Gender, Sex and Lies are Weaponized Against Women Online’, Wilson Centre 25 See the European Parliament Public Hearing on “Financing of anti-choice organisations” ↩

25. See the European Parliament Public Hearing on “Financing of anti-choice organisations” ↩

26. See UN Women Action Brief: Women, Peace and (Cyber) Security in Asia and the Pacific: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/06/action-brief-women-peace-and-cybersecurity-in-asia-and-the-pacific ↩

27. See https://www.genderindex.org/w[-contentuploads/files/datasheets/2019/CD.pdf ↩

28. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-systems-strengthening-for-global-health-security-anduniversal-health-coverage/health-systems-strengthening-for-global-health-security-and-universal-health-coveragefcdo-position-paper (published December 2021) ↩

29. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1039221/ Ending-Preventable-Deaths-Approach-Paper.pdf (published December 2021) ↩

30. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/SRH_preparedness_toolkit.pdf (published December 2020) ↩

31. In December 2021, Facebook released a Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour report that showed how Libya was targeted online. 41 Facebook accounts, 133 Pages, three Groups and 14 Instagram accounts were removed which originated primarily in Turkey and targeted people in Libya. Facebook linked this activity to the Muslim Brotherhood’s affiliated Libyan Justice and Construction Party and the people behind this activity used fake accounts (some of which were detected and disabled by Facebook automated systems) to post and manage Groups and Pages, including those that purported to belong to public figures and organizations in Libya, including an airport, government entities, a former prime minister, politicians, journalists and activists. See https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/December-2021-Coordinated-Inauthentic-Behavior-Report-2.pdf ↩

32. See: https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/facilitated-un-national-experts-adopt-draft-law-combatting-violence-againstwomen-libya ↩

33. The project facilitated domestic conflict resolution and local reconciliation by developing and embedding Social Peace Partnerships in historically divided communities through mediation, capacity building and small grants. Social Peace Partnerships bring together local leaders and citizens to build stability, improve social cohesion and manage conflict. ↩

34. See https://myanmar.unfpa.org/en/news/gbv-hotline-minimum-standards-launched-myanmar ↩

35. FCDO Collective Resilience Against Extremism Programme ↩

36. Including: Women’s Mediation Capacity in Nigeria: An Analytical Report on the Gaps and Opportunities in the Process: https://africa.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/07/women-mediation-analysis-digital30-may-002; and Assessment of the Utilization of Dialogue and Mediation in the Response to the Farmer–Herder Conflict in Plateau and Kaduna States and the Role of Women in the Process: <https://africa.unwomen.org/en/ digital-library/publications/2021/07/assessment-plateau-kaduna-digital-30-may–002- ↩

37. Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (March 2021) (S/2021/312) ↩

38. https://unmiss.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/unmiss_hrd_annual_brief_2021.pdf ↩

39. Supporting-Civil-Society-and-Women’s-Rights-Organisations-in-Fragile-and-Conflict-Affected-Contexts-SouthSudan.pdf (gaps-uk.org) ↩

40. http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/2577 ↩

41. Women, Peace, and Security Index. Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, 2021 https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/WPS-Index-2021.pdf ↩

42. An Overview of Gender-Based Violence in Syria Advocacy Brief, 2022 UNFPA https://arabstates.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/2022_gbv_advocacy_brief_-_ef1.pdf ↩

43. COVID-19 had an impact on programme activities conducted by partners in Syria. The presence of men and other male figures at homes due to lockdowns or unemployment caused by the pandemic has affected the access of female beneficiaries to activities both in-person and online. For instance, we have noted a lower rate of sign-ins to safe spaces, and challenges in reaching female beneficiaries with services. The inability to afford high internet costs and limited access to devices hindered the participation of beneficiaries in online activities. The limited availability and costs of transportation presented a barrier to accessing certain services physically. Inside Syria, the lack of power supply and stable internet connection forced programme partners to resort to finding adaptive ways to conduct online activities in an inclusive way, such as conducting activities during certain hours, and providing recordings of sessions for later access by participants. Even when challenging to access, conducting online activities have generally allowed more women to join activities, as it has helped overcome barriers that hindered in-person attendance. ↩

44. See HMG (March 2018), ‘A Shared UK Government Approach to Gender in Syria’: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/685426/ Shared_DFID__FCO_Approach_to_Gender_in_Syria.pdf ↩

45. https://synergy-for-justice.cdn.prismic.io/synergy-for-justice/3e80042c-ad33-4271-943c-d225ac53d955_Analysis+of+Arbitrary+Arrest+and+Detention+of+Women+in+Syria_LDHR_SFJ_V03_Web.pdf ↩

46. https://synergy-for-justice.cdn.prismic.io/synergy-for-justice/c8452ba8-4d89-4fff-8ddd-cd24140d6bb3_Understanding+what+Syrian+Women+Face+During+and+After+Detention_LDHR_SFJ_v05_Web.pdf ↩

47. https://synergy-for-justice.cdn.prismic.io/synergy-for-justice/2ae44bba-f57e-48a8-87ab-2c4cc5a44992_FINAL_ Stigma+Report_EN.pdf ↩

48. Saferworld, Covid-19 in Yemen: Yemeni organisations on the frontline, https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/ news-and-analysis/post/867-covid-19-in-yemen-yemeni-organisations-on-the-frontline ↩

49. LSE, Women leaders C-19 response from the grassroots to government: perspectives from Yemen, 2 June 2020 ↩

50. Data from 2020 from: https://databank.worldbank.org/source/gender-statistics ↩

51. Data from 2020 taken from: https://databank.worldbank.org/source/gender-statistics ↩

52. Data Taken from: https://www.cfr.org/womens-participation-in-peace-processes/explore-the-data ↩

53. Data obtained from FCDO ↩

54. Data taken from: https://conduct.unmissions.org/sea-data-introduction ↩

55. 2021 data taken from: https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/WPS-Index-2021.pdf> ↩

56. 2019 (latest) data taken from: https://data.oecd.org/inequality/violence-against-women.htm?fbclid=IwAR1F_wxe2_ wIbVV4e-wduvA7VRBxIL_xqVCtKfotZsdSaqT9OOrMjCsS3qE ↩

57. 2021 data taken from: https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/WPS-Index-2021.pdf ↩

58. 2019 data on the percentage of women who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some time in their life: Taken from: https://data.oecd.org/inequality/violence-against-women.htm ↩

59. Data for 24th grant cycle (2021) taken from: https://untf.unwomen.org/en/grant-giving/untf-grantees/grantees-24thcycle-2021 ↩

60. 2020 data taken from: https://www.unfpa.org/data ↩

61. 2020 data on countries that applied at least 15 of the 18 minimum standards for the prevention of and response to GBV in emergencies taken from: https://www.unfpa.org/data/results ↩

62. 2019 data taken from the 2019 OECD SIGI: www.genderindex.org with higher % meaning higher levels of discrimination ↩

63. 2021 data taken from the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2021: https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gendergap-report-2021 ↩

64. Data taken from the 2019 WPS Index: Absence of legal discrimination indicator measures the degree (0 to 100) to which laws and regulations differentiate between women and men, or protect women’s opportunities. A score of 100 represents gender equality under the law. ↩

65. 2021 data taken from https://genderdata.worldbank.org/indicators/sg-obt-dvrc-eq/ ↩

66. 2019 data taken from <https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/laws-on-child-marriage?tab=table where 0 = marriage prohibited under 18 without exceptions; 0.25 = marriage prohibited under 18 without exceptions, but some customary or traditional laws encourage girl marriage; 0.5 = marriage prohibited under 18 but there are legal exceptions regarding consent and/or some groups of women; 0.75 = marriage allowed under 18 for boys and girls; 1 = marriage allowed under 18 for girls but not boys ↩

67. Data taken from 2019 OECD SIGI – Whether the legal framework protects women from violence including intimate partner violence, rape and sexual harassment, without legal exceptions and in a comprehensive approach. 0: The legal framework protects women from violence including intimate partner violence, rape and sexual harassment, without any legal exceptions and in a comprehensive approach; 0.25: The legal framework protects women from violence including intimate partner violence, rape and sexual harassment, without any legal exceptions. However, the approach is not comprehensive; 0.5: The legal framework protects women from violence including intimate partner violence, rape and sexual harassment. However, some legal exceptions occur; 0.75: The legal framework UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2018-2022: Annual Report to Parliament 2021 66 protects women from some forms of violence including intimate partner violence, rape or sexual harassment but not all; 1: The legal framework does not protect women from violence nor intimate partner violence nor rape and sexual harassment. ↩

68. Data taken from LSE WPS database: www.wpsnaps.org ↩

69. Data obtained from FCDO ↩

70. Data obtained from FCDO ↩

71. Data obtained from MOD ↩

72. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/g7-foreign-and-development-ministers-meeting-may-2021-communique/g7-famine-prevention-and-humanitarian-crises-compact ↩

73. https://wpshacompact.org/ ↩

74. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_187485.html ↩

75. See: https://osce.usmission.gov/joint-statement-on-women-peace-and-security-osce-ministerial-council/ ↩

76. CSSF Minimum Standards on Gender Sensitivity include requirements for all programmes to have a Gender Equality Marker (GEM) score of 1, unless there is clear justification for GEM 0; for all CSSF programmes to have at least one GEM 2 project or strand; for all targets and indicators in results frameworks to be gender disaggregated; and for gender to be threaded throughout the programme or project document. ↩

77. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-violence-against-women-and-girls-strategy ↩

78. See: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/17/contents/enacted ↩

79. See: https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/doj/stopping-domestic-sexual-violence-ni.pdf ↩