UN Women official urges women’s inclusion in Gaza peacebuilding

‘For places like Gaza ... that are suffering the scourge of the war, we need to ensure that women’s voices are part of peacebuilding’ 'What we learned in Colombia is that it was critical that women’s leadership was part of the peacemaking table' Women must play a meaningful role in shaping peacebuilding efforts in Gaza, a senior UN Women official told Anadolu, drawing on lessons from Colombia’s historic peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). "For places like Gaza, for places that are suffering the scourge of the war, we need to ensure that women’s voices are part of peacebuilding," Belen Sanz Luque, UN Women’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, said on the sidelines of the 9th Istanbul Mediation Conference. Drawing on her experience as a UN Women representative in Colombia during peace negotiations with the FARC, Sanz said sustainable peace requires more than ending hostilities. Women affected by conflict must be able to participate in negotiations, influence political decisions and help implement peace agreements. Founded in 1964, the FARC was a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group that emerged from rural peasant movements amid deep land inequality and political exclusion in Colombia. Over five decades of conflict involving government forces and paramilitaries, the fighting caused widespread displacement and human rights abuses. After four years of negotiations that began in 2012, the Colombian government and the FARC signed a historic peace agreement in November 2016, paving the way for the group's disarmament and transition into civilian politics. "What we learned in Colombia is that it was critical that women’s leadership was part of the peacemaking table," Sanz said. "Lessons learned to bring to examples like Gaza or Sudan imply that we need to support the women's organizations, the women's groups that are at the community level so that they can be elevating their voices," she said, emphasizing that grassroots networks are vital for reflecting community suffering and directly shaping peace decisions. "We need to understand how the conflict affected women directly," she said, stressing that the consequences of conflict must be "addressed, recognized and alleviated." The 2016 agreement addressed structural inequalities, including unequal rural development, access to resources and political participation. It also included more than 100 provisions on gender equality and women’s rights, Sanz said. A key feature of the Havana peace talks was the creation of a Gender Sub-Commission in 2014, which reviewed the agreement from a gender perspective and helped incorporate women’s rights into its provisions. The process also included consultations with women’s organizations and victims of the conflict, offering lessons on ensuring women participate meaningfully in peace negotiations. However, challenges remain in implementing its provisions, Sanz added. "There were many lessons learned, but everything that we were able to support during that peace process was due to the very strong leadership of Colombian women," she added. For Gaza, Sanz said, the lesson is that women's participation cannot end when an agreement is signed. "Once there is an agreement signed, they are part of the signature of the agreement, but that is not the end of the game," she said. "That is actually the beginning of sustainable peace." Only 5% of peace agreements in 2025 had women as negotiators Despite international commitments to women's participation in peace processes, their representation at negotiating tables remains limited. Sanz cited UN Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted in 2000, which calls for women's participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, alongside measures to protect women and girls from conflict-related violence. It was the first major international mandate to acknowledge women's central role in peace and security. However, commitments have yet to translate into meaningful participation, she said. Data she presented at the conference showed that only 5% of peace agreements in 2025 had women as negotiators. "This is incredibly concerning," she said, calling for mechanisms to ensure women's participation rather than leaving it to political goodwill. "Indeed, pledges and commitments exist, but what we are lacking behind is really the mechanisms to enforce these commitments," she said. Sanz also cited evidence indicating that peace agreements are 35% more likely to be implemented successfully and sustainably when women and civil society participate in their implementation. UN Women works directly with women's networks at the local level to build trust among women from opposing political groups and strengthen their access to justice and public institutions, Sanz said. The organization also works with state actors to ensure governments fulfill their obligations to protect women's and girls' rights, she added.