Report by Kathrin Maderbacher & Josef Mühlbauer
A high-level conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda took place in Vienna from 9 to 10 February 2026. The event began with a moving musical performance by Sweetlife, after which Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Austria’s Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, delivered the opening remarks.
Pramila Patten, the United Nations' Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, then delivered a powerful and thought-provoking keynote address, setting the tone for the subsequent discussions.
A high-level panel brought together Maria Manuela dos Santos Lucas (Mozambique's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation), Roberto de León Huerta (Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs' Chief of Staff), Sima Bahous and Lilli Hollein. The discussion emphasised that achieving both substantive and formal gender equality is essential for sustainable peace and security.
The second day began with reflections on the current challenges facing the WPS agenda, including a lack of political will, declining UN influence in peace negotiations and the closure of several peacekeeping missions despite ongoing conflicts and warnings from female peacekeepers. Foreign ministers from Austria, Colombia, Guinea, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Togo, Mozambique and the Philippines then discussed the current state of the WPS agenda and how to shape its future. They highlighted various approaches, including clear communication with women at the grassroots level, strengthening local mediation initiatives, fostering subregional cooperation, setting up 'peace mother' groups (as in Sierra Leone), advancing judicial reforms and promoting women’s participation in decision-making roles.
Subsequent panels examined various issues, including the discrepancy between peace agreements and lived realities. This gap could potentially be bridged through a bottom-up approach backed by sustainable financing and concrete inclusive actions. Another key discussion addressed the tendency to treat the structural root causes of conflict as purely humanitarian issues, thereby overlooking their political and societal dimensions. It was argued that a gender perspective is vital to effectively address these underlying causes.
Although financial resources to support the WPS agenda are available, participants noted that the deliberate exclusion of women from high-level decision-making remains a problem. Accountability of political elites, political will and inclusive participation were identified as being crucial to overcoming conflict and advancing the WPS agenda.
