Women, Peace and Security Bill [HL]

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 15th November 2024 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Hodgson of Abinger]

That the Bill be now read a second time.

[Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Con)]

My Lords, it gives me great pleasure to reintroduce this Private Member’s Bill on women, peace and security. I first tabled it in 2022, but sadly it did not have time to progress to the other place before Parliament was prorogued in October 2023.

As many noble Lords know, I have long been outspoken on many of the topics that fall within the Bill and I draw their attention to my register of interests: I co-chair the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women, Peace and Security; I am a member of the steering board of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative; I am the honorary colonel of Outreach Group; and I set up, and chair, the Afghan Women’s Support Forum.

I begin by formally congratulating the Minister on his appointment. I was heartened by his response to my Written Question HL343, in which he stated:

“Empowering women and girls and preventing the conflicts that disproportionately impact on them is a key priority for this new government”.


I know that in opposition he was a champion on this agenda.

Some may question the necessity for a Bill on this. As we see the conflicts of today raging on our TV screens, especially in Ukraine and Gaza, I wonder where the women are. Why do we not hear their voices? Of course, there are many countries where other conflicts are raging that we do not see so much of in our media—Sudan, Yemen and Syria, to name but a few—with women suffering but unseen and unheard.

The foreword of the UK’s fifth national action plan, published in February last year, stated:

“From Afghanistan, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Russian occupied parts of Ukraine, it is plain to see how conflict and insecurity have a disproportionate impact on women and girls. Too often women are also locked out of efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts, and build peace”.


While generally the UK has been robust on this agenda, at times there has been slippage. Enshrining this in law will mean that the women, peace and security agenda is in the DNA of all foreign and defence policy, is not dependent on ministerial good will and cannot be ignored. The Bill puts into law the commitments that the Government have already signed up to under UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the subsequent 10 UN Security Council resolutions on the WPS agenda. It is not asking for a new or onerous commitment.

The ground-breaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325, introduced in 2000 with much support from the UK, recognised the terrible and disproportionate effects that conflict has on women and addressed this through its four pillars of prevention, protection, participation and relief and recovery. This and the subsequent UN Security Council resolutions around the subject have tried to address the situation, but we all recognise that this is still a work in progress, with much more needing to be done. Progress has been too slow.

Today more than ever, many women are experiencing a devastating rollback of hard-won rights, services and democratic freedoms—from abortion rights in the US and rape used as a weapon of war in Ukraine, to the gender apartheid in Afghanistan, with the Taliban issuing over 50 edicts to suppress women’s and girls’ rights, returning to the oppression of the 1990s and, most recently, making it illegal for their voices to be heard in public.

The UK’s work around women, peace and security and preventing sexual violence in conflict are two initiatives where the UK has led the world. As Britain continues to redefine its role in the world in the wake of Brexit and the pandemic, it is a time to build on all the investment and good work that has gone before and fight the growing challenges to gender equality. The Bill that I propose today is another tool through which we can demonstrate our commitment and, more importantly, implementation of our promises in this area.

With only two clauses, this short Bill seeks to ensure that the Secretary of State will have a duty to have regard to the national action plan on women, peace and security, which we are committed to under UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Clause 1(2) requires an annual report to Parliament on progress in relation to the national action plan. This would formalise what the department currently does and would not create extra reporting burdens.

Clause 1(3) does what it says on the tin and puts in place the key duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the NAP when “formulating or implementing” government policy “in relation to foreign affairs, defence or related matters”.

Clause 1(4) stipulates several considerations for which the Secretary of State must have particular regard. For example, paragraphs (e) to (h) cover issues around peace processes. Data from the Council on Foreign Relations show that roughly seven out of every 10 peace processes from 1992 to 2019 did not include women mediators or women signatories. Of 18 peace agreements reached in 2022, only one was signed or witnessed by a representative of a women’s group or organisation. In 2022, women participated as conflict party negotiators or delegates in four of five active UN-led or co-led peace processes. However, women’s representation stood at only 16%, a further drop compared to 19% in 2021 and 23% in 2020, all of which remain well below the peak of 37.1% in 2015.

Evidence that gender equality is essential to building peace and security has grown substantially since UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was introduced. In fact, involving women increases the chances of a longer-lasting and more sustainable peace, yet they continue to be excluded.

We live in a globally interconnected world. War zones are poor zones. The Institute for Economics and Peace estimates that every $1 of peacebuilding would lead to a $16 reduction in the cost of armed conflict. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that there is a

“direct relationship between greater investment in weapons and greater insecurity and inequality for women”.

Sadly, it is apparently not obvious to many that you cannot build peace by leaving half the population out: look at Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. We should not have to justify women being included; we should ask the men to justify their exclusion. Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council highlighted the importance and value of women’s economic inclusion for maintaining peace and stabilising peace in post-conflict settings. She argued for

“gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”.

Paragraphs (d) and (i) of Clause 1(4) relate to conflict-related sexual violence. Do noble Lords know that none of the ceasefire agreements reached between 2018 and 2020 included gender provisions or the prohibition of sexual violence? Gender-based violence is one of the most systemic and widespread human rights violations of our time, with one in three women worldwide experiencing physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

There were 2,455 UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 2022. We all know that there is much underreporting, so the actual figures are hugely more. Gender-based violence is rooted in gender inequality. It threatens the lives and well-being of girls and women and prevents them from accessing opportunities that are fundamental to both freedom and development.

The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative was inspiring, and I welcomed the conference held under the Conservative Government in 2022. This initiative was always going to be a marathon, not a sprint. More than 50 countries and the UN signed the UK-led declaration, and 40-odd made national commitments outlining the steps they would take. Do the Government have any assessment of how all those commitments are progressing?

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reports of sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers against civilians escalated. In the DRC, sexual violence continues to rage, and I recently had the honour of meeting the inspirational Dr Mukwege, who told us that 83,000 brutally raped women and girls had been repaired at Panzi Hospital, with ages ranging from five into their 80s. Sexual violence occurs in every theatre of war. Including these stipulated considerations in the Bill will help keep conflict-related sexual violence front and centre of our diplomatic, security and conflict work. Meanwhile, the wording of Clause 1(5) ensures that the UK will also seek to keep the pressure up on all these issues when working with other multinational organisations.

It is not enough to pledge our commitment to the women, peace and security agenda without delivering meaningful change for all women and girls on the ground, living through the daily realities of war. As I have said before, we must not fall into the trap of mistaking process for progress, status for impact, or rhetoric for action.

I sincerely hope that the Minister will not mind me gently reminding him of his words from the Third Reading debate on the Bill last July, when he said:

“Things do change and Governments change. Hopefully, the noble Baroness, Lady Hodgson, and I can work together to ensure that the sort of changes she is advocating become law”.—[Official Report, 14/7/23; col. 1981.]


I trust he is not going to dash my hope this afternoon.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Collins of Highbury) (Lab)]

Things change.

[Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Con)]

Next year is the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing platform for action. I believe that the Bill is the perfect tool to demonstrate to the international community the UK’s commitment and leadership on this agenda. Passing the Bill will legislate for all future Governments our commitment to have systematic gender consideration and responsiveness in UK foreign and defence policy. By sealing this agenda into legislation, the UK can be an example and encourage other countries to follow suit.

I hope that Members from all sides of this House can support and work with me to make the Bill a reality. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Con)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate for their excellent contributions. I am so grateful for the strong support from around the House. So many powerful points were raised: children stolen from Ukraine, so powerfully raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, and the noble Lord, Lord McConnell; rape as a weapon of war, raised by the noble Baronesses, Lady Northover and Lady Kennedy; the necessity of women to be involved in peace negotiations, raised by the noble Lords, Lord McConnell and Lord Loomba; training for peacekeeping missions, raised by my noble friend Lady Anelay; FGM, raised by the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley; and funding for women, peace and security, raised by the noble Lord, Lord Purvis.

Countries were raised too. The noble Baroness, Lady Foster, reminded us of the outstanding contribution of women in bringing peace to Northern Ireland—what an example they were. There is the desperate situation in Afghanistan, which was raised by the noble Baronesses, Lady Kennedy and Lady Foster—let us please have a debate on that issue. The DRC was raised by several noble Lords, Colombia was highlighted by my noble friend Lady Miller, and the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, highlighted Lebanon and the women in the Bekaa valley. Gaza, Sudan and Tigray were also mentioned. There have been too many points to mention them all.

I am particularly grateful for the strong support for the Bill from my two noble friends who were previously Ministers on this agenda in the FCDO and for the Front-Bench support from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, and my noble friend Lord Courtown.

I thank the Minister for his response and I congratulate him; I think we are all thrilled that he will be the special representative on the PSVI. I know his strong commitment to this agenda over many years. I am particularly grateful to hear that the Government are supporting the ethos of the Bill and to hear of all their work, but I am disappointed that they cannot support the Bill.

I would like to take up the Minister’s offer to work with him and, as my noble friend Lord Ahmad suggested, perhaps we could talk about the reservations that the Government have and see whether there is any way we could address those to stamp this into the DNA of law. Although I recognise the Minister’s commitment to this agenda, we do not want it to rest just on the good will of Ministers going forward. We need to ensure that even those who are not as keen as him will get behind it. I do not want to take up any more of noble Lords’ time, so, in the meantime, I commend the Bill to the House.

Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.