Women’s Representation in Peace Processes

Baroness Deech Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

As a woman who has worked in politics for longer than I care to admit, I welcome the noble Lord’s sisterly solidarity. What are we doing? We fund many women-led organisations. We insist at the Security Council—when we are able to—that women’s participation is embedded in resolutions. We participate fully in multilateral organisations that are supporting the work of women in this context.

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, women suffer disproportionately in times of war, and it is odd that the most warmongering countries are usually those that treat women very badly even when there is not a war. A recent example is the systematic use of sexual violence by Hamas. Will the UK support moves at the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to recognise and sanction a new crime, conflict-related sexual violence, the details of which have been worked out by a project called the Dinah Project?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I will look very carefully at that. It sounds like the sort of initiative that the UK would be interested in supporting. There are so many examples of where sexual violence is used to subjugate communities, to humiliate and to destroy societies. This is something where we have seen the world going backwards, not forwards at the moment. Anybody who cares passionately about this, as I do, needs to use every avenue in order to bring this to an end.