Partially agree 4. Women and girls remain at the heart of our international work, with gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls central to our foreign, development and security policy. The Government is not ‘idle’ in any of these matters, or in defending the gains made in the past. The Foreign Secretary has reaffirmed UK leadership on WPS, including at her November 2025 event marking the 25th anniversary of UNSCR 1325, – championing women’s participation in peacebuilding, tackling impunity for sexual violence, and prioritising crisis responsive humanitarian support for women and girls. 5. Twenty-five years on from groundbreaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on WPS, the Government remains committed and resolute on this agenda, continuing to use our standing in the UN to champion the inclusion of WPS in UNSC resolutions. 6. The UK routinely partners with other Council members to combat sustained efforts to dilute agreed WPS commitments and language. We have continued to press for robust language on women’s participation and protection across geographic files on the Council’s agenda. The UK has prioritised turning Council commitments into action by anchoring WPS language in practical mandates, reporting, and protections that drive tangible delivery on the ground. 7. In 2025, the UK advanced the WPS agenda in the Security Council through sustained, strategic engagement across country-specific negotiations and meetings. This involved early and coordinated work with other Council members, close engagement with UN counterparts and civil society, and determined efforts to defend agreed WPS language where it has come under pressure. The UK focused on anchoring women’s participation, protection and leadership within mandates and sanctions regimes where Council decisions have direct operational impact. The examples below illustrate how this approach has translated into concrete outcomes across a range of country files: a. During negotiations on the UK-penned mandate renewal of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the UK successfully defended language urging all Libyan parties to implement the relevant resolutions on the WPS agenda and to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence. The unanimously adopted UNSMIL mandate calls on the Libyan authorities to end impunity for crimes of sexual and gender-based violence. The text also urges Libyan institutions and authorities to ensure the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women at all levels, and protect women, women’s rights organisations, and women peacebuilders from intimidation, threats, reprisals, and attacks. b. Throughout Council products on Afghanistan in 2025, including the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) negotiations and WPS stakeouts, the UK supported explicit references to women’s rights and participation in Afghan society and condemned abuses against women and girls. c. On South Sudan, negotiations on both the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) mandate and the South Sudan sanctions regime involved intensive advocacy by the UK and likeminded Council members to safeguard longstanding WPS language, including references to gender, conflict-related sexual violence, and women’s participation alongside the operational roles of Gender Advisers and Women Protection Advisers. This ensured that we preserved agreed terminology and strengthened reporting requirements, reflecting a clear UK contribution to defending WPS norms under sustained pressure. 8. The UK’s leadership on WPS in multilateral fora also extends beyond the United Nations: a. The UK leads efforts to operationalise the WPS agenda at NATO. In the context of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, it is a strategic necessity for modern defence. WPS enhances NATO’s deterrence posture, strengthens resilience, and improves mission effectiveness. The UK promotes the systematic integration of gender perspectives across Alliance policy, planning and operations, helping to align NATO’s WPS implementation with wider international commitments on development and human security. The UK has supported the implementation of NATO’s WPS Policy and Action Plan and has consistently advocated for the inclusion of WPS language in NATO strategies and communiqués. In practical terms, we have supported the integration of WPS considerations into NATO operational planning and exercises, strengthened the use of Gender Advisors and Gender Focal Points in NATO missions and headquarters, and promoted WPS as a focus of NATO partnerships and capacity building activities, including in support of Ukraine. b. The UK continues to be a leading advocate for the WPS agenda through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). At the OSCE’s Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), the UK actively promotes WPS priorities and ensures that WPS is implemented and included (and mainstreamed where possible) across the full range of politico-military i