The African Union (AU) asserted its leadership in the global Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda during the week-long commemoration of the Silver Anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York which kicked off on October 27, 2025. The AU’s message, unified and non-negotiable, centered on translating two decades of commitment into verifiable accountability and transformative influence on the ground.
The Windhoek Imperative: From Presence to Power
The centerpiece of the AU’s mobilization was the Windhoek+25 Declaration, adopted in Namibia just prior to the UN meetings. H.E. Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace and Security (OSE-WPS), delivered the declaration’s mandate across multiple high-level events.
“The era of symbolic inclusion is over,” Ambassador Mulamula declared. “The Windhoek+25 Declaration is a new Call to Action, moving the agenda forward by demanding that we stop counting women’s presence and start measuring their influence and transformative impact.“
The core of this imperative is accountability at the highest political levels, underpinned by three crucial areas:
- Financial Accountability: Securing predictable and sustainable financing for WPS, including the mandatory use of gender-responsive budgeting at national and regional levels.
- Addressing New Threats: Urgently integrating gender perspectives into emerging security challenges like climate change, technology-facilitated violence, and displacement.
- Intergenerational Leadership: Fully empowering young women and men as the co-architects of the next 25 years of peace.
Africa’s Roadmap: Five Priorities for Concrete Change
The AU highlighted that Africa is leading WPS implementation, citing examples like Kenya’s launch of its Third National Action Plan (KNAP III) immediately following Windhoek—a powerful, costed blueprint for national action. The Special Envoy outlined five key priorities guiding the continent’s action plan:
- Full Participation: Guaranteeing at least 30% representation for women in all peace processes, from ceasefire negotiations to recovery efforts.
- Protection and Accountability: Strengthening efforts to end all forms of gender-based and conflict-related sexual violence, ensuring justice and safeguarding the safety of women and girls.
- Regional Solidarity: Building stronger women’s platforms across RECs (SADC, IGAD, ECOWAS, and Great Lakes Region) to foster cross-border collaboration and early warning.
- Nurturing Intergenerational Leadership: Connecting young women with seasoned leaders through mentorship and amplifying grassroots voices.
- Economic Empowerment and Peace Education: Investing in women’s economic resilience while embedding peace education in schools to counter hate speech.
Amplifying Voices from the Frontlines
AU’s presence also included the second launch of the e-book, “She Stands for Peace: 25 Stories in Celebration of 25 Years of UNSCR 1325,” at Africa House. The event showcased the unfiltered realities shared by peacebuilders Ms. Fabiola Faïda Mwangilwa (DRC) and Ms. Saba Gebremedhin Hagos (Ethiopia), who delivered a unified message: Let Peace Prevail.
The AU Office of the Special Envoy extends its sincere gratitude to Norway and Ireland, whose generous financial support, channeled through the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU), ensured that the experiences and resilience of these African peace architects could be captured and amplified globally.
Partnering for Implementation
The African Union welcomed deeper collaboration with the United Nations on shared commitments. H.E. Ambassador Mohamed Edrees, the African Union Permanent Observer to the United Nations, affirmed the AU’s position at the High-Level Meeting on the Secretary-General’s Common Pledge:
“We warmly welcome the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s Common Pledge on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes and urge all mediation and peace actors to turn its promises into practice. When women are meaningfully included in peace processes, the outcomes are stronger, fairer and more enduring.”
The Future of Peace is Accountable
The AU’s participation in WPS Week reinforced a clear message: peace is not merely the absence of conflict but the “presence of justice, equality, and inclusivity.” The momentum generated by the Windhoek+25 Declaration must now shift from declarations to demonstrable delivery. The African Union remains committed to ensuring that the power, participation, and leadership of women—across all generations—are the cornerstone of a sustainable and peaceful future for the continent.
