WPS Lecture Series: Justice, Security, and Women's Leadership: UN Women's Priorities in Combatting Violence against Women in Conflict

On June 7th, PeaceWomen held the seventh event in our Women, Peace and Security (WPS) lecture series with the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein and the Lichtenstein Center for Self-Determination at Princeton University. Speaking in the UN's Trusteeship Council Chamber, Acting Head of UN Women and UN Assistant Secretary-General, Lakshmi Puri, spoke on “Justice, Security and Women's Leadership- UN Women's Priorities in Combatting Violence against Women in Conflict.”

In support of the WILPF Integrated Approach to peace and security and in recognition of the continued need for a long-term view, Ms. Puri argued that efforts to protect women from sexual and gender based violence are inseparable from efforts to empower them and strengthen their leadership capacities. In other words, building security for women cannot succeed without achieving gender equality. Although the issue of conflict-related sexual violence (SVC) has had increasing attention by the Security Council in recent years, and a fourth resolution on SVC was adopted on June 24th, sexual and gender-based violence arises from deeply rooted inequalities between women and men. Consequently, a holistic approach to dealing with SVC that addresses the root causes of violence and includes all four pillars of the WPS agenda – prevention, participation, protection, and relief and recovery – is critical to implementing all WPS resolutions.

Read more about our Women, Peace, Security lecture series here.