Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and NATO
The WPS and NATO project aims to connect high-level policy commitments with the practical implementation of the agenda in NATO member and partner nations.
The promotion of gender equality and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda is essential for achieving lasting peace. NATO holds a distinctive and significant responsibility in furthering the WPS as both a strategic and operational priority. NATO acknowledges the unique and disproportionate effects that instability, crises, conflicts, and post-conflict scenarios have on women and girls. These groups experience a deterioration in safety and security, and their rights are increasingly compromised worldwide. Furthermore, the WPS agenda emphasises the necessity of analysing threats from a gender perspective.
The successful execution of the WPS Agenda necessitates the integration of gender-responsive strategies within the three fundamental areas of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security. In an increasingly dynamic geopolitical environment, it is essential to cultivate gender-responsive, intersectional, and human rights-oriented approaches to both NATO and external operations in order to realise significant change and foster lasting peace.
Project partner
This effort is in partnership with RAND EuropeÂ
Aims and objectives
The Terrorism & Conflict Studies Research Group has consistently engaged in promoting the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda over the years, ensuring that gender considerations are integrated into the design, implementation, and evaluation of counter-terrorism policies and programmes, including those funded by European Union and NATO member states. This effort bridges the divide between lofty policy commitments and their practical application within NATO member and partner nations. The team possesses significant expertise in offering guidance for the integration of gender perspectives at international, national, and programmatic levels.
Terrorism & Conflict Studies recognises the centrality and complementarity of the wider Human Security framework in relation to the WPS agenda and integrates this in all research.