The proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to a UN report that criticises “patriarchal” structures making peace “inaccessible”.
In his annual report on “women, peace and security” released Tuesday evening, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasised that the data painted a “bleak picture”.
“Generational gains in women’s rights hang in the balance around the world,
undercutting the transformative potential of women’s leadership and inclusion in the
pursuit of peace”, he said.
“Power and decision-making on peace and security matters remain
overwhelmingly dominated by men, and progress has been disturbingly slow in terms
of ending impunity for those who perpetrate atrocities against women and girls”, he added.
The most alarming statistic highlighted in the report shows that the percentage of women killed in armed conflicts in 2023 doubled compared to 2022.
The data comes from another UN report, which documented at least 33,443 civilian deaths in international conflicts in 2023 (up 72% from 2022), with four in 10 victims being women and three in 10 being children.
The proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled last year, accounting for 4 in 10 deaths, @UN_Women reports.https://t.co/Ret6ZKu3c0
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) October 23, 2024
Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, said in a separate press release that “women continue to pay the price of the wars of men”, describing it as a “larger war on women”.
She added that “the deliberate targeting of women’s rights is not unique to conflict-affected countries but is even more lethal in those settings”.
The report states that “The world is caught in a frightening spiral of conflict, instability and violence. In 2023, more than 170 armed conflicts were recorded, and approximately 612 million women and girls lived within 50 km of these conflicts, 150% more than just a decade ago”.
According to preliminary data from a UN Women study, in the 50 peace processes that took place in 2023, women represented only 9.6% of negotiators, 13.7% of mediators, and 26.6% of peace or ceasefire agreement signatories—this percentage drops to 1.5% when excluding Colombia.
Guterres states in the report that “as long as oppressive patriarchal social structures and gender biases hold back half our societies, peace will remain elusive”.
He also notes a 50% increase in UN-verified cases of sexual violence in armed conflicts.
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