WONGOSOL STATEMENT ON THE 81ST SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Women, Peace, and Security Must Remain at the Center

As world leaders gather for the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81), the Women’s NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL), representing the collective voices of women-led civil society organizations across Liberia, calls on national and international leaders to ensure that Women, Peace and Security is not treated as a side conversation but remains a central pillar of global peace, security, justice, and sustainable development.

The global conversation on peace and security must continue to confront a fundamental question:

Where are the women when decisions about peace, security, justice and the future of our societies are being made?

For WONGOSOL, UNGA81 provides an important opportunity to renew global attention to the commitments of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and, more importantly, to accelerate their implementation.

Critical priorities include women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding and political decision-making; adequate and sustainable financing for women-led organizations; prevention of and protection from gender-based and conflict-related sexual violence; women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice processes; protection of women human rights defenders and women peacebuilders; and stronger accountability for the implementation and financing of Women, Peace, and Security commitments.

For Liberia, These Conversations Matter

Liberia’s experience demonstrates that women are not merely beneficiaries of peace. Women are peacebuilders, community leaders, human rights defenders, mediators, and agents of democratic change.

Liberia has made significant progress since the end of the civil war, but peace must be understood as more than the absence of guns.

Women and girls continue to experience gender-based violence, unequal access to justice, economic inequality, and persistent barriers to political and public leadership. Sustaining peace therefore requires more than preventing a return to armed conflict. It requires addressing the inequalities, violence, and exclusion that continue to undermine the security, rights, and dignity of women and girls.

Yet the spaces where major political, economic, peace, and justice decisions are made continue to inadequately reflect women’s voices, experiences, and leadership.

As Liberia advances its women, peace, and security and transitional justice agendas, meaningful participation must go beyond invitations to meetings and consultations. Women must have the power to shape decisions, influence policies, access resources, and hold institutions accountable for commitments made in their name.

A Call from WONGOSOL’s Executive Director

“Liberian women helped build the peace our country enjoys today, and we must not be pushed to the margins of the decisions that determine its future. Women cannot continue to be invited only to participate; we must have the power to influence decisions, shape policies, and hold institutions accountable. Peace that excludes women from leadership, justice, and decision-making is not sustainable peace. At UNGA81 and beyond, the message from Liberia’s women is clear: we are not asking for a seat as a favor—we are demanding the full realization of our right to lead, to influence, and to shape the future of our country.”

Esther S. D. Yango

Executive Director, Women’s NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL)

From Commitments to Concrete Action

At UNGA81 and beyond, WONGOSOL calls for concrete action to:

·       Increase women’s representation and influence in political leadership, peacebuilding, security, governance and transitional justice processes.

·       Provide direct, flexible and sustainable financing to women-led and grassroots organizations, recognizing their critical role in preventing conflict, responding to violence and sustaining peace within communities.

·       Strengthen prevention, protection, access to justice and accountability in addressing gender-based and conflict-related sexual violence.

·       Protect women human rights defenders and women peacebuilders, particularly those working at community and grassroots levels.

·       Ensure the meaningful participation of young women, women with disabilities, rural women and other marginalized groups in peace, security, governance and transitional justice processes.

·       Translate Women, Peace and Security commitments into measurable and adequately financed action, supported by clear mechanisms for monitoring and accountability.

Women Must Help Shape the Decisions

Twenty-six years after the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, women should no longer have to continually argue for a place at the table.

Women must be part of shaping the table, setting the agenda and determining the decisions that affect their lives and communities.

Our message remains clear:

There can be no sustainable peace without women.

There can be no inclusive justice without women.

There can be no meaningful democracy when women are absent from decision-making.

At UNGA81, WONGOSOL calls for a decisive shift:

From commitment to implementation.

From consultation to meaningful influence.

From short-term support to sustainable financing.

From promises to accountability.

Liberian women have demonstrated, through decades of advocacy, community leadership, and peacebuilding, that they are indispensable to building and sustaining peace. Their voices, experiences, and expertise must continue to shape Liberia’s future and contribute to the global Women, Peace, and Security Agenda.

Women are not on the margins of peace. Women are central to building and sustaining it.

Women’s NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL)

Advancing the collective voice, leadership, and rights of women and girls in Liberia.