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Women, peace and security

In 2005, Denmark was the first country in the world to develop a National Action Plan (NAP) for UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). In 2008 and 2014 two additional NAP´s came to existence. In 2020 - 20 years after the ratification of resolution-1325 - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice, represented by The National Police, presented the fourth and currently Denmark´s most ambitious NAP for WPS (2020 - 2024). 

Danish National Action Plan 2020-2024

In the autumn of 2019, it was concluded by an external evaluation that the previous two NAP´s only to a limited degree had led to results in Denmark’s partner countries. Against this backdrop, a cross-ministerial working group (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice) were tasked with the formulation of a new strategic and ambitious NAP.

Denmark has a Right-Based approach to the UNSCR 1325-agenda. Women and girl's have just the same rights as men and boys to influence the development and conditions of their countries and local communities. The overall objective of Denmark’s NAP (2020-2024) is that women’s full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in peace efforts (from prevention to conflict management, peace development etc.) will be strengthened, and that women and men’s equality, rights, interests, vulnerabilities and needs are reflected in all aspects of work for sustainable peace. Based on the evaluation´s recommendations, the current NAP builds on Denmark´s key role as a security and foreign policy actor and how it can strengthen its responses to WPS. The NAP also focuses on ensuring the protection of women and girls in conflicts and fragile settings from Conflict related sexual violence (CRSV). Women and girls are often the most vulnerable in conflicts and pay the highest price. At the same time, we reaffirm our zero-tolerance policy when it comes to gender-violating behaviour of any kind, both by our partners and ourselves.

A main trait for our Action Plan, is self-evaluation – we cannot expect something from our partners, that we do not live up to ourselves.

Denmark’s new NAP on WPS UNSC 1325 is anchored in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice. Each Ministry has responsibility to produce yearly implementation plans, which specifies, how they will work on achieving the targets in the NAP. The implementation plans are also a tool for the Danish Government to continuously measure Danish efforts on WPS.