Under-Secretary-General Rosemary A. DiCarlo's
Remarks to the Security Council on
Investing in the Transformative Power of Intergenerational leadership on Women, Peace and Security
New York, 3 December 2024
Madam President,
I would like to thank the United States for organizing this intergenerational leadership on women, peace and security.
Around the world, peace is in a perilous state.
We face rising violence and diversifying threats to peace and security – from climate crises to hybrid warfare.
We see growing geopolitical contestation and polarization, yet the avenues for meaningful diplomatic dialogue are shrinking.
Amid these crises, young women peacebuilders are demonstrating that a better world is possible.
In Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai championed girls’ right to education undeterred by an assassination attempt. She remains the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate ever.
In Sweden, Greta Thunberg has galvanized millions through the Fridays for Future movement to confront the climate crisis.
In Somalia, Ilwad Elman works to rehabilitate child soldiers while empowering other young people to help prevent violent extremism.
These remarkable leaders remind us that transformation requires bucking the status quo.
We must embrace new approaches to cultivate a new generation of leaders – especially young women and girls – who are at the forefront of reshaping power structures and advancing peace.
Madam President,
The Secretary-General’s policy brief on A New Agenda for Peace calls for dismantling entrenched patriarchal systems, which perpetuate inequality and exclusion.
It underscores the urgent need to reimagine global power structures and place women and girls – especially young women – at the center of our efforts to address the root causes of conflict and insecurity.
If we do not break free from patriarchal norms, true peace and inclusive security will remain out of reach.
In this context, the strong support for the women, peace and security agenda in the Pact for the Future is potentially transformational.
The Pact underscores the importance of ensuring that women’s leadership and participation are integrated into all aspects of conflict prevention and sustaining peace.
It also reaffirms our collective commitment to investing in young women as changemakers in the pursuit of sustainable peace.
Madam President,
I would like to highlight three key areas in advancing intergenerational leadership: facilitating dialogues, fostering inclusive peace processes, and investing in young women’s leadership.
First, tackling today’s conflicts requires forward-looking visions that are shared broadly within societies and transcend generations.
Intergenerational dialogues are critical opportunities for building trust and articulating shared aspirations.
In Chad, for example, the Peacebuilding Fund supported local dialogue platforms that brought together youth associations with traditional authorities to peacefully resolve disputes and lead prevention campaigns.
The diverse young women and men and community elders committed to duties and responsibilities in a signed “intergenerational charter”.
The platform strengthened social cohesion and reduced intercommunal tensions and conflicts in the Nya Pendé and Barh Sara regions.
In The Gambia, dialogues in the three River regions brought together national and local authorities, police, ministries, and youth to improve trust. This included mentoring programmes by women politicians with young women running for office.
The dialogues promote the involvement of women and youth in ongoing national processes and reforms. This intergenerational dialogue also helped improve the relationship between youth and security forces.
Second, peace cannot be achieved through deals made by elites alone.
Advancing inclusive, multi-track peace processes that prioritize diverse groups of women, including young women, and promote their leadership and rights at every level is essential for locally owned infrastructures for peace.
We recognize the diverse and changing mediation landscape today.
This year, during the annual open debate on women, peace and security, the Secretary-General launched his “Common Pledge on women’s participation in peace processes”.
This initiative invites diverse mediation actors, including Member States and regional organizations, to join the United Nations in taking concrete actions to ensure women’s participation in peace processes.
We urge all stakeholders to step forward and sign the Pledge.
We know that mediation processes that systematically include women and civil society are more likely to generate national ownership and stronger support for a negotiated settlement.
Only through collective efforts can we move toward more inclusive and durable peace processes.
The United Nations actively backs multi-track efforts that promote peace from the bottom up, emphasizing young women’s leadership.
In Colombia, where I recently represented the Secretary-General at the 8th anniversary of the 2016 Final Peace Agreement, the UN Verification Mission supports Colombian women and men from all backgrounds and of all ages, addressing stigmatization of ex-combatants in reintegration areas.
I saw this work up close when I visited the Agua Bonita reintegration area in southwest Colombia.
In Yemen, the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, in partnership with UN Women, has organized consultations for a “A Bottom-up Vision for an Inclusive Peace Process”.
This has fostered advocacy coalitions between women’s groups and other stakeholders including youth and traditional leaders, amplified diverse local voices, and reframed the women, peace and security agenda as a broader community priority rather than just a women’s issue.
Third, our investments must be aligned with our priorities.
Significant and sustained resources are essential to support young women peacebuilders and ensure their work flourishes.
In Somalia, thanks to a Peacebuilding Fund initiative, young men and women worked together in managing and restoring water canals across clan lines, overcoming historical grievances and mitigating inter-clan conflicts driven by resource scarcity.
In El Salvador, another project of the Peacebuilding Fund empowered marginalized youth to lead community action.
This became possible through integrating youth into Municipal Committees for the Prevention of Violence, facilitating consultations with local governance actors, and providing capacity training to marginalized youth.
Allowing youth to communicate their concerns contributed to reducing tensions.
The success of these efforts requires more robust and consistent financial backing from the international community.
Investments in women, peace and security agenda are not an option; they are a necessity for preventing conflict and achieving sustainable and inclusive peace.
Madam President,
In the face of unprecedented challenges to global peace and security, young women around the world are envisioning and demanding a world of justice and peace.
As we approach the 25th anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, we must open doors for the next generation.
Together, we must cultivate leadership from the ground up, placing young women and women’s rights at the heart of our efforts.
Thank you.
