Women on margins in UN peace missions

UNITED NATIONS - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was unusually blunt on Tuesday: Women are still excluded from many peace negotiations nearly two decades after the UN adopted a landmark resolution calling for women to be included in decision-making positions at every level of peacemaking and peace-building.

The UN chief told the Security Council that sexual and gender-based violence remain weapons of war, a growing number of armed groups promote male superiority and misogyny as part of their core ideology, and women and girls continue "to pay the consequences of conflict".

Zhang Jun, Chinese permanent representative to the UN, also stressed the importance of women's capacity-building and effective participation in peace processes. He underscored the need to help women achieve equal development, escape poverty and access quality education, "which constitute important conditions for their effective participation in the peace process".