What does working for peace mean in 2025?
30 January 2025
2024 was a dramatic and often troubling year for the global prospects for sustainable peace. From the continuation of the unrelenting assault by the Israeli Government on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, to the catastrophic humanitarian situation amid widespread violence and human rights violations in Sudan, civilians continued to bear the brunt of armed conflict. However, 2025 offers glimmers of, if not hope, then at least opportunity, that all of us working towards a more peaceful and stable world should seize. Let’s not forget that we closed out 2024 with the sudden and dramatic fall of the brutal Assad regime in Syria, unlocking prospects of a brighter future for Syrians who have endured decades of repression and violence. These glimmers of hope need to be seized, by standing in solidarity with communities, civil society and all those working towards peace as they search for justice and develop collective visions for peace and transformation. In other cases, it will be a year of effort to continue holding the line, calling for accountability, and preventing a further deterioration of the norms that are instrumental to a more stable and secure future. Finally, it is a year to raise the alarm and call for action to prevent a further slide into injustice, violence, militarisation and instability.
First: the opportunities
Despite global rollback on gender equality, 2025 is a big year for the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, with the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, as well as the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. The feminist vision for peace that these represent could be the radical voice that is needed in this time of global conflict, injustice and uncertainty. We know that more gender-equal societies are more peaceful, and that gender is a crucial lens through which to analyse and respond to conflict. However, women’s rights organisations (WROs) are extremely under-resourced, particularly in fragile settings, making it difficult for them to participate in the political work that is needed to prevent conflict and build peace. It will be important to seize the global momentum that will come with this anniversary year to promote action on the implementation of the WPS agenda, including by prioritising core, flexible and direct funding to women’s rights and feminist organisations, and amplifying their role in promoting peace and preventing conflict. This is a crucial moment to counter the global pushback on gender equality by strengthening feminist networks and shaping alliances with international policymakers to support their leadership in peace and development spaces.
There is also growing momentum and recognition of the importance of shifting power and resources to those directly affected by – and responding to – conflict. In places like Sudan, where UN agencies and international NGOs (INGOs) are struggling to gain access to respond to extreme humanitarian needs, it is the local responders and mutual aid groups who are showing immense resilience and stepping in to support their communities. They are often best placed to understand and respond to local needs and priorities, as well as to identify and de-escalate emerging conflicts and support communities to adapt in the face of violence. These groups are critical to building bottom-up visions of peace and transformation, and we need to trust in their agency, resistance and hopes, rather than treat them solely as channels of humanitarian aid. Massive aid cuts are still rippling through the humanitarian system, which further reinforces the need to step away from big, expensive international providers and take a different approach to operating models and partnerships, where local responders – who are building connections and strengthening social fabric – are prioritised.
This is also a year where there are several major global policy opportunities related to peace. The World Bank is expected to renew its Fragility Strategy; the UN Peacebuilding Architecture Review (UNPAR) will be underway; and it is the ten-year anniversary of the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda. With half of the world’s population under 30, 90 per cent of whom live in developing countries, young people hold the key to the future in many conflict-affected areas. This is an opportunity to understand their concerns and priorities, amplify their voices and increase their participation in peace, security and development.
The Summit of the Future in 2024 fell short of a progressive vision for peace in a UN environment with little agreement between powerful member states, while the UN Secretary-General has described progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals as ‘alarmingly insufficient’. These moments in 2025 present the opportunity for UN member states to be braver and bolder, and put into place reforms that can shift the dial, promote the priorities of communities and civil society directly affected by conflict, and push back on the seemingly overwhelming forces that are moving the world into greater instability.
Second: the need to hold the line
While the opportunities mentioned above provide some glimmers of hope, a lot of the work that continues this year and into the future will be to hold the line amid a series of deteriorating norms and increasing global and local threats to peace. Globally, civic space is continuing to shrink, and there are some alarming trends away from the global solidarity that is needed to solve the complex, rapid and volatile challenges we face. There have been global electoral shifts towards authoritarianism and populism, and a decline in democratic freedoms around the world. This has been accompanied by a de-prioritisation of norms around multilateral cooperation and the protection of human rights. Alongside this comes inaction on climate change and environmental degradation, huge decreases in aid funding for peace and development, historic levels of military spending, and pushback on gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
The new US administration is already rolling back policies on gender, women’s empowerment, LGBTQI+ rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, and is freezing foreign aid. This comes alongside rollbacks on social media protections, the alignment of tech leaders with the far right, and the potential for unregulated artificial intelligence and disinformation to fuel conflict and put peacebuilders and human rights defenders at risk. What is needed now is pushback against these worrying trends and solidarity with those around the world bearing and resisting the brunt of this backsliding. This includes support for these movements among the donor community, as well as from powerful voices at global, national and local levels.
The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) climate summit, which is due to take place in Brazil towards the end of the year, was expected to be challenging even before the new US administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Further progress is needed to stave off the global triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, and to ensure that the relationship between climate change, nature, conflict and peace is addressed. This is especially important for conflict-affected contexts – for example, in South Sudan, the impact of flooding and displacement has been severe and contributes towards exacerbating conflict and humanitarian needs. More than ever, the voices of civil society and Indigenous groups, particularly those from fragile and conflict-affected contexts who are also on the frontlines of the climate crisis, need to be taken seriously in these multilateral processes – they speak the truth of the real consequences of inaction.
Finally: a call to action
We ushered in 2025 amid the most conflicts since World War II (both between and within states) and rising global threats to peace and security. These have disproportionately impacted civilians. In Gaza, Palestinians face incredible loss and human suffering, destruction of all infrastructure – with many of the displaced having no home to return to – and unclear paths for accountability and long-term peace; Ukraine is experiencing the devastating continuation of three years of conflict following the Russian invasion; civilians in Myanmar continue to be subject to gross human rights violations and indiscriminate aerial bombardment; and in Afghanistan, the ‘gender apartheid’ against women intensifies every day. Action is desperately needed to stand up for peace. We can see this action taking place at the local level, as communities have shown incredible resilience – from Yemeni civil society advocating for women’s participation in peace talks, to South Sudanese civil society pushing to address long-standing drivers of conflict at all levels, to Somalis working together to prevent conflict, to the brave work of mutual aid providers in Sudan. This needs to be matched with international solidarity and support.
Governments that continue to transfer arms into conflicts where civilians are being targeted must immediately halt such exports. Conflict parties that terrorise civilians and punish women and children should be held to account. The international community – including the UN Security Council and donors – needs to be strongly reminded that it is their duty under international law and their best path towards longer-term stability to do everything in their power to promote accountability, end conflict and set the conditions for sustainable peace. And as we see a shift towards ceasefires, such as in Gaza and, potentially, in Ukraine, it will be crucial that any deals do not come at the cost of long-term peace. Addressing the root causes of conflict, including structural injustice, is essential. This must be rooted in communities’ visions of peace and requires investment and political will.
The global nature of our challenges will sooner or later remind us, yet again, of the need for cooperation and political will to build sustainable peace. This means investing in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, listening to and standing in solidarity with those affected by conflict, implementing commitments on stopping arms transfers, supporting women and youth peacebuilders, and building progressive coalitions for peace. The time to act is now.