HAMILTON, Canada 

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed announced Thursday the launch of the "Common Pledge on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes" -- a global initiative to ensure women’s participation in peace talks.

Mohammed highlighted gender disparity in peace negotiations during a UN Security Council session on women, peace and security.

"Peace and security decision-making is overwhelmingly dominated by men," she said. "Historical data shows that between 1992 and 2019, women constituted only 13% of negotiators and 6% of mediators in major peace processes."

"More recent data from UN Women for 2023 shows that women, on average, made up less than 10% of peace negotiators and 13.5% of mediators," she said.

Urging collective action and solidarity, Mohammed said "It is why, today, on behalf of the Secretary-General, I am pleased to launch the 'Common Pledge on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes', an initiative that brings together a broad array of mediation actors."

By endorsing the "Common Pledge," she said that "regional organizations and other mediation actors commit to join the UN in taking concrete steps on women’s participation in all peace processes they are involved in."

Noting the challenges posed by the current geopolitical environment, she said achieving peace will be very difficult as long as power imbalances, patriarchal social structures, systemic biases, violence and discrimination persist."

"Together, we can have an impact that is greater than the sum of our individual efforts," she added.

Mohammed drew attention to the dire situation in conflict zones and stated that "in Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinian women and girls have been killed and injured amidst continued war and a terrible humanitarian crisis."

"In Lebanon, an escalation of destruction and displacement threatens women and girls’ safety and livelihood," she added, while highlighting the "extreme suffering" of women in Sudan.