At the Arms Control Association meeting in Washington DC last June, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) sounded the alarm about nuclear weapons, declaring that “humanity is on a knife edge.”

Almost a year earlier, in July 2023, the UN Secretary-General unveiled the New Agenda for Peace, his vision of peace and security based on international law to reform the global peace and security architecture. The New Agenda for Peace raises deep fears about curtailing women’s rights, as well as the existential challenges of the potential weaponization of technology, rising inequality, the reduction of civic space, and the climate emergency.

The upcoming 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, also known as the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, provides an opportunity to reflect on achievements and identify new directions for the further development of the agenda.

Often referred to as the “crowning achievement” of the global women’s movement, the WPS agenda transformed the role of women in peacebuilding and, to a lesser extent, conflict prevention.

At the same time, the next 25 years will bring tremendous change. Artificial intelligence (AI) will make conflict more deadly – ​​AI-powered cyberattacks can disrupt networks and AI-powered decision-making can transform conflicts and develop new war tactics. The growing digital gender divide excludes women from decision-making and ignores the gendered impact of AI-powered nuclear weapons, including lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS).

To achieve the full potential of the WPS agenda, States must address the specific impacts of nuclear weapons on women and girls and ensure full representation of women in arms negotiations, including LAWS negotiations.

The General Assembly adopted the resolution “Women, Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Arms Control” in December 2020. It reaffirmed the Sustainable Development Goals and called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in efforts to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit transfer of small arms. The resolution also recognized the core mission of the WPS agenda: women should not only be perceived as victims and survivors of gender-based armed violence, but are key agents of peace and, in this case, advocates of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation.

In addition, the General Assembly called on UN member states to deepen their understanding of the impact of armed violence on women and girls and to address the differential impacts of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons on women, men and girls. It also called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in the implementation of these resolutions.

However, the issue of nuclear weapons has been largely excluded from the WPS agenda, despite the possibility of addressing nuclear weapons through the prevention and engagement pillars of the WPS agenda.

The 2017 UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) has been called the first “gender-sensitive” international nuclear weapons treaty because it highlighted the gendered impacts of nuclear weapons. These impacts include the dangers of ionising radiation for women and the gendered physical and psychological impacts, stigma and inequality caused by the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and by decades of nuclear production and testing.

The TPNW is also a call for greater participation of women in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, from development to proliferation. This approach to women’s decision-making includes medical care and psychological support for those affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons.

A gender-sensitive approach to nuclear weapons is crucial. Women in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for example, were almost twice as likely to develop or die from cancer due to ionizing radiation. Pregnant women exposed to nuclear radiation face a higher risk of maternal mortality, stillbirths, and babies with birth defects. And yet we still need more research on the gender-specific effects of ionizing radiation.

Although the negotiations to ban nuclear weapons included female leaders and female-led delegations, women are often underrepresented in decision-making processes related to nuclear weapons. This provides further arguments as to why the WPS agenda must live up to its stated mission of including women in discussions on conflict, peace, security and decision-making.

Furthermore, the current WPS agenda does not address AI Facilitated LAWS, despite suggesting that drone swarm technology – an AI application now referred to as LAWS – is the most significant military technology since the atomic bomb.

Autonomous weapons systems have been the subject of debate since 2010, when Philip Alston, then Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, brought the issue to the world stage in his interim report to the UN General Assembly.

Alston stressed that advances in automated technologies and artificial intelligence are occurring at a dizzying pace, with significant investment in research. He pointed to the risks that arise as military forces and defence companies seek to develop “fully autonomous capabilities” that would enable unmanned aircraft to make complex decisions, such as identifying and engaging human targets.

The UN Secretary-General described technological developments in the field of AI as “warp speed.” New technologies tend to spread faster and become weapons before states even have a chance to act meaningfully.

Indeed, in September 2021, then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on the Council of Europe’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to encourage states to develop appropriate safeguards to prevent human rights violations. She called for “action to be taken now to put human rights guardrails in place for the use of AI, for the benefit of all of us.”

These human rights guardrails must also include red teaming, which is structured testing in which a group of people tests cybersecurity models to address existing gaps and vulnerabilities. This includes human rights defenders before the product launch phase of large language models.

In November 2023, the United Nations First Committee adopted the new resolution on lethal autonomous weapons, expressing concern about the potential negative consequences and impacts of autonomous weapons systems on global security, regional and international stability, including the risk of an evolving arms race.

While the First Committee underlined the potential of new and emerging technologies to promote human well-being and, in certain circumstances, to improve the protection of civilians in conflict, it also recognized that these technologies could be a double-edged sword, as autonomous weapons systems have the potential to have negative impacts on global security.

Most importantly, it recognized the validity of international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, also for autonomous weapons systems.

Article 39 of Chapter V11 of the UN Charter acts as a gatekeeper for the maintenance of peace. Under its provisions, the Security Council determines whether a threat to the peace, a breach of the peace or an act of aggression has occurred and makes recommendations or decides what measures should be taken to maintain or restore international peace and security. Although complete disarmament is a long-term goal, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) envisages “complete disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament, under strict and effective international control” as part of the progress towards full equality.

The latest contribution to the international normative structure is the forthcoming CEDAW General Recommendation 40. The General Recommendation is ambitious in its vision as it redefines ‘equal and inclusive representation’ as parity between women and men both in terms of equal access to and power within decision-making systems and, most importantly, in terms of conflict prevention, participation in conflict resolution and building more sustainable peace and security.

The numerous global conflicts that are fuelling a new and expanded arms race are leading to a renewed focus on multilateral control and verification instruments in the area of ​​disarmament and non-proliferation.

The 25th anniversary of the WPS Agenda comes at a time of major global change, driven by new and ongoing conflicts and new technologies. It is time for the WPS Agenda to cross a new threshold in its participation pillar.