Heading to twenty: perils and promises of WPS Resolution 2493

As has characterised the UN Security Council’s women, peace and security agenda (WPS) since its adoption, the lead up to its twentieth anniversary next year is becoming defined by a contrasting set of perils as well as promises that have beset the agenda to date. The adoption of Resolution 2493 (2019) at the Open Debate on WPS on the 29th October, the tenth WPS resolution, recently brought these dynamics into stark relief. Questions abound about the UNSC as the right place for advancing women’s rights in conflict, with the growing pushback against global normative advancement on gender equality now particularly felt in the Council, on top of the challenges presented by its own particular political dynamics. In this article Catherine O’Rourke and Aisling Swaine detail the challenges, and why nevertheless, there may be some room for hope in aspects of the most recent resolutions, if allowed to be brought forward.