Pathways to Lasting Peace and Justice

As Nobel Peace Prize Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, we raise our voices with urgency and hope—grounded in resistance, solidarity, and a shared commitment to justice at this critical moment.

The world is in crisis. Armed conflicts are escalating. Authoritarian regimes are expanding their grip. Communities confront overlapping emergencies: militarization, climate collapse, and mass disinformation. Political actors weaponize misogyny, fueling toxic masculinities, stripping women of rights, and igniting new conflicts. 

Women and communities all over the world are resisting and working to build peace against all odds.

“Women and communities everywhere are defying displacement, patriarchy, and violence to build peace. Their courage shows us that lasting peace is possible.” — Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize 2011

In April 2025, Nobel Women’s Initiative led a delegation to Palestine and Jordan, witnessing the devastating impact of Israeli military aggression, genocide, and illegal occupation—especially on women and children. What we heard deepened our alarm and strengthened our resolve to end violence, injustice, and oppression in the region.

“The world must stop arming and enabling this brutal occupation, especially my own country, the U.S., who are complicit in these crime against humanity.” — Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize 1997

“The test of our shared humanity today is whether we stand in action with the people of Palestine in their struggle for freedom, justice, and dignity“— Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Prize 2011. “In Yemen and beyond, we demand a democratic future where all citizens live equal and free with unity, independence, and territorial integrity, ensuring the people live under a democratic and civil government where all citizens are equal and free.” 

Across all contexts, we hear calls for justice, accountability, and dignity—recognizing that lasting peace requires the full respect of human rights and the protection of communities.

“Ensuring justice in Ukraine means holding Russia and all perpetrators accountable while supporting a path to a just and people-centered peace.” — Oleksandra Matviichuk, Nobel Peace Prize 2022

From Ukraine to Afghanistan, Iran to Yemen, Sudan to Guatemala and the DRC, women are leading efforts for peace—defying displacement, patriarchy, gender apartheid, and militarized violence every day.

As the third anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s killing approaches, we join our Iranian sister laureates in sounding the alarm over the shadow of war across Iran and the region. We stand with Narges Mohammadi and with all those imprisoned for daring to dream of justice and equality. Their rallying cry—‘Women, Life, Freedom’—echoes far beyond Iran.

“Together, let us amplify it, demanding freedom for all political prisoners and justice for all who resist tyranny with unbreakable courage.” —Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize 2023

“The courage of women leading the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement calls us to resist repression and prevent further escalation of violence in Iran and the region. In short, the people’s slogan these days is “neither war nor tyranny.” — Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize 2003

In addition to urgent actions in each community and conflict, our reflections this year point to five overarching thematic areas that demand collective attention. These themes have consistently emerged across contexts.

1. Stop Wars, Occupation, and Conflicts

Loud and clear across all contexts, we hear the demands of citizens to end war, conflict, and violence, and to address their root causes.

Governments and international organizations should:

• Immediately end the war and genocide in Gaza, end Israel’s illegal occupation, and dismantle the system of apartheid against the Palestinian people. They must halt the war of starvation by ensuring the full and unrestricted flow of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid, and impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. Finally, they must guarantee the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions.

• End the direct and indirect fueling of conflicts, including ending the profiteering from war and weapons.
• Ensure justice and accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression. We unite in our steadfast support of sovereignty, independence, and path to a just peace.
• Implement inclusive and comprehensive peace roadmaps.

2. Confront Disinformation and Digital Violence

Misinformation, censorship, deliberate internet shutdowns, and targeted smear campaigns fuel division, silence truth, and endanger lives. Women peacebuilders and journalists, who defend truth in the face of conflict, are the first to be targeted by the spread of hate, lies, propaganda, and fear.

“Disinformation is a weapon of war and repression. To build lasting peace, we must protect the truth, defend journalists, and hold tech companies accountable. We unite in this struggle to transform surveillance capitalism into a force for justice and human rights.” — Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize 2021

Governments and international organizations should:

• Implement human rights–based approaches that ensure independent oversight.

• Protect journalists, women peacebuilders, human rights defenders, and fact-checking initiatives.

• Hold tech companies accountable for the content their platforms host and promote.

• Advance a binding UN treaty on digital technologies and disinformation to prevent the weaponization of digital spaces, with a guarantee of the full protection of freedom of opinion and expression without undue restriction. The EU’s work on digital governance shows what is possible.

3. Implement Commitments to Women Peacebuilders

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS)—two landmark commitments to women’s rights and leadership in peacebuilding which remain largely unfulfilled. Despite evidence that peace agreements are 20% more likely to last two years and 35% more likely to last fifteen years when women are included, women made up only 5% of peace negotiators and 9% of mediators in 2023.

Governments and international organizations should:

• Fully implement commitments, including those made in Beijing and WPS agenda.

• Protect women peacebuilders and fund independent women-led civil society organizations as central actors in peace and security.

• Ensure women’s meaningful participation in all peace, climate, and security decision-making.

• Recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.

4. Demilitarize and Resource Peace and Justice

Militarization threatens women’s lives and community security, undermining both peace and justice. In 2024, global military spending surpassed $2.7 trillion, the steepest increase since the Cold War. While we recognize the urgent security threats facing many places, true security is not defined solely by armies but by the strength of societies and the well-being of their people. Military spending should never come at the expense of education, health care, climate resilience, gender justice, and humanitarian response. Women-led organizations, among the most trusted and effective in delivering aid and building peace, receive less than 1% of global peace and security funding. This is a moral failure.

Governments and international organizations should:

• Reduce global military spending and the international arms trade.

• Redirect at least 10–15% of military budgets by 2030 to peacebuilding, diplomacy, and social resilience.

• Ban lethal autonomous weapons and advance nuclear disarmament.

5. Safeguard our Earth 

From Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan and Iran, war is destroying ecosystems: poisoning water, leveling forests, decimating farmland, and driving species to extinction. The scars of war on the earth last for generations. Militaries account for an estimated 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making them among the largest institutional polluters on the planet. The environment is not collateral damage. Peace is inseparable from ecological integrity and environmental justice.

“Peace cannot exist without respect for Mother Earth. Defending our planet and indigenous peoples is inseparable from defending human rights and justice.” — Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Prize 1992

Governments and international organizations should:

• Include environmental accountability in all peace agreements.

• Commit to reducing military emissions.

• Redirect at least 10% of military spending to climate action and ecosystem restoration.

This future of peace, equality, democracy, and planetary justice is urgent and necessary. As women Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, we unite to resist, speak out, and act with movements and communities forging a different future. We call on all people to join us in resisting violence, defending truth, and building a peaceful future.

WUNRN

Statement: Pathways to Lasting Peace and Justice