Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Director Jennifer Klein at the Release of the 2023 Women, Peace and Security Strategy and National Action Plan
Thank you, Ambassador Rao Gupta, for that warm introduction, and for your partnership.
I want to begin by thanking Secretary Blinken for your leadership and making the time to be with us today. Your presence here is testament to your commitment not only to addressing the impact of war and crises on women, but also to recognizing the pivotal role they play in efforts to resolve conflict and achieve sustainable peace and security.
And I am grateful to be here with so many of you—who have long worked to advance the rights and opportunities of women and girls in the United States and around the world.
We know that the status of women and the stability of nations are inextricably linked and that wherever the rights of women and girls are under threat, so, too, is democracy, peace, and stability—
from Iran, where women are courageously demanding respect for their human rights and fundamental freedoms in the face of oppression;
to Ukraine, where we are once more seeing rape used as a weapon in Russia’s brutal and unjust war;
to Afghanistan, where the Taliban persists in barring women and girls from attending school and fully participating in society.
Promoting women’s leadership and participation in decision-making at all levels is both a moral and a strategic imperative for U.S. foreign policy and national security.
Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, the President and Vice President have made historic advances in strengthening women’s meaningful participation in national security, defense, and political leadership. I want to take a moment to highlight a few key actions.
The first is advancing women’s protection and meaningful participation in the U.S. military.
As Commander-in-Chief, President Biden has made it a top priority to eliminate obstacles to women’s military service and promote their safety, inclusion, health and wellbeing, including by advancing historic military justice reform and expanding support for military survivors of gender-based violence through the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military.
And under the Biden-Harris Administration, women commanders have risen to unprecedented ranks, including the nomination of Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who will be the first woman to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Linda Fagan, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Coast Guard’s first woman to hold the rank of four-star admiral and the first woman Service Chief of any U.S. military service.
We have also made significant progress in addressing conflict-related sexual violence. In November 2022, President Biden signed a Presidential Memorandum, directing the U.S. government to use all existing tools to promote accountability for perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence globally, including sanctions, visa eligibility, and security assistance. And in June 2023, we imposed sanctions for the first time against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence in furtherance of this Presidential Memorandum.
We have also grown our support for women’s meaningful participation in conflict prevention and resolution through the Women, Peace, and Security Incentive Fund, which invests in women’s leadership and empowerment to help break cycles of conflict and crisis, counter violent extremism, and build peace and stability. Since 2017, with support from USAID, the Fund has provided more than 70 million dollars in economic and development assistance for women in 17 countries.
And today, on the 23rd anniversary of the UN Security Council’s adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325—–the landmark resolution affirming the importance of women’s participation in peace and security efforts—we are taking another important step to advance this strategic imperative through the release of our 2023 Women, Peace, and Security Strategy and National Action Plan.
This is the first WPS Strategy issued under this Administration, but I want to note that this is a bipartisan effort that the U.S. has championed across administrations, from the first WPS National Action Plan in 2011, to the enactment of the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, to the most recent WPS Strategy in 2019.
Our new strategy will help ensure that we rise to meet the 21st century challenges we’re facing in our efforts to promote stability and security and advance democracy around the world.
And our valued partnerships, with civil society, with women leaders, with other governments, with multilateral partners, and with all of you here today are what will make this strategy a reality.
Thank you. It is now my great pleasure to introduce my good friend and our exceptional Secretary of State Antony Blinken.