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Statement by the Republic of Lithuania at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate "Women and peace and security on Monday, 6 October 2025.

Distinguished Members of the Council,

I have the honour to deliver a joint statement of Poland and Lithuania, reflecting the shared position of Poland, Ukraine, and my own country, Lithuania.

We extend our sincere appreciation to Secretary-General António Guterres for his annual report and the dedicated work that went into its preparation, as well as to UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous for her statement.

We meet today in this annual open debate on Women, Peace and Security to mark the 25th anniversary of resolution 1325 – a landmark that promised to place women at the heart of peace and security. Yet it is impossible to ignore the bitter irony that this very debate is chaired by Russia – a state that has trampled the Charter of the United Nations, shattered peace in Europe, and weaponized sexual violence against women and girls. Just this Sunday, Russia launched a large-scale aerial assault involving over 50 missiles and around 500 drones across nine regions of Ukraine; four people, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed in Lviv, and one civilian died in Zaporizhzhia — yet another stark reminder of Russia’s disregard for the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

The Secretary-General’s report notes that in 2024, a record 676 million women lived within 50 kilometres of a deadly conflict event – the highest figure since the 1990s. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of women and children killed in armed conflicts quadrupled. Seven out of every ten women killed in conflicts worldwide died in Gaza. In Ukraine, women and girls account for 31 percent of civilian casualties. In Myanmar and Sudan, women make up a devastating share of those killed and wounded.

Women human rights defenders and peacebuilders are under relentless assault. They are harassed, jailed, threatened, and murdered. This is not an abstract concern – it is a global crisis.

The alarming rise in conflict-related sexual violence is another shameful reminder of our collective failure. The Secretary-General has verified a 25 percent increase in such cases in 2024 – from Afghanistan to Myanmar, from Syria to the Central African Republic, from Palestine to Ukraine. Behind each figure lies not a statistic but a story of shattered dignity and deliberate cruelty inflicted as a weapon of war.

And still, we see systematic repression. In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s edicts have erased women and girls from public life. They are denied education, stripped of work, and locked out of the future. The report warns that maternal mortality there may rise by 50 percent before 2026, as women are barred from medical training and health services collapse. This is not governance – it is the deliberate exclusion of half the population from the life of their nation.

But perhaps the most brutal betrayal of the Women, Peace and Security agenda comes from within this Council itself. What credibility can we claim when a permanent member – Russia – entrusted with safeguarding peace, wages an unprovoked war of aggression, turns sexual violence into a weapon of terror, and systematically destroys the lives of women and girls in Ukraine?

The Secretary-General’s latest report on conflict-related sexual violence provides clear evidence of over 200 cases committed by Russian forces against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. Notably, Russia has been formally placed “on notice” for possible inclusion in the next report, due to its systematic denial of UN monitoring access.

We strongly condemn Russia’s war of aggression and the appalling accounts of sexual violence committed by its forces. Women raped in their homes, girls violated in occupied territories, survivors silenced by fear and stigma. Sexual violence as a weapon of war is not an accident – it is a deliberate strategy of domination and humiliation. And if we fail to hold perpetrators accountable, the cycle of violence will thrive.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Even in the darkest of times, women show the greatest resilience. Ukrainian women – from soldiers and paramedics to community leaders and volunteers – are standing at the frontlines of their nation’s defence. They are not only protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty, but also the universal right of every woman, everywhere, to live free from fear, violence, and oppression.

The report reminds us that while setbacks are severe, women-led peace initiatives – from local mediators in West Africa to women’s advisory boards in Syria and Sudan – prove that women’s participation makes peace more likely and more durable. We must invest in these efforts, rather than in weapons.

I thank you.