16/10/2025
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16/10/2025
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In October 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325, which for the first time linked women’s rights to peace and security.
It became the foundation of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda that now serves as a benchmark for global policy. A quarter of a century later, Kuwait marked the anniversary with an official ceremony under the title The Role of Women in Humanitarian Work Opportunities and Challenges.
The event highlighted partial reforms and humanitarian initiatives but offered little evidence of real progress in translating Resolution 1325 into a national framework. Symbolism has replaced substance. To its credit, Kuwait established a National Committee on Women, Peace and Security in December 2023 and organized workshops with the United Nations and ESCWA. This was a useful entry point, but it remains only a preparatory step. The absence of a published national plan with measurable objectives, dedicated budgets, and accountability mechanisms highlights the gap between intention and implementation. Other states in the region present a sharp contrast.
Lebanon, despite political and economic collapse, adopted a national plan in 2022. Yemen, despite the ongoing war, approved its plan in 2019.
Iraq, under far greater strain than Kuwait, adopted its first plan in 2014 and revised it in 2020. Kuwait, by comparison, is stable, wealthy, and secure. Its failure to advance a comprehensive strategy is therefore more a question of political will than of capacity. Incremental progress can be observed.
The number of female officers in the police has increased, and Kuwait continues to score well in international safety and health indicators. However, these gains are not the product of a comprehensive Women, Peace and Security agenda and fade in comparison to the broader commitments required under Resolution 1325. Without an integrated national framework, such steps remain fragmented and cannot be regarded as genuine compliance. Policy questions, therefore, remain unanswered. Where is the Kuwaiti plan with clear benchmarks?
Where are the provisions for reparations and protections that the resolution demands? And where are the monitoring mechanisms that would allow civil society, the media, and when restored, parliament, to hold the state accountable? Marking anniversaries without delivering real results risks reducing international commitments to ceremonial exercises.
For Kuwait, a state that enjoys resources and stability, the challenge is not feasibility but credibility. Until a national plan is enacted, celebrations of Resolution 1325 will remain symbolic gestures rather than proof of policy leadership.
By Abdulaziz Al-Anjeri
