WILPF/PeaceWomen themes covered:

General Women, Peace and Security:  4/16

Conflict Prevention:  2/16

Disarmament:  2/16

Displacement and Humanitarian Response:  3/16

Participation: 7/16

Peace Processes: 5/16

Peacekeeping: 4/16

Protection: 3/16

Reconstruction and Peacebuilding: 2/16

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: 4/16

Implementation: 3/16

Justice, Rule of Law, SSR: 6/16

Human Rights: 5/16

N/A. 

WILPF/PeaceWomen themes covered:

General Women, Peace and Security: 2/4

Conflict Prevention:1/4

Disarmament: 0/4

Displacement and Humanitarian Response: 0/4

Participation: 3/4

Peace Processes: 1/4

Peacekeeping: 0/4

Protection: 0/4

Reconstruction and Peacebuilding: 0/4

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: 0/4

Implementation: 1/4

Justice, Rule of Law, SSR: 2/4

Human Rights: 2/4

WILPF/PeaceWomen themes covered:

General Women, Peace and Security: 0/1

Conflict Prevention: 0/1

Disarmament: 0/1

Displacement and Humanitarian Response: 1/1

Participation: 1/1

Peace Processes: 0/1

Peacekeeping: 1/1

Protection: 1/1

Reconstruction and Peacebuilding: 0/1

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: 1/1

Implementation: 0/1

Justice, Rule of Law, SSR: 1/1

Human Rights: 1/1

Though the United Kingdom did not identify any new commitments in 2018, it did offer updates on previous years' commitments: 

Peace Processes: The United Kingdom brought members of the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth network to New York in October to exchange experiences with other regional networks of women mediators and to explore ways to collectively drive the agenda forward.

Implementation: The United Kingdom has a cross-Government national action plan committed to increasing women’s participation in decision-making and to scaling up initiatives to prevent and to respond to gender-based violence.

Participation: The United Kingdom has opened all military roles to women and is close to meeting the target of women making up 15 per cent of armed forces.

Arms Transfer Revenue in 2017: $ 952,000,000

UN Women Government Total Contribution in 2017: $ 16,490,000

In 2017, the United Kingdom was ranked 25 of 189 countries. 

Researcher's note: The 2019 Human Development Report will not be released until November 2019, as it is being significantly re-envisioned in order to "go beyond the dominant discourse focused on income disparities."

N/A 

N/A. 

Contingent Troops: 627 men, 39 women, 666 total. 

Experts on Mission: 4 men, 0 women, 4 total. 

Staff Officers: 25 men, 4 women, 29 total. 

Total, peacekeepers provided: 656 men, 43 women, 699 total. 

N/A. 

Funding. The UK CSOs receive the second largest proportion of EU aid (both grant and service (commercial) contracts combined). In 2017 (the most recent year for which data is available), civil society organisations had an estimated combined annual income of £197.8bn. As of September 2018, there were 168,186 officially registered charities in the United Kingdom.

Spotlight: Grassroots. To better understand the nature and extent of partnership between women-led civil society and the government, WILPF performs a more in-depth analysis of the actions, efforts and impact of each nation's leading women's organisation(s). For our study of the UK, WILPF examined the Women's Resource Centre (WRC).

The WRC is a membership organisation that functions as the umbrella body for women's charities, with over 500 members. WRC works to support member women NGOs to be more effective and sustainable through the provision of training, information, resources and one-to-one support on a range of organisational development issues while also lobbying decision makers on behalf of the women’s not-for-profit sector for improved representation and funding. 

Types of social support provided by the WRC include: education, anti-violence, women's empowerment, gender-related training, political participation, anti-human trafficking, women's health, lobbying and policymaking and fundraising. 

In 2018, there were official strategies at the local and national levels to implement gender-specific training of security and law enforcement. Accountability and responsibility for the implementation of these strategies was clearly outlined. However, due to inadequate resources and the perception of the “diversity agenda” as a low priority within the UK police force (among other issues), these strategies often lacked meaningful impact and largely fell short of bringing about the change the UK police force badly needs. Diversity within the UK police force has been described as “patchy,” with public outrage surrounding the absence of diversity (particularly in decision-making roles) prompting the House of Commons and House Affairs Committee to conduct a formal inquiry in 2016 (followed by the Government’s formal reply).

Timeframe. UK's NAP is for the period 2018-2022, but does not provide specific timeframes for the outcomes it describes.

NAP Budget. There is no estimated or allocated budget in the 2018-2022 NAP. In explaining this decision, the UK stated that it found "...little evidence that a ring fenced funding pool would significantly improve the UK’s delivery of WPS initiatives compared to other measures such as ensuring that WPS is strategically and meaningful mainstreamed throughout programming.” In accordance with this view, the UK Government departments fund work on WPS from their core budgets, such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Global Britain Fund, and cross-government funds including the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.

In 2017, the United Kingdom’s military expenditure was $46,433,000,000. The United Kingdom’s previous National Action Plan did not include a WPS budget.

In 2018, the United Kingdom's Upper House (the House of Lords) was 26.4%

The proportion of women in the House of Commons remained stagnant, comprised of 32% women. The proportion of women increased slightly in the House of Lords, from 25.7% in 2017.

N/A

There were 36,417 women police officers in the 43 police forces on 31 March 2018, making up 30% of police officers in England and Wales (the highest proportion on record). The number of women officers increased by 573 (2%) compared with a year earlier, and the proportion of police officers who are women increased (up 0.6 percentage points from 29.1% on 31 March 2017).

29% of court judges and 46% of tribunal judges were women, representing a 1% increase for each category in 2017. 

Notably, younger age groups had higher levels of women's representation. Over half of court judges under 40 were women (55%), and almost half (47%) of court judges aged 40-49 were women. Notably, tribunal judges had greater representation of women judges than male judges at all age groups except those aged 60 or over, of whom just over a third (34%) were women.

N/A 

N/A

Unlike many other nations, the United Kingdom has no single constitutional document, and is instead the sum of laws and principles that make up the "unwritten" constitution of the United Kingdom. The Constitution guarantees equal treatment based on gender, as wlell as provisions for potential positive action based on gender.

The UK Government has established an Inter-Ministerial Group on Equalities to develop and oversee implementation of a strategy to deliver the Government's equality commitments (2011), as well as a multi-agency statutory guidance on female genital mutilation (2016). The UK Government has also developed a strategy to end violence against women and girls (operational from 2016 through 2020).

In 2017, Regulations SI 2017/172 was added to the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information). These regulations set out a standard mechanism for companies to report and publish details on gender pay gap. 

In 2018, the United Kingdom made progress improved the legal framework surrounding domestic abuse. Scotland passed the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act of 2018 in February 2018, which makes all domestic abuse towards a partner, whether psychological or physical, a criminal offence. Offenders could face up to 14 years in prison. (The law went into effect in April 2019.) Throughout 2018, the UK government conducted research and consultations on the economic and social cost of domestic abuse in the lead up to its publication of a draft bill on domestic abuse. The UK Government sought views from victims, support organisations and frontline professionals, to harness their knowledge and expertise. The consultation received over 3,200 responses from across the UK. During the consultation period, events were held across England and Wales, engaging over 1,000 people. (The draft bill was published on January 31, 2019. Though it represents a clear step forward, the draft bill is characterised by gaps and fundamental misconceptions in key areas.)

This section examines access to fundamental rights, criminal and civil justice, protections guaranteeing the access to these institutions (and against retaliation for accessing these institutions) without discrimination. 

According to the World Justice Project's (WJP's) 2019 report on citizens' access to justice in 2018, the United Kingdom was ranked 12 out of 126 states. As it relates to civil justice (a category which includes financial affordability, economic barriers to access and freedom from discrimination), the United Kingdom is ranked 18 out of 126. As it relates to criminal justice, the United Kingdom is ranked 9 of 126. As it relates to fundamental rights, the United Kingdom is ranked 11 of 126. 

The Equality Act (2010) protects against discrimination across nine characteristics, including sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity and marriage or civil partnership (in employment only). Guidance notes, resources and related informational materials are widely available both through government and nonprofit providers. (For example: Citizen's Advice, a national charity and a network of over 280 independent local Citizens Advice members, maintains a helpline that provides advice and information on discrimination.) 

The right to an interpreter is a principle of English common law. Translation services are currently being provided within police stations and the Courts by 'The Big Word', who are contracted by the Ministry of Justice. The struggle to meet the demand for interpreters (and citizens' concerns surrounding the privatisation of these services) is well documented.

According to the 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, the Government of the United Kingdom is in “full compliance.”  

In March 2016 the British Home Secretary published the UK National Strategy on Violence Against Women for the period of 2016-2020. This strategy includes 80 million GBP in funding to support rape crisis centres, shelters, and local prevention programmes. The main goals of the strategy are to increase reporting, reform the justice system's response to sexual and gender based violence, support local commissioners, address trafficking in persons, and overall improve intervention and the prevention of abuse.

The United Kingdom falls short of meeting the minimum standards for the provision of recovery support.

The UK's Veterans Welfare Service (VWS, part of the Ministry of Defence (MOD)) operates four VWS Centres across the United Kingdom. In 2018, the United Kingdom did not have designated woman veterans affairs offices or bureaus. The VWS does, however, host a number of protocols guiding economic benefits (ex: pension schemes and compensation payments for those injured or bereaved through service), health service benefits (particularly for those with " leavers who have severe physical or psychological disablement "), educational benefits (ex: the MOD is largest deliverer of apprenticeships in the UK) and employment benefits (ex: provision of access to one-to-one guidance, training and employment opportunities for two years following exit, based on an eligibility related to length of service.  

In 2018, the MOD's provision of services to women veterans was characterised by the absence of discussion and thinking concerning the specific support needs of women veterans. The absence of such discussions have consequences. The SSAFA conducted a survey of 251 veterans aged 18 - 45, and the results were that clear: nearly half of women veterans feel less supported than male veterans.

It is also clear that, though the UK Government "ticks the boxes" for most of the Scorecard  indicators, the MOD has shifted much of its veterans' welfare service provision responsibilities to civil society organisations.

The National Domestic Violence Helpline, run in partnership between Women's Aid and Refuge, is operational 24/7 and free of charge. The National Domestic Violence Helpline receives support from the UK Government (including the Department of Health and Home Office). Rape Crisis also operates a national helpline, which is free of charge and operational from 12:00 -2.30 pm and 7:00 - 9.30 pm every day of the year, which receives funds from the UK Government. (There are a number of other helplines providing support to survivors of sexual violence that receive funding from the UK Government.) The National Health Service directs survivors to these (as well as other) services. 

There are 302 serving the whole of England and Wales. One in six shelters have closed due to lack of funding in the past eight years.

In 2018, there were 44 autonomous Rape Crisis Centres (for which Rape Crisis serves as an umbrella body). In 2017-18, 6,355 victims and survivors awaited access support from Rape Crisis Centres. Waiting lists for counselling typically ranged from 3 to 14 months, with numerous other services closing their waiting lists altogether due to an absence of funding to clear them within the period of the contract. 

It is critical to note though, as emphasised in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual Violence's 2018 report, that "overall funding received by specialist sexual violence and abuse services has in no way kept pace with, and continues to be completely disproportionate to, the high levels of demand they face."

The UK operates a Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR),  a records database of those who are required to register with the police under the Sexual Offenses Act 2003, jailed for over a year for violent offences and/or considered at risk of reoffending. The database for use only by police forces and is not publicly accessible.

The Salvation Army and the Modern Slavery Foundation run helplines that are The Salvation Army and the Modern Slavery Foundation run helplines that are operational 24/7. In 2018, there was a single operational women's anti-trafficking emergency  safehouse in the UK, run by Unseen. 24/7. In 2018, there was a single operational women's anti-trafafehouse in the U.K, run by Unseen. 

In 2018, the UK received applications for asylum for 37,453 people (including dependents), significantly fewer than Germany (162,000), France (110,000), Greece (65,000) and Italy (49,000). The UK offered protection (grants of asylum, alternative forms of protection and resettlement) to 15,891 people in 2018 (up 8% compared with the previous year). 

According to UNHCR statistics, by mid-2018 there were 124,018 refugees, 33,035 pending asylum cases and 106 stateless persons in the UK.

In 2018, 5,806 people were resettled in the UK, (7% fewer than the previous year), including 4,407 under the VPRS, 688 under the VCRS.