INFORMAL EXPERT GROUP ON WOMEN AND PEACE AND SECURITY: SUMMARY OF THE MEETING ON DRC, 25 MARCH 2019

On 25 March 2019, the Informal Expert Group on Women and Peace and Security convened a meeting on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Members of the Security Council were briefed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), Leila Zerrougui, accompanied by experts from the Mission and the United Nations country team.

Council members asked several questions about the low levels of women’s representation in politics and the high rates of conflict-related sexual violence; the current status of the new national action plan on women and peace and security and what can be done by the Security Council, the African Union and its continental results framework, or bilaterally by individual Member States, to assist in its implementation and enhance compliance; efforts to review the United Nations strategy and interventions vis-à-vis the recent and upcoming elections; and the role of the United Nations in engaging with non-State armed actors and in addressing the Ebola epidemic. Council members also asked about the new President’s commitment to gender equality and to continuing the implementation of existing obligations on conflict-related sexual violence.