Women have a fundamental right to contribute to the shaping of the future of their countries and communities. Women’s meaningful participation in peace processes has been proven to improve the quality and sustainability of peace. Consultations with women’s organizations and representatives are vital to the work of the Office of the Special Envoy.
Yemeni women have been actively engaged in matters of peace, security and governance despite their marginalization and exclusion from formal politics and political institutions. Women’s participation and civic engagement elevated during the National Dialogue Conference (NDC), and this active engagement has continued ever since despite the current war. Yemeni women make critical contributions to peacemaking at the local, national and international levels be it evacuating civilians and the wounded from conflict-affected areas, to negotiating humanitarian access, the opening of roads and crossings or the release and exchange of prisoners, to advocating for a nationwide ceasefire. These critical engagements by Yemeni women happen in addition to the foundational roles they play in ensuring the survival of their families and communities, as crucial services and infrastructure collapse or are destroyed by the war.
Over the years, the Office of the Special Envoy has worked to better understand and support Yemeni women’s meaningful participation in transitional and peacemaking processes and on ensuring the integration of gender analysis and perspectives into its work.
Chronology:
- In 2015, the Office of the Special Envoy and UN Women collaborated to create, Tawafaq or the Yemeni Women’s Pact for Peace and Security (Pact) as a consultative mechanism. The Pact was directly managed by UN Women and grew to include some 60 Yemeni women by late 2018. In 2016, the Office of the Special Envoy invited a delegation of seven Yemeni women from the Pact to Kuwait; while they were not directly involved in those negotiations, they contributed by providing advisory input, advocating for gender perspectives, and engaging with negotiators from the sidelines.
- In mid-2018, the Yemeni women’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) was created by the Office of the Special Envoy with the support of UN Women and the Pact. The TAG was comprised of eight Yemeni women. Three women were drawn from the Pact, and the remaining five members were drawn from elsewhere (in mid-2020 five were also Pact members).
- TAG members consisted of women with diverse backgrounds ranging from economics to human rights to governance, as well as women with experience in politics. TAG members were frequently engaged in consultations on policy issues based on their particular expertise.
- In September 2018, eight TAG members travelled to the Geneva Consultations on Yemen. Three papers were developed to feed into those consultations, namely on the economy, on politics and on trust building. In December 2018, six TAG members travelled to Stockholm, for consultations with the parties and met with the Special Envoy and his team daily.
- Rather than operating through a single centralized group, OSESGY now convenes technical consultations tailored to specific priorities ranging from economic stabilization and detainees to WPS and humanitarian access. While TAG no longer functions as a standing mechanism, its expertise continues to inform OSESGY’s work through the individual contributions of former members and through expanded consultative formats. Today, OSESGY progressively expanded its channels of engagement, relying more on direct consultations with stakeholders, experts, and civil society organizations.
Against the backdrop of continued conflict, regional volatility, economic collapse, and a shrinking civic space, OSESGY’s WPS efforts have sought to respond to both immediate needs and long-term priorities. OSESGY’s WPS strategy is driven by clear goals: to engage and empower women and civil society, to mainstream gender across office products and processes, to build strategic partnerships and synergies, and to support women’s substantive leadership in shaping Yemen’s future. These efforts are ongoing and continuously adapted in response to the changing context, reaffirming OSESGY’s commitment to inclusive peace as the only viable path forward for all Yemenis. Since 2023, the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen (OSESGY) has expanded its WPS engagement through initiatives such as the “Bottom-Up Consultations on a Vision for an Inclusive Peace in Yemen”. Through consultations, public engagements, and close coordination with Yemeni women leaders, youth, and civil society, OSESGY has worked to elevate women’s voices in promoting a just and sustainable peace in Yemen that is, Yemeni-led and owned.
Under this initiative and since 2023 the OSESGY WPS team has engaged over 600 stakeholders across Yemen and the diaspora to understand and elevate community voices and inclusive dialogue.
OSESGY’s efforts include coordination with international partners, and sustained support to work on the safe, meaningful, and equal participation of women.
General updates on these efforts are published regularly on OSESGY’s website and social media.