International Conference on Women, Peace and Security 2024: Ambassador ENDO Kazuya delivers Japan’s National Statement

On 28 October 2024, Ambassador ENDO Kazuya delivered the national statement of the Government of Japan at the International Conference on Women, Peace and Security 2024, held in Manila, Philippines.

The conference, hosted by the Government of the Philippines, commemorates the 25^th anniversary of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). With the theme of “Forging Collaboration and Convergence for Advancing Women, Peace, and Security”, the conference aims to bring together governments, civil society, international organizations, and other stakeholders to evaluate the progress of the implementation of the WPS agenda. The objective is to promote women’s participation in all stages of peacebuilding—addressing sexual and gender-based violence, disaster prevention and response, and gender mainstreaming in climate change, as well as discuss women’s roles in peacebuilding from a gender perspective.

In his statement, Ambassador Endo conveyed the Government of Japan’s active promotion of gender equality and women empowerment to further strengthen cooperation in the international community. He also mentioned Japan’s support for the Mindanao Peace Process for over 20 years. He introduced two (2) new projects to promote the WPS agenda in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which are “The Project Strengthening Services in Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Improvement in the BARMM” to be implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)’s Technical Cooperation Project scheme under Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA), and “The Project for the Protection and Empowerment of Women for Addressing Women’s Health Needs and Responding to Gender-based Violence in the BARMM” under the Grant Aid scheme in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Both of these projects will be launched at the side event hosted by Japan titled “Human Security towards a Resilient BARMM Japan’s Approach in Promoting WPS Focusing on Health” on 29 October 2024.
Ambassador Endo also announced that Japan, together with Norway, will serve as co-chairs of the WPS Focal Points Network in 2025, and extended an invitation to the Focal Points Network Capital-Level Meeting, which will be held in Tokyo from 4 – 6 February 2025. Ambassador Endo then delivered an important message from former Foreign Minister KAMIKAWA Yoko who is the chair of the WPS Parliamentarians’ Network Japan:

During my tenure as Foreign Minister, I have positioned the WPS agenda as one of the main pillars of foreign policy and have been working on three areas.

• First, I developed an organizational framework.  I established a cross-organizational task force within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and expanded our cooperation with relevant ministries and agencies. Our cooperation with civil society and the WPS Parliamentarians’ Network Japan has also been strengthened.
• Second, I incorporated WPS perspectives into our foreign policy, and have featured WPS in over one-hundred and fifty bilateral and multilateral occasions, to call for international cooperation. In July of this year, I had fruitful discussions with Hon. Enrique A. Manalo, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Hon. Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity on the promotion of the WPS agenda.
• Third is the expansion of our international network to elevate WPS to the next level. To do so, I have launched a policy forum titled “WPS + Innovation,” in which I exchanged opinions with various stakeholders, including not only diplomats, and international cooperation officials, the private sector, local legislators, and experts from around the world to discuss ways to make the most of women's participation and leadership for sustainable peace and stability.
• I would like to contribute further to the promotion of WPS by bringing together all the knowledge and suggestions gained through these efforts.

In closing, Ambassador Endo reiterated Japan’s commitment to further cooperating with the Government of the Philippines and the international community to strengthen international solidarity and keep advancing the WPS.