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Women, Peace and Security Conflict Tracker: August Updates

  • GIWPS

Our Women, Peace and Security Conflict Tracker combines real-time data points and original analysis to offer gender-sensitive insight into conflict dynamics across 25 countries. The WPS Conflict Tracker is updated monthly to reflect developments for women’s participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery. This blog post highlights select updates. To see the complete analysis across all 25 countries monitored, please visit the WPS Conflict Tracker website.

Spotlight: Afghanistan

August 15, 2025, marks four years since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and began systematically erasing women and girls from public life. Despite initial promises to uphold women’s basic freedoms, the Taliban has since imposed more than 100 edicts stripping women and girls of their rights to education, employment, free movement, and self-expression—conditions women activists and UN experts describe as “gender apartheid.” The Taliban’s oppression has intensified with the codification of these restrictions through the 2024 Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law, which went as far as banning women’s voices from being heard in public. Girls are now denied their right to an education, women struggle to access healthcare and humanitarian aid due to restrictions on movement and contact with men, and rates of early and forced marriage and intimate partner violence are increasing. Those who speak out or resist are swiftly punished, as demonstrated by the arrest of dozens of women in July 2025 for alleged hijab violations. 

Yet, despite these brutal conditions, women and girls who have left Afghanistan are at growing risk of being forcibly returned with little access to humanitarian aid or shelter. The United States ended Temporary Protected Status for over 14,600 Afghans, which includes female lawyers, judges, and US military collaborators now persecuted by the Taliban. Iran has also pushed out more than half a million Afghans since June 2025, including thousands of lone women. Women made to return to Afghanistan will have virtually no ability to support themselves or secure housing due to the near-total repression of their rights, leaving nine in 10 women-headed returnee households without permanent shelter. This comes alongside an ongoing push to return Afghan refugees from Pakistan—half of whom are women and girls—and reported forced deportations of Afghan women and girls from the United Arab Emirates. 

Afghan women, however, have not given up. This fall, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security will release results from a global survey of women peacebuilders that show 67 percent of the over 420 Afghan women who responded believe they can create positive change in their communities. Women and girls remain engaged in daily acts of resistance, including the continuation of underground and online schools, and lead global efforts to recognize and condemn the Taliban’s repressive policies—such as the campaign to codify gender apartheid in the new UN treaty on crimes against humanity. The People’s Tribunal of Women and Girls of Afghanistan was also announced on July 31, 2025, which will be shaped by Afghan prosecutors and provide a forum for testimony and evidence gathering. The international community must uphold its stated commitment to Afghan women by resisting the normalization of the Taliban regime, reinstating safe and dignified resettlement pathways, and ensuring Afghan women’s participation in all multilateral processes related to Afghanistan’s future.

Risks & Opportunities

Colombia 

  • The number of people impacted by conflict-related violence rose by 333 percent in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024. The impact of severe movement restrictions imposed by nonstate armed groups is surging; such confinement eliminates women and girls’ access to income, healthcare, education, and safe spaces, with rural Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities often most affected. Armed groups have also committed around 50 reported murders of queer and trans people in 2025 thus far. Armed groups’ targeted harassment and threats against LGBTQ+ people echo “limpieza social”—or social cleansing—campaigns during the height of Colombia’s civil war. 

Ethiopia 

  • Both Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers weaponized sexual violence during the war in Tigray, according to a new report drawing from healthcare records and a survey of 600 healthcare workers. The report highlights how sexual violence aimed to prevent Tigrayan women from giving birth, as well as the generational harm caused by sexual violence, which violated cultural norms and disrupted families and communities. Ongoing impunity for these violations has contributed to the normalization and continuation of sexual violence by both armed combatants and civilians. These findings underscore the risks of renewed conflict, as political fragmentation, increased weapons, and alleged interference by Eritrean actors destabilize the Tigray region despite the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement.  

Haiti 

  • Haitian women and girls in the US may be forced to return as the US government seeks to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. Although a US district court temporarily paused this effort, which was set to take effect on September 2, 2025, the threat of return risks compounding economic precarity and trauma for those caught in limbo. Women and girls returned to Haiti against their will would be at risk of sexual violence and death, as gangs now control an estimated 90 percent of Haiti’s capital. The return of an estimated 500,000 Haitians from the US could also further compound destabilization and resource strain.
  • Fighting has caused the largest mass displacement in Haiti’s history and widespread sexual violence, with gang rape comprising 85 percent of all reported cases. One clinic in Port-au-Prince reported in July 2025 that the number of patients treated for sexual violence has almost tripled since 2021. 

Iran

  • Violent attacks against women—reportedly in response to perceived violations of hijab requirements or for speaking out against the regime—have been caught on video. One of the alleged assailants appeared to be wearing clothing similar to that of the Basij, an Iranian militia operating under the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Such attacks erode women’s safety in public spaces and are met largely with impunity. 
  • Women are a central part of resistance to executions, including the “No to Execution” campaign, which involves coordinated hunger strikes across 49 prisons. The now 81-week-long campaign was launched by female political prisoners in the notorious Evin prison in protest of increasing executions. According to new UN reporting, at least 31 women were executed in 2024—a 40 percent increase compared to 2023.

Iraq

  • Iraqi women politicians and activists launched the country’s first women’s political party ahead of the November 2025 parliamentary elections. The al-Mawadda Women’s Party—which must include one-third male membership by national law—aims to support women candidates and unite Iraqi women ahead of elections. 

Israel/Palestine

  • On August 8, 2025, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for a military takeover of Gaza City, signaling a major escalation and heightening the risk of mass displacement and death for civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, who have already been disproportionately impacted by the conflict. More than one million Gazan women and girls are starving following Israel’s prolonged blockage of aid. Despite mounting international pressure and new pledges to recognize Palestinian statehood, levels of humanitarian aid—including recent airdrops—remain insufficient and dangerous to access, even on days reserved only for women. The scale of suffering prompted a UN Special Rapporteur to refer to violence against women and girls in Gaza as an ongoing “femi-genocide.” 
  • Israeli strikes on Gaza City killed five Al Jazeera journalists on August 11, 2025, drawing renewed global criticism of Israel for targeting the press. The conflict has been one of the deadliest for journalists on record—including women journalists—further silencing key voices that document the suffering of women and girls.

Libya

  • A complaint alleging gender-based violence was submitted to the CEDAW committee on behalf of Wedad Al-Sharigy by the World Organization Against Torture and Swiss law firm Peter & Moreau. Al-Sharigy describes experiencing sexual violence, kidnapping, and torture after helping her mother and sisters escape domestic violence, with the Libyan state systematically failing to protect her from this retaliatory violence. This complaint could provide a unique opportunity to draw attention to Libyan women’s experiences and set a precedent under international law recognizing this violence. 

Myanmar

  • Lengthy jail sentences for allegedly undermining the electoral process were announced on July 29, 2025, by the military regime, putting women’s rights activists at greater risk of harassment and detention if they voice criticism or protest of the widely condemned elections. Opposition groups are planning to boycott the election, which has been criticized by human rights experts. The military regime continues to seek legitimation and normalization ahead of the planned 2025 election, including by ending the state of emergency implemented in February 2021. The election may enable the junta to further consolidate power and suppress dissent.

Nigeria

  • More people were killed in the first six months of 2025 by insurgents and bandits than in all of 2024. Nigeria faces mounting security and economic threats driven by intercommunal and extremist violence, increasing women’s exposure to sexual violence, kidnapping, displacement, and loss of livelihood. At least 45 women and children were abducted by gunmen in an August 5, 2025, attack on five villages; these mass kidnappings are a growing trend in northwest Nigeria as gangs deepen their control over territory.   
  • Without immediate funding, the World Food Program—upon which millions rely—may be forced to suspend food support in northeast Nigeria from September 2025 due to funding cuts. Nigeria has the highest number of people facing emergency levels of food insecurity in the world, with women disproportionately impacted.   

Sudan

  • The UN has designated Sudan’s hunger crisis as a “gender emergency,” with gender serving as a powerful predictor of food insecurity. Three-quarters of women-headed households are affected by food insecurity, which is more than three times the rate of those headed by men. Famine has been declared across parts of Darfur and the Nuba Mountains, with Khartoum now at risk. Insufficient food has reached the Zamzam camp in El-Fasher in the one year since famine was confirmed there, leaving more than half of children acutely malnourished. 
  • The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) and the Global Rights Compliance submitted input to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances about women and girls disappearing in Sudan, supporting the Committee’s new project on “women, girls and enforced disappearances.” SIHA has documented 291 cases of missing women and girls, though this number is likely higher, with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) identified as the main perpetrators. Missing women and girls in conflict zones face rape, enslavement, and femicide. 

Ukraine

  • Russian authorities reportedly launched a database of Ukrainian children up for adoption, an effort which has been criticized as emblematic of child trafficking. The US government’s defunding of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which collected evidence of kidnappings and other war crimes, undermines the ability to locate the more than 19,546 Ukrainian children forcibly taken by Russia. The International Criminal Court previously issued arrest warrants against President Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights for alleged crimes related to the forced removal of Ukrainian children to Russia. 
     
  • An all-women team from the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv is leading the Digital Memory Storage project, which seeks to preserve Ukrainian heritage and memory amid the ongoing Russian invasion. Women have digitized thousands of photos depicting Ukraine’s history and culture to ensure their protection from Russian attacks, as well as to remain accessible for future generations of Ukrainians.

In The News

Trump is undermining his own law that prevents mass atrocities by Kim Hart and D. West Rist

The shadow report, authored by former federal employees who led atrocity prevention efforts, argues that recent changes in the Executive Branch have weakened the US Government’s ability to prevent mass atrocities worldwide. It argues that the current administration has failed to uphold the bipartisan Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (EWGAPA/Elie Wiesel Act), with the reorganization of the US Department of State, elimination of key atrocity prevention staff and offices, and the dismantling of USAID undermining critical atrocity prevention intelligence. Notably, the report highlights that the current administration failed to submit a mandated report to Congress on July 15, 2025, for the 2025 reporting period. The Elie Wiesel Act works alongside the Women, Peace and Security Act and the Global Fragility Act as part of the “prevention-oriented canon of law” to create a more cohesive US foreign policy. These frameworks aim to coordinate defense, development, and diplomatic approaches while making strategic investments that prevent costly conflicts—ultimately aimed at protecting both American taxpayer dollars and lives.

Compendium on Respectful Maternal and Newborn Care by the World Health Organization (WHO)

A decade after the WHO’s landmark statement on preventing disrespect of mothers during childbirth, this new compendium consolidates critical evidence and tools to implement respectful maternal and newborn care across diverse settings. This timely resource follows 2019 evidence that revealed 42 percent of women across four lower-income countries—including Myanmar and Nigeria—experienced physical or verbal abuse, stigma, or discrimination during childbirth. Alarming rates of non-consensual procedures were also uncovered, with 75 percent of episiotomies and 59 percent of vaginal examinations performed without consent. Users can leverage the compendium to understand the drivers of mistreatment and principles of respectful care, while also strategizing interventions, practical implementation, stakeholder engagement, and data usage to track progress. By integrating theory with practice, this comprehensive resource equips program managers with essential background knowledge to address these violations and build systems that maintain dignity, privacy, and informed choice for all people giving birth.

In Gaza’s Ruins, a Women-Only Café Becomes a Sanctuary of Privacy and Dignity by Mohamed Solaimane for More to Her Story

This article spotlights Makan Café, Gaza’s sole women-only establishment offering a vital sanctuary amid a devastating humanitarian crisis. Founded in May 2024 by 24-year-old Baraa Kullab, the café provides women with privacy and dignity in overcrowded displacement camps. Here, women can remove their hijabs, study, work, and exist without the constant public exposure that has become their reality. Despite being unable to serve food or drinks due to Israel’s blockade, the café offers relative comfort with its nylon privacy walls and solar-powered fans and routers. In Gaza’s conservative society, communal living has completely eroded personal boundaries for women—from the inability to remove modest clothing in extreme heat to the lack of private spaces for basic hygiene. As humanitarian worker Tahani Qasim states, “Privacy is a cornerstone of life for any woman. If she loses it, she loses life itself.”

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