Women, Peace and Security Conflict Tracker: November 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. 

The WPS Conflict Tracker monitors women’s participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery across 25 countries. This blog highlights select updates. To see the complete analysis, please visit the WPS Conflict Tracker webpage and explore by country.

Spotlight: Ethiopia

Escalating tensions threaten to reignite full-scale war in Tigray and draw in neighboring Eritrea, putting women and girls at catastrophic risk, particularly as conflict-related sexual violence continues to be reported. According to a new report by the Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide, nearly 60 percent of 480,000 surveyed women and girls in Tigray experienced wartime sexual and gender-based violence (GBV), with rape and sexual slavery the most commonly reported violations. The Commission—created by the Tigray regional administration to document violations committed during the 2020-2022 war—raised concerns about the national transitional justice project’s capacity and willingness to address violations committed in Tigray, as perpetrators are largely met with impunity. Women-run organizations play a critical role in providing sexual and gender-based support services, but many survivors still struggle to access resources, especially amidst funding cuts. Ethiopia also faces high levels of humanitarian need and the weakening of healthcare infrastructure due to conflict. Food insecurity remains a challenge amid decreased aid and cuts to food rations, with households displaced by conflict particularly vulnerable. Displaced women and girls lack access to sufficient hygiene, sanitation, and menstrual supplies. Now, the emergence of the deadly Marburg virus—which kills up to 80 percent of those infected—threatens to further strain resources, with women at greater risk of infection due to caregiving roles that increase exposure. Despite the gendered dimensions of these challenges, women are often still overlooked or sidelined from decision-making. Women’s participation is essential to peacebuilding and ensuring an effective and equitable response to these unfolding crises. 

Risks & Opportunities

The WPS Conflict Tracker analyzes and identifies current risks and opportunities—including new developments, upcoming events, or looming threats—for women in the 25 conflict-affected settings we monitor. Updates for November 2025 include:  

Afghanistan

  • Pervasive Hunger Forces Negative Coping Strategies: Nine in ten households in high-return areas—or areas absorbing the 2.5 million Afghans forcibly returned from neighboring countries in 2025—must reduce their meals, borrow money, or sell assets amid rising hunger and strained aid infrastructure. Women-headed households are particularly vulnerable due to restrictions on employment and mobility, while worsening poverty and food insecurity increase girls’ risk of child marriage. 
  • Earthquakes Stretch Humanitarian Capacity: A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan on November 3, 2025—the latest in a series of deadly quakes which have devastated communities and further disadvantaged women and girls who are often unable to access resources due to Taliban restrictions. Repeated earthquakes—frequently in areas already receiving Afghan returnees—further strain limited humanitarian aid access, with three-quarters of Afghan households on average reporting they received no aid in the last year. 

Colombia

  • UN Monitoring of Peace Agreement Narrowed: Although the UN Security Council voted to extend the UN Verification Mission through October 2026, it also discontinued monitoring of restorative justice initiatives and the Ethnic Chapter of the 2016 peace agreement. Eliminating oversight of these components risks sidelining related commitments, a grave threat particularly to Indigenous and Afro-Descendant women whose disproportionate suffering was addressed in the Ethnic Chapter.  

Haiti 

  • Gang Violence Spreads Amid Continued Mobilization: Gang violence expanded into rural areas of Artibonite and Centre in late October and early November 2025, exposing women and girls to movement restrictions and sexual violence and exploitation by armed groups. Mobilization calls by gang leaders—including directives for a countrywide shutdown and mass street action—further heighten insecurity, increase risks of harassment, and curtail movement for women and girls. Clashes in the Tabarre 27 commune triggered additional displacement around the capital, pushing women and girls into overcrowded, insecure shelters where they face elevated risks of exploitation and GBV.
  • Economic Shock Deepens Recruitment and Exploitation Risks: The expiration of the US HOPE/HELP trade program on October 1, 2025 continues to drive factory layoffs—particularly in the textile sector that employs thousands of Haitian women. Unemployment, combined with gang-imposed “taxes” and restricted mobility, is pushing women-headed households—42.6 percent of whom report needing to borrow—to adopt dangerous coping strategies. These pressures heighten risks of exploitation, GBV, and predatory recruitment by armed groups as livelihoods collapse.

Iran

  • Water Crisis Worsens: Iran is facing a once-in-a-century drought, with the president warning that the capital city of Tehran may need to be evacuated by December 2025. While this suggestion has been met with backlash, the unfolding water crisis may undermine women and girls’ access to potable water for drinking, cooking, and hygiene, leaving them particularly vulnerable given traditional caregiving responsibilities. Some conservative leaders have attributed the drought to the loosening of social restrictions—a link which could be exploited to reinvigorate enforcement of morality laws targeting women. Water shortages are further exacerbated by damage to water infrastructure caused during the 12-day war with Israel earlier this year.

Iraq

  • Women Win Seats: Women secured representation in Iraq’s November 11, 2025 parliamentary elections despite low voter turnout. Iraqi law reserves 83 of 329 seats for women, guaranteeing a baseline of representation regardless of electoral outcomes—however, in several districts, women won seats outright. This election cycle also saw a major increase in women candidates: 2,248 women ran—more than double the 950 who participated in the 2021 election—despite financial barriers, patriarchal party structures, and online harassment. The combined effect of the quota and the surge in candidates supports women’s political participation despite continued challenges. 

Israel/Palestine

  • Death Toll Rises Despite Ceasefire: The death toll continues to climb in Gaza, with Israeli attacks killing or injuring hundreds of Palestinians—including women and children—in the weeks since the ceasefire went into effect. Concerns are intensifying about the feasibility of the ceasefire’s second phase after Hamas rejected the UN Security Council resolution, which passed the US-backed plan, claiming it does not meet the political and humanitarian needs of Palestinians.
  • Thousands of Girls at Risk of Losing a Third Year of Schooling: More than 318,000 girls in Gaza are at risk of losing a third year of schooling, compounding already limited economic opportunities and putting them at heightened risk of early and forced marriage. This coincides with a sharp rise in GBV cases over the past two years. Social stigma and limited access to safe spaces, healthcare, and sexual and GBV services may exacerbate the impact of such violence and leave women and girls in Gaza vulnerable to retraumatization. 

Kosovo

  • Continued Failure to Form Government: After failing to meet the constitutional deadline to form a government, Kosovo will hold snap elections on December 28, 2025. The country is still without a national government nine months after parliamentary elections, with ongoing political deadlock jeopardizing funding—including for salaries and social support—as well as dialogue efforts with Serbia. Failure to pass the 2026 national budget could also disrupt pension and reparations payments, including for survivors of wartime sexual violence. 

Lebanon

  • Escalating Border Insecurity: Regional tensions continue to intensify and, on November 18, 2025, Israel carried out the deadliest strike on Lebanon since the 2024 ceasefire, killing dozens in the south. Women in southern Lebanon report that “the war never ended,” citing ongoing shelling, repeated displacement, and restrictions on mobility that disrupt access to health care, livelihoods, and safe schooling for girls. Ongoing insecurity heightens risks of GBV, early marriage, and economic exploitation—particularly for displaced women and women heads of household.

Libya

  • Digital and Political Violence Against Women Intensifies: New monitoring by Libya’s High National Elections Commission shows an 89 percent rise in online violence against women this year compared to 2024, with Facebook identified as the primary platform hosting coordinated harassment and smear campaigns. These patterns underscore the entrenched climate of impunity that deters women’s civic engagement and increases their exposure to threats, intimidation, and gender-based attacks. 
  • Opportunity for Legal and Institutional Reform: Libya’s Universal Periodic Review presents a pivotal moment for strengthening women’s rights and security. Beginning November 11, 2025, UN Member States urged Libya to adopt the long-pending Draft Law on Protecting Women from Violence, criminalize GBV, and launch a transitional-justice framework for survivors of abuse. Amid rising violent crimes against women and children, the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs, Dr. Houria Al-Tirmal, also issued new directives instructing women’s and child-protection centers to strengthen their readiness, respond to cases with urgency, and provide coordinated psychological, social, and legal support. Civil society documents note that, despite legal commitments, delays in implementation have allowed impunity to persist and undermine women’s access to justice and full civic participation. If leveraged effectively, this review cycle offers Libyan women a chance to reshape legal norms, enhance protections, and secure a stronger voice in governance and peace processes.

Mali

  • JNIM Gaining on Capital: The JNIM armed group, whose stated goal is to enforce its version of Islamic law across Mali, is closing in on the nation’s capital. The group is leveraging instability caused by its imposed months-long fuel blockade, prompting long lines at petrol stations and widespread blackouts. As women and girls are now forced to spend more time in insecure settings—waiting for fuel, commuting in darkness, or using public transport—they face heightened risks of GBV and harassment. JNIM has also imposed restrictions on transportation services, including segregating seating and mandating head-coverings for women in vehicles.
  • Influencer Executed for Speaking Out: Mariam Cissé, a Malian Tiktok influencer, was publicly executed by a group of armed men—allegedly members of JNIM—after posting her support for the Malian army. Such public violence may deter other women from speaking out about the ongoing conflict, especially in the digital sphere.

Myanmar

  • Sham Elections and Voter Exclusion Designed to Disguise Authoritarian Control: The military-backed junta’s planned general elections on December 28, 2025 and January 11, 2026 are widely viewed as a “bid to disguise authoritarian control as democratic process” and create an “illusion of legitimacy.” Since the 2021 coup, nearly 30,000 activists and civilians have been arrested, including 6,190 women, and between November 2 and 14, authorities charged 31 additional people under the Election Protection Law—many for allegedly damaging campaign posters—further shrinking civic space and limiting women’s ability to participate safely in political processes. More than half of townships remain excluded from voter rolls, compounding risks and cutting women in contested regions off from political representation amid ongoing displacement, insecurity, and repression. 

Nigeria

  • Targeting of Girls’ Education: On November 17, 2025, gunmen abducted 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi State, underscoring the continued targeting of girls’ education and the severe protection risks facing adolescent girls. Attacks on schools and the abduction of students remain a major barrier to learning in Nigeria: a UNICEF report marking 10 years since the Chibok kidnappings found that only 37 percent of schools across 10 states have early-warning or threat-detection systems in place. School attacks restrict girls’ mobility, interrupt schooling, and heighten risks of sexual violence, particularly in rural communities with limited security presence.

Sudan

  • Al-Fashir Falls to RSF: After more than 500 days of siege, the RSF seized Al-Fashir, with reports since emerging of rapes, massacres, and other brutalities perpetrated by the RSF against trapped civilians. At least 300 women were killed by RSF forces in just the first 48 hours. Al-Fashir was the last SAF stronghold in Darfur; its fall is likely to escalate genocidal violence against non-Arab communities and shift the RSF’s attention to Kordofan. 
  • Women Most Impacted by Spreading Famine: Famine conditions—driven by conflict-related disruptions to humanitarian access—were confirmed by the IPC in Al-Fashir and in Kadugli, South Kordofan, with the risk of famine projected for 20 additional areas in both Darfur and Kordofan. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition and starvation; nearly three-quarters of women are falling short of minimum dietary diversity, as women tend to eat “last and least.” Yet, women continue to lead community response kitchens despite scarce resources and grave risk of violence. 

Ukraine

  • Women’s Military Participation Expands: More than 70,000 women now serve in Ukraine’s armed forces, with the number of women in uniform up by 40 percent since 2021. Women are increasingly entering combat and technical roles such as drone operators, medics, engineers, and special forces, reflecting a shift from earlier patterns where front-line women were officially registered as cooks or support staff. Maria Berlinska, commonly referred to as the “Drone Mother,” has been instrumental in mainstreaming Ukraine’s use of unmanned aerial systems. As women take on roles central to Ukraine’s battlefield adaptation, gender-responsive policies on training, equipment, veteran care, and post-war reintegration are increasingly urgent to ensure that women are fully recognized and supported as combatants and security-sector decision-makers.

Yemen

  • Escalating Efforts to Silence Yemeni Women: Advocates are sounding the alarm over Houthi-imposed social pacts that pose further restrictions on women’s freedom to marry, travel, attend school, and seek employment. This coincides with multiple public assassinations of Yemeni women activists in recent months, representing a wave of systematic violence against women in decision-making spaces. 

In The News 

A Somali Hospital Closed After U.S. Aid Cuts. Fired Employees Reopened It Without Pay by Stephanie Nolen for the New York Times 

After US aid cuts forced the Suuqa Xoolaha Center for Mothers and Children to close in July 2025, former employees—including doctors, midwives, and a pharmacist—reopened the hospital without pay. Although former staff caution that they cannot work without salaries indefinitely, the hospital is once more providing lifesaving services, including maternal care, for women and girls in the area. 

In The Arts 

‘A Ukrainian witch kicks the crap out of Russian soldiers’: The new wave of horror films taking on Putin’s army by Geoffrey Macnab for the Guardian 

Horror films featuring strong female leads are increasingly providing catharsis and entertainment for Ukrainian audiences. Iryna Kostyuk, who produced the highest-grossing Ukrainian film of all time, is now supporting the creation of a horror film universe called Heroines of the Dark Times in which women confront—and triumph—over Russian forces and wartime hardship. Kostyuk speculates that the appeal of women leads is rooted both in Ukrainian folklore and in the preferences of a domestic wartime audience now disproportionately composed of women and girls. 

In a tent in central Gaza, a women’s film festival is born by Ibtisam Mahdi for +972 Magazine

Women in Gaza gathered for the first International Festival for Women’s Cinema, held in Deir Al-Balah from October 26 to October 31, 2025, featuring 80 global films. The event sought to showcase films written, directed, and produced by Palestinian women and that address women’s issues. The festival overcame continued violence, devastated infrastructure, and power cuts in order to bring together more than 500 women and girls. 

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