The Changing Landscape of Peace Mediation: The Rise of Middle Powers and the Inclusion Imperative

International conflict mediation is rapidly changing.

The United Nations, which has historically played a leading role in helping to resolve conflicts, now only mediates or co-mediates approximately 25% of peace negotiations worldwide. The UN’s reduced role in peacemaking has potential consequences for inclusive peace agreements: recent years have seen a decline in gender provisions in peace agreements, dropping from a high of 50% inclusion of gender provisions in 2013 down to only 30% in 2023. In this shifting landscape, states are stepping in and mediating major negotiations and peace agreements. From Qatar and Oman, Pakistan and Turkey, Switzerland to the US, national governments are increasingly leading mediation efforts and playing a critical role in determining how the processes take place, who participates, and what the outcome is. 

Join the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation for a high-level event to examine how new mediation powers are stepping into this evolving reality. Representatives from governments, multilateral and regional organizations, and civil society will examine what’s at stake, how to include women and advance WPS as a key tactic for success, what we can learn from the past, and what support is needed to foster more inclusive peace processes.

Featuring remarks by:

H.E. Yōko Kamikawa
Former Foreign Minister of Japan 

The Honorable Wendy Sherman
Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

Featuring panels with:

Dr. Abdulla Al-Etaibi
Assistant Professor, Qatar University

Amb. Maria Alonso Giganto
Ambassador-at-Large for Feminist Foreign Policy, Spain

Dr. Murat Aslan
Researcher, SETA Foundation

Dr. Katherine Collin
Director, Conflict Resolution Program, Georgetown University

Suzanne DiMaggio
Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Dr. Amr Hamzawy
Senior Fellow and the Director of the Carnegie Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Dr. Akiko Horiba
Director of the Center for Mediation Support, Sasakawa Peace Foundation

Dr. Atsushi Sunami
President, Sasakawa Peace Foundation

Stephanie Turco-Williams
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy; Former Special Adviser on Libya to the United Nations Secretary-General

Dr. Joel Hellman
Dean, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Amb. Melanne Verveer
Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security