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 is updated monthly to reflect developments for women’s participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery. This mailing blast highlights select updates.
Spotlight: Democratic Republic of Congo
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seized Goma—a dire development for the safety of women and girls. Although a ceasefire was declared on February 4, 2025, civilians remain at urgent risk. The UN has condemned widespread sexual violence amidst current fighting, and more than 900 people were killed in the last week. Conflict in the restive East was already defined by widespread sexual violence and the targeting of civilians. Now, an inability to access aid in the East’s largest city has stranded women and girls without food, clean water, and lifesaving medical care. Transactional sex and sexual exploitation by authorities also become more likely with aid flows halted. Women and girls must have immediate access to humanitarian aid during the ceasefire, while any long-term solution reached must account for women’s specific needs.
Introducing New Countries: Chad & Nigeria
Beginning in February 2025, two new countries are featured on the WPS Conflict Tracker: Chad and Nigeria. These countries reflect the compounding crises—including conflict, climate change, and political turmoil—which shape women’s status. In Chad, conflict from neighboring Sudan increasingly threatens internal stability, while the arrival of nearly one million Sudanese refugees—90 percent of whom are women and children—further stretches already thin humanitarian resources. The needs and voices of Chadian women and girls must be centered in peacebuilding, response, and prevention of violence efforts. Nigeria is at a critical juncture, grappling with both extremist violence and an urgent cost-of-living crisis. Women’s full political and economic participation are critical to resolving these crises. To learn more about the intersection of conflict and WPS in Chad and Nigeria, see the 2025 Conflicts to Watch blog post.
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 February 2025 include:
Colombia
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Conflict continues to worsen, undermining women’s safety as well as the broader Total Peace effort. A state of emergency was declared after conflict escalated in the northeast, displacing 18,000, killing more than 100, and with reports of at least 10 women abducted by fighters. Renewed conflict exposes women and girls to the dangers of displacement, sexual violence and exploitation, and food insecurity. Fully implementing the gender-sensitive provisions of the 2016 Peace Agreement remains a path to secure women’s wellbeing and protection.
Haiti
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Security and political transitions in Haiti remain volatile, posing a grave risk to women and girls’ wellbeing and inclusion. UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised concerns about Haiti’s ability to meet its February 2026 election timeline. Gang violence continues to worsen security for women and girls.
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While Haitian women make up more than one-quarter of new police graduates and could support gender-inclusive solutions, interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé’s cabinet includes only four women, which falls below the constitution’s requirements for 30 percent female representation in governance.
Iran
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Although authorities are still cracking down on protestors involved in the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, Iranians continue to resist gender-based repression. Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi gave an interview while on leave from prison, saying that the movement remained alive, albeit in new forms. The Iranian film The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which addresses executions of Woman, Life, Freedom protestors, was nominated for a 2025 Academy Award. This resistance persists despite risks of arrest, torture, and execution; at least 31 Iranian women were executed in 2024, while death penalties for female activists continue to be upheld this year.
Iraq
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The legal age of marriage was lowered from 18 to as young as nine after the Iraqi parliament passed an amendment to the Personal Status Law. This amendment gives religious authorities the power to decide on family matters, including marriage, and overturns the longstanding ban on child marriage. It also strips martial, custody, and inheritance protections from women, with concern the act may be enforced retroactively. These rollbacks risk trapping women in abusive relationships, worsening the feminization of poverty, and increasing the rate of child marriage. One-quarter of Iraqi girls are already married before age 18.
Israel/Palestine
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The Israel-Hamas ceasefire led to the release of 18 hostages taken by Hamas, including seven Israeli women, as well as 200 Palestinian prisoners held by Israeli authorities, 90 of whom are women and children. Yet, the ceasefire remains fragile, especially as Israel’s ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) took full effect on January 30, 2025.
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Women’s leadership must be central in rebuilding after the 15-month war, where 70 percent of verified deaths are women and children in Gaza. Women of the Sun and Women Wage Peace—Palestinian and Israeli women-led organizations, respectively—were recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, underscoring the vital role of women in recovery and long-term security.
Myanmar
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Four years after the attempted military coup in February 2021, women remain excluded from peace talks and planning for possible recovery efforts. Myanmar is in a state of transition as ethnic armed groups gain more territory and influence. Women—who are active in social movements, ethnic armed groups, and frontline responses—must be at the forefront of any decision-making regarding Myanmar’s future.
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Due to conflict, Myanmar is now the world’s deadliest nation for landmine casualties, which disproportionately impacts women and girls. Women are often responsible for tasks like fetching water, which may bring them into minefields, in addition to the military junta reportedly forcing civilians to perform landmine clearances.
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Myanmar is also the most significant location globally for organized crime, according to the latest available data. As organized crime—including trafficking—surges, women and girls face labor exploitation, forced marriage, and sexual slavery.
Syria
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Despite promises by Syria’s new de facto leaders—the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) armed group and its leader Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a—to respect the rights of women and minorities, concern about women’s rights continues. Al-Shar’a recently met with a delegation of Syrian women, many of whom were unveiled, which has been taken as a signal of openness. Yet, this follows his refusal to shake the hand of Germany’s female minister of foreign affairs, contributing to uncertainty about women’s status.
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The creation of Syria’s new government presents an opportunity to prioritize women’s political involvement as women’s rights groups continue to push for inclusion in governing positions and support.
Ukraine
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Ukrainian women and girls continue to lead resistance efforts, including in Russian-occupied territories, despite great personal risk. Yet, women-led organizations continue to receive just one percent of funding while suffering disproportionately from humanitarian need. The decision by the United States to pause humanitarian aid and suspend its Ukrainian refugee program will leave more than 8.4 million Ukrainians—60 percent of whom are women and children—increasingly vulnerable. The US has thus far been the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance for people in Ukraine and those fleeing to neighboring countries.
Yemen
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Aid access is threatened after the UN suspended travel following the detainment of seven more UN staffers by Houthi rebels. President Trump also re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, complicating aid organizations’ ability to reach the 19.5 million Yemenis—77 percent of whom are women and their children—who depend on humanitarian assistance.
In The News
Living or Dead, We Want Our Sons Back: In Syria, Women Begin Picking up the Pieces of a Broken Nation by Lynsey Addario for the New York Times
This article explores Syrian women’s efforts to search for male family members who disappeared into the country’s prison system and torture centers during the civil war. After 13 years of conflict, over 100,000 Syrians remain missing. However, bodies left behind in hospitals, morgues, and prisons may be difficult to visually identify, while DNA testing could take months. Such delays prolong closure for women and their families.
Gaza: No Safe Pregnancies During Israeli Assault by Human Rights Watch
This article highlights findings from the recent report, “Five Babies in One Incubator: Violations of Pregnant Women’s Rights Amid Israel’s Assault on Gaza.” Just seven of 18 partially functioning hospitals in Gaza offer emergency obstetric and newborn care, putting the lives of women and infants at urgent risk. As Gazans return home to the north amidst the ceasefire, reconstruction and relief efforts must address the specific healthcare needs of women and their children.
