Monthly Action Points (MAP) for the Security Council: August 2025

Lebanon

Violations of the ceasefire announced between Israel and Lebanon in November 2024 continue to be reported. Of the over 82,000 people displaced due to the conflict, women and girls in Lebanon face disproportionate risks of gender-based violence (GBV) in shelters and IDP sites, with additional impacts for refugees, transgender women, migrant workers under the kafala (sponsorship) system, women-headed households, elderly persons and persons with disabilities. Lebanese women face entrenched legal discrimination due to religion-based personal status laws and lack of legal protection against GBV.

The Security Council should:

• Renew in full the current mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as per Resolution 2749 (2024) and maintain in full all provisions related to women, peace and security, including: gender considerations as a cross-cutting issue throughout the mandate; and assisting Lebanese authorities in ensuring the full, equal, effective and meaningful participation, involvement and representation of women at all levels of decision-making.
• Call for enhanced reporting on women, peace and security, including: barriers to the realization of women’s human rights; threats and reprisals against women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and peacebuilders; and intersectional analysis of the current crisis’ impact on diverse women in Lebanon.
• Demand a full and lasting ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, including ceasing attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
• Call for sustained and flexible humanitarian funding, including direct, flexible and consistent support to local women-led organizations at the forefront of crisis response.
• Actively promote the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of diverse women in elections, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
• Call on UNIFIL to consult with women’s, feminist, LGBTIQ and other diverse civil society groups and human rights defenders (HRDs), and further strengthen partnerships in implementing activities related to humanitarian support and political processes.

South Sudan

The situation in South Sudan remains precarious as escalating violence threatens a relapse into civil war. 57% of the population now faces acute food insecurity as a result of ongoing conflict and insecurity, including 83,000 people experiencing catastrophic conditions and 1.2 million pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished. Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) remains a serious concern for women and girls, in a culture of pervasive gender inequality and impunity for gender-based crimes. 1.2 million refugees and returnees have entered the country from Sudan since that conflict began in April 2023, compounding the existing humanitarian situation in South Sudan and straining already-limited resources. Targeted violence and bureaucratic constraints against humanitarian providers, as well as drastic cuts to humanitarian assistance, have forced the suspension of vital services including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care.

Authorities have consistently failed to implement the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) by extending the transition period four times, further delaying elections and neglecting institutional, legal and policy reforms including constitution making, judicial reform and transitional justice. Women’s representation in government falls short of the 35% quota established by the R-ARCSS. Civic space has virtually disappeared as the government and National Security Service (NSS) repress dissent with impunity. WHRDs, journalists and civil society activists report surveillance, intimidation and gender-based harassment by state authorities, both in the country and abroad.

The Security Council should:

• Demand that all parties cease violence against civilians, including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and ensure full and unhindered humanitarian access to all parts of South Sudan. Urge all parties to recommit to implementation of the R-ARCSS and work to deescalate tensions.
• Demand the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of diverse women in the implementation of the R-ARCSS in line with the 35% quota, as well as ongoing constitutional and electoral processes, and any peace or de-escalation efforts.
• Urge the NSS to end its practices of unlawful arrest and detention, including by releasing or presenting in court all detainees under NSS detention. Call on the South Sudanese authorities to reverse amendments to the National Security Service Act and protect the rights of freedom of assembly, association and expression.
• Call on the South Sudanese authorities to take concrete steps to ensure accountability and address impunity for SGBV, including by finalizing the proposed Anti Gender-Based Violence Bill, pending since 2020. Call on UNMISS to provide analysis of measures taken to address CRSV as per Resolution 2779 (2025).
• Call for increased international cooperation and resources to support South Sudan in tackling the humanitarian crisis, including fully funding the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, and providing direct, flexible and consistent funding to local women-led organizations.
• Demand full compliance with the UN arms embargo on South Sudan.

Syria

Many challenges remain to ensuring an inclusive and sustainable transition in Syria, including: accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Assad regime and other armed factions such as SGBV, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and enforced disappearance; repression of WHRDs and women’s civil society; entrenched social and legal discrimination against women and girls, stateless communities, LGBTIQ people and other marginalized communities; continued hostilities including military interventions by neighboring states; and ongoing violence against ethnic and religious minorities including Alawite, Druze and Christian communities. Women’s participation in the transitional government is extremely limited, with only one woman in the cabinet.

While more than 700,000 refugees and 1.5 million IDPs have returned to Syria since December 2024, an entrenched humanitarian crisis presents significant obstacles to safe, voluntary and dignified return, including: damaged or destroyed infrastructure, landmines and explosive remnants of war, lack of access to basic services including GBV response, a weakened economy and lack of livelihood opportunities, continued food insecurity and environmental challenges including a severe drought and forest fires. Women-led and women’s rights organizations are instrumental in the humanitarian response, but they continue to face chronic underfunding and operating restrictions.

The Security Council should:

• Call on all parties to immediately cease hostilities, protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and ensure full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access into and throughout Syria.
• Call for the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of diverse women at all stages and levels of a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led political transition, and demand respect by all parties for the human rights of diverse women and girls. The Security Council, UN and Member States must not endorse, facilitate, participate in or otherwise support or legitimize any process where women are excluded or their rights undermined.
• Call on Member States to fully fund the humanitarian response; provide direct, flexible and consistent funding to local women-led and feminist organizations; and prioritize women’s leadership in the humanitarian response.
• Continue to call for independent, impartial and transparent investigations of all atrocity crimes without discrimination, and for transitional authorities to cooperate with and facilitate access for accountability mechanisms such as the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, UN Commission of Inquiry and the Independent Institution on Missing Persons. The transitional authorities must prioritize human rights-based, non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive justice and accountability efforts, which should be designed and implemented in partnership with survivors and must adequately account for sexual and gender-based crimes.
• Call on transitional authorities to urgently step up efforts to prevent GBV and promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate abductions of Alawite women and girls, and hold perpetrators accountable.
• Encourage the transitional authorities to align Syria’s national legislation with international standards, especially in relation to international human rights, humanitarian and criminal law.
• Call on Member States to maintain temporary protection or refugee status for Syrian refugees and refrain from deportations or refoulement.

Women Peace and Security

In the forthcoming Security Council open debate on CRSV, all Member States should commit to:

• Affirming that women’s human rights and gender equality are central to the maintenance of international peace and security and conflict prevention; implementing at the national level international humanitarian and human rights law, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, in order to prevent and respond to all forms of SGBV; and demanding women’s full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in all aspects of peacemaking and transitional justice, including identifying and implementing solutions to SGBV that ensure accountability and fight impunity.
• Protecting and upholding sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in accordance with international standards, including WPS resolutions, in all conflict situations, including access to contraception, safe abortion and maternal health care, and fully integrating these rights, and the means to enforce them, into crisis prevention, response and recovery plans.
• Ensuring access to quality, accessible, survivor-centered and non-discriminatory health care and comprehensive support, including safe reporting mechanisms, SRH care, psychosocial support, legal services, access to justice, reparations and livelihood support.
• Stopping arms transfers when there is a substantial risk that they may be used to “commit or facilitate serious acts of GBV or serious acts of violence against women and children,” in line with the Arms Trade Treaty; and taking immediate steps to reduce military expenditures in line with the calls of the UN Secretary-General.
• Providing direct, accessible, long-term and flexible funding to, and promoting equitable partnerships with, local women-led, women’s rights and LGBTIQ organizations working to prevent, document and respond to SGBV.
• Swiftly and publicly condemning any attacks, including SGBV, against WHRDs, peacebuilders, civil society and all women and LGBTIQ people active in public life; consistently implementing a zero-tolerance approach to any form of attack, intimidation, retaliation or reprisal against diverse women for their political participation, human rights and humanitarian work, peacebuilding activities or cooperation with the Security Council, and providing support and redress to those who experience reprisals; ensuring a safe and enabling environment in which women and LGBTIQ HRDs, peacebuilders and civil society leaders are protected and supported and their legitimacy is recognized; and eliminating any restrictions or barriers to their work.
• Ensuring justice and accountability for SGBV by upholding international humanitarian, human rights and criminal law, and actively supporting the gender-progressive, survivor-centered and intersectional development of international law addressing atrocity crimes, including gender-sensitive amendments to the Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity, as well as universal jurisdiction cases.