Monthly Action Points (MAP) for the Security Council: January 2026

Haiti

Violations of women’s and girls’ rights in Haiti continue with impunity as criminal violence enabled by illegal arms trafficking destabilizes the country. Over 1.4 million people are internally displaced, 55% of whom are women and girls; and 5.7 million people now face acute food insecurity. The humanitarian response, especially by local women-led and women’s rights organizations, is hindered by a severe lack of funding and threatened by the imposition of counter-terror measures. 

Violence perpetrated against Haitians is highly gendered. Men comprise the majority of individuals killed, primarily by police and security forces. Meanwhile, diverse women and girls comprise the majority of individuals targeted for sexual violence by criminal groups as a means to assert dominance and punish communities, with collective rape now accounting for 85% of documented cases. The situation is exacerbated by a weakened justice system, entrenched corruption and an understaffed, under-resourced police force, leaving many victims without recourse. Many survivors, including LGBTIQ people and those targeted in displacement sites, do not report sexual violence for fear of reprisal; in addition, displacement sites frequently lack reporting mechanisms. Children now comprise up to 50% of criminal group members, and recruited girls are forced into traditional gender roles and face heightened risk of sexual violence. Access to healthcare is scarce as a result of ongoing violence compounded by recent natural disasters; as a result, women and girls, including survivors of sexual violence, are largely unable to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) response services. Though Haiti’s new Penal Code partially decriminalizes abortion, access to safe abortion care remains difficult given current conditions.

Haitian women remain sidelined in the political transition process. Only one member of the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) is a woman, who does not have voting power, and just four of 18 members of the Cabinet of Ministers are women, below the 30% minimum quota established by Haiti’s constitution.

The Security Council should:

• Renew in full the current mandate of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Haiti (BINUH) as contained in Resolution 2785 (2025). Safeguard and maintain all provisions related to women, peace and security (WPS), including: demanding the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in the political process; addressing SGBV including through identification of women’s protection advisers and regular reporting on SGBV; and ensuring that gender equality issues are addressed as a cross-cutting issue throughout the mandate.
• Call for the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) authorized by Resolution 2793 (2025) to take all measures to prevent the unlawful use of force, harm to local populations due to negligence and other abuses by establishing clear, mandatory and enforceable parameters that detail the operational and oversight measures for protection of civilians, including against sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure GSF personnel are properly trained to support and respond to all survivors of SGBV, and ensure accessible and effective remedies for victims and promote full adherence to the UN human rights due diligence policy.
• Demand full compliance with the UN arms embargo on Haiti, and call on all Member States to take steps to stop the flow of arms in order to prevent further violence against Haitian women and girls. Request the availability of gender and SGBV expertise in the Panel of Experts supporting the sanctions committee, and the use of gender analysis in their reports and investigations.
• Condemn the surge in reported cases of rape and sexual violence and urge the provision of comprehensive, gender-sensitive and age-appropriate support services for survivors. Call on all actors, including the Government of Haiti and international partners, to prioritize strengthening prevention, protection and accountability mechanisms to address and deter sexual violence, such as the specialized judicial units tasked with investigating and prosecuting mass crimes including sexual violence.
• Demand respect for women’s human rights, and condemn all violations thereof, including attacks on women human rights defenders (WHRDs), civil society and aid workers, who must be able to operate freely and without fear of threat or reprisal.
• Demand that all peace, security, transitional and political processes are Haitian-led and Haitian-owned, and ensure the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation and leadership of diverse women throughout. Call on the TPC to take measures to realize the constitutionally-mandated 30% minimum quota for women’s representation.
• Urge donors to fully fund the humanitarian response and allocate increased flexible and direct funding to grassroots women-led and women’s rights organizations. Call for increased, immediate, safe, gender-responsive and non-discriminatory delivery of humanitarian aid to all Haitians in need.
• Urge all Member States to maintain temporary protection or refugee status for Haitians, and to refrain from forcibly returning Haitian migrants, in particular pregnant and postpartum women and unaccompanied children, to Haiti in accordance with international law.

Syria

Many challenges remain to an inclusive and sustainable transition in Syria, including: accountability for serious abuses 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; ongoing abductions and enforced disappearances; military interventions by neighboring states; and violence against ethnic and religious minorities including Alawite and Druze communities. Women’s participation in the transitional government is extremely limited, with only one woman in the cabinet; similarly, women won only 5% of seats in recent parliamentary elections. 

Since December 2024, the UN has documented the return of over 1.2 million refugees from abroad and 1.9 million IDPs within Syria, but an entrenched humanitarian crisis presents significant obstacles to safe, voluntary and dignified return, including: damaged or destroyed infrastructure, including a lack of adequate housing; explosive remnants of war; lack of access to basic services including GBV response; a weakened economy and lack of livelihood opportunities, particularly for women; continued food insecurity; and environmental challenges. Women-led and women’s rights organizations are instrumental in the humanitarian response, but they continue to face chronic underfunding and operating and registration 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, including by instituting a minimum 30% quota for women, moving toward parity. The Security Council, UN and Member States must not endorse, facilitate, participate in or otherwise support any process where women are excluded; further, any new UN presence in Syria should incorporate gender equality, human rights and WPS issues as cross-cutting themes throughout its mandate.
• 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 and centering gender and protection in the humanitarian response.
• Continue to call for independent, impartial and transparent investigations of all atrocity crimes regardless of victim or perpetrator, before and after December 2024, 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-responsive 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 SGBV prevention efforts and promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate abductions of Alawite, Druze and other minority women and girls, and hold perpetrators accountable.
• Demand respect by all parties for the human rights of all women and girls, and encourage the transitional authorities to align Syria’s national legislation with international standards, including by reforming discriminatory laws and removing Syria’s reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
• Call on Member States to maintain temporary protection or refugee status for Syrian refugees and refrain from deportations or refoulement.

Yemen

Women and girls in Yemen are disproportionately impacted by the country’s protracted crisis, which is exacerbated by domestic and regional conflict; environmental degradation and the effects of climate change; and poverty and economic crisis. Yemen is now the third-most food insecure country in the world, with 17 million people facing acute food insecurity, including 1.3 million acutely malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women in a country with the highest maternal mortality rate in the region. Households frequently resort to extreme coping mechanisms, including child, early and forced marriage: over 30% of girls are married before age 18. Despite these extreme needs, humanitarian access restrictions, severe funding cuts and the impacts of counter-terror measures threaten access to critical services, including SRH care and GBV response, for millions of women and girls, especially in rural areas. Since June 2024, Houthi authorities have arbitrarily detained Yemeni nationals working for UN agencies and NGOs, violating their human rights and further compromising the delivery of critical humanitarian assistance. 

Women’s human rights are restricted by all warring parties in Yemen. The male guardian requirement in Houthi-controlled areas impedes the ability of women, including aid workers, to work, travel and access healthcare and to participate equally in public and political life. Women-led civil society organizations, journalists and WHRDs face restrictions, threats, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances, SGBV, hate speech, assassinations and targeted killings. People of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities have also been targeted. The 30% quota for women’s representation established by the National Dialogue Conference has not been met: there are no women in parliament, and they have also been excluded from peace negotiations. 

In renewing the mandate of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), the Security Council should:

• Continue to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained Yemeni UN and NGO personnel.
• Express support for an inclusive political process with the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of diverse women, including in truce and ceasefire negotiations and the humanitarian response. Demand that all UN-supported peace committees meaningfully include women, in line with the minimum 30% quota. 
• Condemn reprisals and targeting of WHRDs and women civil society, and call for accountability for all acts of politically-motivated violence against women.
• Demand that all parties to the conflict respect international law by ensuring the protection of civilians and civilian objects, and facilitating safe and principled humanitarian access, including lifting movement restrictions on women.
• Support the establishment of comprehensive humanitarian carveouts across sanctions regimes and other restrictive measures, to enable aid to reach those most in need and preserve humanitarian space.
• Prioritize diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and secure a sustainable settlement to the conflict, which should include accountability and transitional justice.
• Call on donors to urgently fund the humanitarian response, centering age, gender and disability-responsive protection, and provide quality and flexible funding to women-led organizations, in order to avert a more severe humanitarian catastrophe.   
• Prioritize gender-responsive climate adaptation and environmental restoration in any peace agreements or political settlements in Yemen.