Violence Targeting Women in Politics: Implications for the UN Security Council

On 18 January 2022, Norway organized an Open Debate in the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the nexus between protection and participation of women in peace processes and how the UNSC could improve its capacity to formulate effective preventive and responsive measures. This brief builds on research, and on novel data and examples of political violence targeting women in politics (PVTWIP), as collected and tracked by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). While this demonstrates that PVTWIP is a problem that concerns us all, examples of countries discussed in the UNSC context illustrate the need for country-specific approaches to ensure that a diverse group of women can fully, equally, and meaningfully participate in political processes toward peace.