Statement of the U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security on the Implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28, 2026
CONTACT
Nick Zuroski | nick@allianceforpeacebuilding.org
Washington DC, USA — The U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security, the largest coalition of Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) experts, practitioners, researchers, and advocates in the United States, calls on President Trump to immediately submit the report to Congress mandated by the bipartisan WPS Act. The Working Group also calls on Congress to urgently and regularly exercise its oversight authority of WPS Act implementation through all available channels, including hearings and briefings, and demand the Administration immediately submit the report, as well as explain which departments and offices are leading these efforts and how funds are being spent.
The WPS Act, signed into law by President Trump in 2017, seeks to ensure the U.S. Government promotes the meaningful participation of women in mediation and negotiation processes aimed at preventing, mitigating, and resolving violent conflict. Critically, the Act requires reporting to Congress to inform both elected officials and the American people of progress in its implementation and its impact on U.S. diplomatic and security efforts. However, the U.S. Government has yet to submit the report, which was due by October 31, 2025. The failure to deliver this report to Congress for a year past its mandated deadline not only violates the Act’s legal requirements, but also signals a dramatic deprioritization of this bipartisan framework and loss of U.S. leadership on global peace and security at a time it is urgently needed.
With increasing and record-breaking levels of violent conflict globally, the world is getting deadlier for women and girls. Around 750 million women and girls live within 50 kilometers of an active conflict—40 million more than 2024. At least 25 of them are killed every day due to war. Conflict-related sexual violence is running rampant, with reports doubling in just one year. And yet, women are consistently marginalized from peace talks despite evidence demonstrating that their involvement leads to more durable peace agreements.
The passage of the bipartisan WPS Act was a significant achievement, making the U.S. the first and only country to codify the WPS Agenda in domestic law and adopt a whole-of-government strategic approach. The WPS Act sets forth a peace and security framework that seeks to address the unique and disproportionate impacts of conflict on women, and recognizes the vital role they play in preventing, addressing, resolving, and recovering from conflict. The WPS Act gives the U.S. Government the tools to systemically address these issues—but to be successful, the law must be implemented. We call on Congress to provide robust oversight of the U.S. Administration, starting with demanding the U.S. Administration to immediately submit the required WPS Act report.
The U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security (CSWG) is a nonpartisan network of over 50 civil society organizations with expertise on the impacts of conflict on women and girls and their participation in peacebuilding. Established in 2010, the CSWG supports the effective implementation of the WPS Act of 2017 and the advancement of the broader WPS Agenda.