Press Releases
Second meeting of the Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)
On 21 June, for approximately 60 minutes from 2:30pm, Ms. KAMIKAWA Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan hosted the second meeting of the Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). The overview of the meeting is as follows.
- At the outset, Minister Kamikawa stated that the purpose of this meeting was to share the progress made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in terms of WPS since the first taskforce meeting in January this year, and to refer to the initiatives of the Cabinet Office, the Reconstruction Agency, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency and the Ministry of Defense in the field of disaster prevention, response and reconstruction with a view to applying the essence of experiences in the diplomatic activities.
- Minister Kamikawa then introduced examples of initiatives in diplomacy and international cooperation, such as the “WPS+I (Innovation)”, a policy forum to take WPS initiatives further to the next level, and the “WPS session” held on 19 February this year on the occasion of the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction in Tokyo. She also pointed out that Japan's efforts to highlight the importance of WPS not only in responding to conflicts driven by human factors, but also in responding to disasters caused by environmental factors, have received a great deal of interest and support from the international community. In addition, Minister Kamikawa expressed her heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the victims of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake that occurred on New Year's Day this year, and stressed the importance of the participation of women in disaster response, based on the WPS perspective, in order to respond effectively to the diverse needs of the victims.
- After Minister Kamikawa's opening remarks, senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed by the senior officials from the Cabinet Office, the Reconstruction Agency, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency and the Ministry of Defense in charge of disaster prevention, disaster response and reconstruction support within the Government, explained their recent initiatives in relation to WPS. In the exchange of views, based on Minister Kamikawa's remarks, experiences and knowledges were shared, especially on organisational structures which enable to effectively promote WPS agenda within ministries and agencies, and on changing the mindset of vast majority of civil servants including senior officials and newly hired employees. The discussion was highly suggestive for comprehensive and cross-cutting approaches to WPS agenda in the future.
In 2000, for the first time in the Security Council's history, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted "Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Resolution 1325," which clearly stated that international peace, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution require the equal participation of women, protection from sexual violence in conflict, and gender equality. To implement this resolution and subsequent resolutions, Japan formulated the first national action plan in 2015, the second in 2019, and the third in 2023.