Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
The Chair
D 300402 22.01.2025
IUST-SEC/FEMM-COMMITTEE D (2025) 2098]
To the Chairperson(s) of the Committee(s) concerned
Dear Colleague,
On behalf of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), I would like to
invite Members of the National Parliaments of the EU to attend the Interparliamentary
Committee Meeting (ICM) organised in collaboration with the Directorate for Relations with
National Parliaments on the occasion of
International Women’s Day 2025
on the theme:
“Strengthening the Women, Peace and Security Agenda –
Upholding Women’s Rights in Defence, Security and Peace Building”
This year’s theme highlights several priorities starting with the need to ensure women’s full
participation in decision-making processes, particularly in defence, security, and peacebuilding,
where their leadership leads to more inclusive and lasting peace. Furthermore, it is crucial to
protect women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings from trafficking, exploitation, and
the use of rape as a weapon of war, while preventing gendered impacts of conflict, including
violence against women and domestic violence. Gender-responsive relief and recovery efforts
must prioritize women’s access to justice, healthcare, and psychosocial support. Mainstreaming
gender in security institutions is also a priority because it fosters accountability, equity, and
resilience, creating a more effective and inclusive peace process.
This interparliamentary committee meeting will hear from exceptional women, including
women in leadership roles in the military, academics and researchers, activists and civil society
regarding their experiences, the hurdles they overcame and those yet to be overcome.
I am therefore very pleased to invite up to four Members of the corresponding committee(s) of
each National Parliament (two from each chamber in the case of bi-cameral Parliaments) to
attend this event on
Thursday, 6 March 2025, from 9.00 to 12.30 in the European
Parliament in Brussels.