Abstract

2025 marks the 25^th year of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda globally. This milestone prompts us towards regional reflections on the progress, gaps, and the future direction of WPS. October 31^st is recognised as the official start of UNSC 1325, and these webinars will run in tandem with similar activities happening in the UN and elsewhere around the world commemorating the anniversary. These webinars have two aims: to take stock of all the good work done by states, CSOs, other non-state actors and regional governments in implementing the four pillars of WPS (protection, prevention, participations and role in relief and recovery) in the Indo-Pacific, and to highlight emerging security threats in the region with a focus on its impacts on women and girls, respectively.

About the Speakers

Soumita Basu is Associate Professor of International Relations at the South Asian University, New Delhi. Her main areas of research are gender, international security and the United Nations. She has published extensively on the women, peace and security agenda. Soumita is a co-lead editor of the Review of International Studies (published by BISA and CUP), and sits on the editorial boards of International Feminist Journal of Politics and Journal of Global Security Studies.

Ms Amina Rasul-Bernardo is the President of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID) and hosts the award-winning “She Talks Peace” podcast. She is one of three representatives of the Philippines in the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry. She is a member of the Board of Regents of the Mindanao State University (MSU). She chairs the Multi-Sector Governance Council of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity. She is also a Board Member of the University of the Philippines Foundation, Inc, Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Equal Access International. She is a member of the Trilateral Commission. She was a member of the Philippine Cabinet under former President Fidel V. Ramos as Presidential Advisor on Youth Affairs, appointed concurrently as the first Chair of the National Youth Commission (NYC), which she organized. She has served as Commissioner of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, Director of the Board of the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Founding Director of the Local Government Guarantee Corporation (LGGC), and the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). She was a member of the National Independent Advisory and Monitoring Committee (NIAMC) for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program, adviser to the World Bank Mindanao Jobs Report, a member of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) General Advisory Council, a Trustee of the National Movement for Free Elections, Trustee and Vice Chair of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation (RMAF), a Trustee of the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Ms Peixuan Xie is a Humanitarian Affairs Analyst at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) with extensive research and analytical experience on gender, conflict and peace. Her focus has been the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) norms and its intersectionality with emerging issues in global peace and security, often with a focus on the Asia Pacific region. Most recently, Peixuan was a German Chancellor Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) in Germany. She has also assumed various roles at UN agencies and international organisations, including WFP, UNDP and Humanity & Inclusion (formerly Handicap International).

Ms Norul Mohamed Rashid has more than 26 years’ professional experience in the areas of human rights, gender, governance and peace and security in conflict-affected countries, as well as at United Nations Headquarters. She is currently the Policy Advisor for UN Women on Governance, Peace and Security for the Asia-Pacific region, based in Bangkok.

Among her UN posts, Ms Rashid worked on post-conflict transitional justice for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. As a Policy and Programme Advisor at UN Women HQ, Ms Rashid worked with the UN system on integrating the Women, Peace and Security agenda in justice and rule of law initiatives in crisis and conflict contexts. She managed the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq’s human rights office in Northern Iraq, and has worked with UNDP in Libya and Indonesia on governance, peace and security programming.

She last served with the UN Executive Office of the Secretary-General where she supported strategic and high-level policy development and implementation of organizational vision and strategies in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, peace and security, and emerging global challenges such as climate change and new technology. Prior to joining the UN, Ms Rashid was a State Counsel in Singapore. She graduated with a law degree from the National University of Singapore and a LLM in International Law from the University of London, United Kingdom.

About the Chairperson

Dr Tamara Nair is Senior Associate Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. She is concurrently appointed as Coordinator of Projects (Women in ASEAN Community) in the Office of the Executive Deputy Chairman, where she supports the management of special projects and activities relating to women in the region.

She graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Geography and went on to train at the National Institute of Education (NIE). She obtained a Masters in Environmental Management, a Graduate Diploma in Arts Research and a PhD in Development Studies from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. She possesses a Professional Certificate in Project Management by the Institute of Engineers, Singapore and Temasek Polytechnic. She is also the coordinator of centre publications and Research Integrity Officer for RSIS, as well as the Head of the Research Integrity and Data Management Unit of the School.

Dr Nair’s current research focuses on issues of power and the biopolitics of labour and technology, and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in the region. She represents Singapore in the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry (AWPR) and is also the representative for Nanyang Technological University for the ASEAN University Network on Human Rights and Peace Education. As part of UN Women’s “Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace”, Dr Nair was named one of 21 inspiring peace builders, promoting gender equality and sustainable peace in the region. She has published in Development Studies journals, writing on marginalised communities and sustainable development, issues of gender, and power and subject creation.