The EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) is the EU’s framework for implementing the UN Security Council’s WPS agenda, which since Resolution 1325 in 2000 has recognised gender equality and women’s rights as central to achieving lasting peace and security.
The first EU Action Plan on WPS was adopted in July 2019 to cover 2019–2024, and has since been extended to 2027 to align it with broader EU financing cycles. In March 2026, the Commission and the EEAS launched preparations for both GAP IV and a renewed EU Action Plan on WPS. The new plan is expected to be presented in fall 2027 and implemented from 2028 to 2034, to align with the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
This briefing sets out Oxfam’s key recommendations for the new EU Action Plan on WPS. It calls on the EU to adopt an intersectional, decolonial and structural approach that tackles the root causes of conflict, including arms transfers that enable violations. It calls the EU to ensure women’s meaningful participation, leadership and influence, to direct predictable, flexible funding to local women’s organisations and to protect feminist civic space and counter anti-rights actors. In addition, Oxfam recommends to strengthen responses to sexual and gender-based violence and protect sexual and reproductive health and rights, integrate climate security, and deliver accountability, reconciliation and survivor-centered transitional justice.