“Do not wait until the structures are ready. Take the space and let your identity be a source of power and moral strength.” -Wai Wai Nu, AWP Youth Session Joining Hands – Empowering Intergenerational Leadership and Learning
Why is Women, Peace and Security (WPS) important for youth? New generations will be responsible for safeguarding past achievements and advancing the goals of the WPS agenda into new areas, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber security. This was one of the core questions addressed at the 2025 Action with Women and Peace (AWP) Conference and the related Youth Supporters Forum, arranged on November 12-13 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, with PRIO’s support. The conference gathered leaders, senior experts, civil society organizations, and researchers to take stock of progress and to discuss how this threatened WPS agenda could be protected and progressed.
Under the theme of WPS@25: Priorities and Innovation for the Future, the 2025 AWP Conference took place against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating geopolitical conditions, radically shifting political alliances and financial priorities, and fast-paced technological advances in both war and peace. In this evolving security landscape, the WPS agenda faces increasing challenges, including the persistent underfunding for participation and protection, and the need to expand its focus to address and incorporate emerging technologies.
Paola Vesco, Senior Researcher at PRIO, contributed to the panel New Frontiers – Innovating WPS in an Era of AI and Cyber Technologies, which discussed how new technologies have the potential to accelerate progress in the WPS implementation, while also posing risks that must be mitigated. She highlighted that AI tools like Large Language models can support women’s participation by collecting and systematizing data on gender indicators, and thereby improving our understanding of women’s inclusion in peace processes. AI can also contribute to prevention of violence against women and girls, by enhancing existing early warning systems for armed conflict, and improving forecasts of how conflicts affect women’s development and well-being. However, AI also poses risks to our knowledge of how to achieve peace and security, including by reinforcing gender discrimination through data biases, limited interpretability, and a persistent gender divide within the AI field.
This year’s AWP Conference was accompanied by a Youth Supporter Program. The program sought to strengthen the joint knowledge base and share information on WPS among youth leaders, supporting them in their mission to promote WPS. The program included introductory presentations on WPS, a roundtable with leading senior experts from the Republic of Korea, and a Forum, held the day before the AWP Conference.
The Forum, moderated by PRIO’s Louise Olsson, featured interactive presentations where youth supporters engaged with senior experts. Paola Vesco contributed with one presentation on Youth, WPS, and the development of technology – what are ways forward for peace? The sessions concluded with the collection of action-oriented ideas and messages from the youth supporters that can be central for building novel pathways for WPS and highlighting its relevance today and in the future.
PRIO is proud to have supported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea throughout the AWP Conference and Youth Supporter Program, for instance, by providing insights from research on the international background and current debates in the WPS agenda and a basic training session for the youth supporters on WPS.
You can find more information on the AWP Conference here.
The conference and its panels can be watched in their entirety here.
