On August 28, the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2538 on women and peacekeeping under the leadership of Indonesia, the latest in a series of resolutions focused on the inclusion of more women in UN peacekeeping missions. The resolution is historic for the UN, peacekeeping, and women peacekeepers in several ways.

Most notably, though it is the first standalone resolution on women in peacekeeping operations, it reads in many ways as a women, peace, and security (WPS) resolution, despite falling outside of that thematic family and being negotiated as a peacekeeping one. It is also the first resolution in Indonesia’s history of UN Security Council diplomacy. The country has been involved in advocating for previous resolutions, and mandate and sanctions extensions have been adopted under its presidency, but according to a statement by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, resolution 2538 is the first successful resolution that Indonesia has initiated. Read more