2025 marks the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), a landmark resolution that recognised the critical role of women in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction. Despite progress, women continue to face barriers to meaningful participation and leadership in conflict prevention, peace and security processes.

Held in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and The Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL) at The Australian National University, this event will commemorate and celebrate the legacy and impact of UNSCR 1325.

Join us to reflect on Australia’s contributions to the WPS agenda, and explore future pathways for inclusive peacebuilding. The event will bring together leading women peacebuilders, mediators, and human rights advocates to share insights, experiences, and strategies for advancing gender-responsive peace and security.

You’ll hear from Lilliane Fan of Southeast Asia Women Peace Mediators, Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls from the Pacific Women Mediators Network, Professor Susan Harris Rimmer of Griffith University, and GIWL Deputy Director Dr Elise Stephenson, with closing comments from Michelle O’Byrne, the Ambassador for Gender Equality.

The program will also feature pre-recorded remarks from the Hon Julia Gillard AC, former Prime Minister of Australia, and Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, offering reflections on the global evolution of the WPS agenda and Australia’s leadership role within it.

The event will conclude with a networking reception featuring canapés and mocktails – a chance to continue the conversation and connect with fellow attendees working across policy, research, and peacebuilding practice.

About the speakers

Lilianne Fan is a leading expert on the Rohingya crisis, Myanmar, and ASEAN’s role in peacebuilding. With over 25 years’ experience in armed conflict, displacement, and humanitarian crises, she heads the Secretariat of the Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar and co-directs Geutanyoe Malaysia, a refugee protection organisation. She has advised governments and ASEAN on post-conflict recovery in Aceh and Myanmar, served on the Lancet Commission for Health and Human Rights, and coordinates initiatives supporting Palestinian students in Asia. An anthropologist by training, she holds an MA from Columbia University.

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls is a Fiji Island feminist with close to four decades of experience at the intersection of gender, media, communications, and peacebuilding. A broadcaster by profession. Sharon played a key role in the development of feminist community media & broadcast initiatives in the Pacific Island region, as well as coordinating civil society input into the development of the Pacific Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (2012-2015), and advocating for the integration of climate change into UNSCR 2242. She co-founded the Pacific Women Mediators Network and is also the Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Lead (SPRML) of the Pacific Island Feminist Alliance for Climate Justice (PIFA4CJ). Sharon is a former co-chair of the Global Fund for Women and former Board Chair of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC).

Professor Susan Harris Rimmer is an international human rights and gender equality expert at Griffith University, where she leads the Climate Justice theme for the Climate Action Beacon and co-convenes the Gender Equality Research Network. Her work spans international human rights law, climate justice, national security and foreign policy, and she has advised governments and multilateral organisations on diplomacy, development and gender issues. A Fulbright Scholar and Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Professor Harris Rimmer’s research and advocacy continue to shape progressive policy agendas at national and global levels.

Dr Elise Stephenson is Deputy Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at ANU, where she leads work on gender, leadership, and equality in frontier areas of international affairs. A Fulbright Scholar and multi award-winning researcher-practitioner, she has been recognised by Google as one of Australia’s Top 50 Outstanding LGBTIQ+ Leaders and by the UNAA for her contributions to diversity and inclusion. Elise’s work spans diplomacy, national security, space policy, and entrepreneurship, with a focus on ensuring equality in Australia’s engagement with global challenges.

Michelle O’Byrne is the Ambassador for Gender Equality. She has dedicated her career to advancing women’s rights, serving as the Member for Bass in the Tasmanian Parliament (2006-2025) and earlier as the Federal Member for Bass (1998-2004). Across ministerial portfolios spanning women and the prevention of family violence, education, workplace relations, emergency services, and economic development, she has been a driving force for reform. Her leadership was central to the decriminalisation of abortion in Tasmania, the introduction of safe access zones around clinics, and significant measures to address family violence.

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