Joyce Banda tells world leaders: stop talking, start acting on women in Congo peace talks

Former Malawian president Joyce Banda has delivered a blistering call to action to African leaders and the international community, demanding they finally move beyond empty political promises and take real, concrete steps to get women a seat at the table in peace efforts across eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the wider Great Lakes Region.

Speaking at a high-level UN General Assembly sideline event in New York on Sunday, Banda didn’t hold back — declaring the region is already drowning in peace commitments, yet still failing to actually deliver on them.

Her message was blunt: eastern DRC doesn’t need more paperwork — it needs real results for the women whose lives have been torn apart by conflict.

“Despite the Women, Peace and Security agenda as anchored in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 being in place for 25 years, women remain largely excluded from formal peace negotiations,” Banda told the gathering.

Banda demands 30% quota for women

The former president went further, calling for a firm quota of at least 30 percent representation of women across mediation teams, ceasefire monitoring and peace implementation mechanisms.

She also insisted that peace consultations must widen their reach — bringing in rural women, survivors of sexual violence, and displaced and young women who are so often left out of the conversation entirely.

Banda didn’t stop at the negotiating table either, demanding women be handed a far bigger say in decisions over land, natural resources and post-conflict recovery — arguing that genuine, lasting peace simply cannot be separated from women’s economic security.

Delivering her sharpest line of the address, Banda made clear the era of debate was over.

“We have moved past the debate on why women should be included. The question now is how, with resources, protection and accountability,” she said.