Trump’s Gaza Plan Mustn’t Follow His Record on Women’s Rights

In 2022 I led submissions and evidence by a group of experts to the UK and Australian governments on the effect of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, particularly for women and girls. We focused on health and education. The twenty years prior to the Taliban takeover in August 2021 saw progressive reform that protected women’s rights in the areas of education, marriage, and public life. These protections were in the Afghanistan Constitution, its laws on Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the establishment of a Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Our vision was to see every human rights violation by the Taliban remedied with measures in place for non-repetition.

The same issues now arise in Gaza. When considering US President Trump’s 20-point plan for peace, point 9 envisages a “Board of Peace” for the “day-to-day running of public services and municipalities in Gaza.” Logically, this must include centers for education and services for health and welfare, and the need for a functioning Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

The Taliban’s return has resulted in a humanitarian crisis with a collapsed healthcare system and the removal of education for women, alongside other draconian measures. Israel’s bombing of Gaza is likely to have had a similar effect, compounded by internal restrictions on women by other parties. Women are an all-stakeholder issue for any peace deal, and the art of a great deal is to understand that women can speak for themselves on these issues.

Assuming President Trump is committed to rights to health and education for women and girls, and is listening to his international advisors, he will need to underpin key principles for women in any peace deal – otherwise known as international human rights obligations under international law. This requires women at the table to ensure rights to health and education are a top-tier consideration.

Yet Trump’s policies back at home haven’t exactly supported healthcare and education, which raises fears about how these tendencies could shape the peace plan he is brokering for Gaza. His “Board of Peace” will need to ensure municipalities can provide medical staff, treatment facilities, schools, and universities after the Israeli bombardment. The women and girls of Gaza must be able to receive proper healthcare and education and to work safely without further threats.

International experience shows that women face barriers to health care and education generally, and these are heightened in conflict situations. This is where international law and policy can be useful when brokering peace deals – through targets, principles, and action plans.

The right to health flows from Article 12.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966. It is a right of “everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,” which is not confined to the right to health care. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has explained that this right “embraces a wide range of socio-economic factors that promote conditions in which people can lead a healthy life,” extending to food, housing, water, sanitation, safe working conditions, and a healthy environment.

This means any implementation by a “Board of Peace” should take all necessary steps to provide conditions for health for women and girls and adopt positive measures to prevent, treat, and control diseases – an issue already politically fraught in the US in relation to women’s health. Ensuring the enjoyment of the right to health includes the right to control one’s body and to be free from torture, non-consensual medical treatment, and discrimination. Improving women’s health is therefore central to peace and security in Gaza.

In terms of education, the 20-point plan may also become a method for standard-setting. Point 10 foreshadows an “economic development plan to rebuild and re-energise Gaza.” Assuming this will include schools and universities and not merely tourist destinations, given President Trump’s antipathy to educational institutions at home, his advisors should nonetheless be aware of the UNESCO Education 2030 Agenda to accelerate Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education.

The key concept is that education is not a luxury but a fundamental goal for everyone. Targets include ensuring all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education, access early childhood development, and enjoy equal access to affordable tertiary education and technical training.

Parts of the MENA region have shown progress in these areas, including Qatar, which has not only played its part in the proposed peace in the Gaza–Israel conflict but also has a National Vision 2030 built on public–private partnerships across infrastructure, education, and healthcare. You can see these threads in the language of Trump’s 20-point plan.

If Trump’s “Board of Peace” approaches women’s health care and education sensibly as issues of economic development, it may even offer a blueprint for Afghanistan. To do so requires women to speak for themselves – and to have a seat on the Board.

Peace deals should have women at the table and women’s issues on the table – not as a method for men to decide women’s health and education, but as a key facet in lasting peace, security, and prosperity.

Dr Felicity Gerry KC is an international barrister, consultant and media commentator with expertise in complex, contemporary legal issues such as human trafficking, homicide, terrorism and war crimes.