The Security Council’s series of resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) have not been adopted in a vacuum but operate within the framework of changing international law and institutional activity. In some cases, this is made explicit, as where the Council calls for respect for existing international legal obligations,1 including those emanating from international humanitarian law (IHL), human rights law, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), refugee law, and the law relating to remedies and trading in small arms.