Against the backdrop of setbacks in the rights of women and gender non-conforming people, the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) called on states to guarantee and strengthen access to justice for all women and girls and to promote inclusive and equitable legal systems.
Drawing on the Beijing Declaration and human rights treaties, the final document reaffirms the international commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. It emphasizes that access to justice is a fundamental right and an essential condition for ensuring the full exercise of all other rights. It also notes the persistence of barriers to access to justice, such as discriminatory laws and practices, structural inequalities, and multiple forms of violence. Finally, it notes that justice systems do not adequately respond to their needs, which limits their effective access to remedies, protection, and participation in public life.
The Commission placed strong emphasis on the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence, as well as on the protection of victims and access to effective remedies, without any form of discrimination. It also underscores the importance of promoting women’s full participation in decision-making and in justice systems. In this regard, the Commission highlights the importance of taking measures to ensure a safe and violence-free environment for all women and girls by adopting, funding, and implementing national plans to eliminate all forms of violence, in both public and private spaces, online and offline. This entails addressing sexual and gender-based violence, such as domestic violence, rape, femicide, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, harmful practices (child or forced marriage, female genital mutilation), and sexual harassment.
In addition, the CSW emphasized the importance of taking into account the diversity of situations, contexts, and circumstances faced by women and girls so that justice systems can adequately address their needs, interests, and rights. It raised the need to establish and improve specific national mechanisms to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish all forms of violence against women and girls, in both public and private spheres, and to ensure accountability for those responsible and end impunity. It also called for ensuring that victims and survivors have timely and effective access to justice, as well as to fair and adequate reparations.
It emphasizes the importance of taking into account different national contexts and paying special attention to the most vulnerable groups, such as women with disabilities, migrants, indigenous peoples, people of African descent, rural residents, those in vulnerable situations, and those deprived of their liberty.
During the meeting, the U.S. government proposed a document to limit the scope of the term “gender” to men and women. The Argentine government aligned itself with this position and sought to remove all references to the recognition of sexual and reproductive rights. Ultimately, however, the document was not adopted by the majority of states, and governments and various stakeholders (such as international organizations, civil society, and the private sector) were called upon urged to take urgent measures to ensure access to justice for all women and girls by 2030.
There were two weeks of discussions among States, during which, thanks to the efforts of feminist and human rights organizations, the setbacks pushed by the U.S. and its allies were averted.