As the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) unfolds at the United Nations, a sobering realization has taken center stage: while the world has become more adept at drafting laws to protect women, the actual delivery of justice remains a distant reality for the vast majority of survivors. The discrepancy between legislative progress and lived experience has become the focal point of intense diplomatic discussion, as leaders grapple with the fact that paper-thin protections are failing to stem the tide of gender-based violence.
Since 2019, the global community has witnessed an unprecedented wave of legislative activity. According to recent data shared during the session, a staggering 90 percent of UN Member States have taken concrete steps to strengthen their laws regarding violence against women and girls. Furthermore, 79 percent of these nations have either updated or significantly expanded their national action plans to address the crisis. On the surface, these figures suggest a world on the brink of a major breakthrough in gender equality. However, the rhetoric of reform is increasingly clashing with the harsh realities of implementation.
The primary obstacle, as identified by UN Women and its partners, is the existence of "fragmented and biased systems." For a survivor of violence, the path to justice is rarely a straight line; it is more often a gauntlet of disconnected services. From the initial police report to the courtroom, and from health clinics to social protection offices, survivors are frequently met with skepticism, bureaucratic hurdles, and a lack of specialized care. This systemic fragmentation does more than just delay justice—it actively discourages it.
One of the most alarming statistics highlighted at the CSW70 is that less than 10 percent of women who experience violence ever report it to the authorities. This is not due to a lack of crime, but rather a profound lack of trust. For many survivors, the process of reporting feels either futile or, worse, inherently unsafe. When the systems designed to protect individuals are perceived as biased or ineffective, it creates a vacuum of accountability. This lack of reporting fuels a cycle of impunity, sending a clear, albeit unintended, message to perpetrators: violence will not be met with consequences. Without a credible threat of legal action, the deterrent power of the law is effectively neutralized.
The crisis is being further compounded by a devastating funding shortfall for the very organizations that form the backbone of the movement. Feminist movements and grassroots organizations, which provide the most direct and essential support to survivors, are facing an existential threat. Analysis by UN Women reveals that more than one-third of these organizations have been forced to suspend their programs addressing violence. Almost all of them are reporting severe reductions in the ability of women and girls to access essential services, ranging from emergency shelters to psychological counseling and legal aid.
This financial starvation of the feminist sector is occurring at a time when their expertise is needed most. These organizations do not just provide services; they drive the advocacy that leads to legal change and hold governments accountable for their promises. When these organizations disappear, the bridge between international policy and local reality is broken.
The priority theme of this year’s Commission on the Status of Women—access to justice—seeks to redefine what justice actually means for a survivor. The consensus emerging from the session, which saw agreed conclusions adopted by a large majority earlier this week, is that justice must extend far beyond the confines of a courtroom. True justice is a holistic ecosystem. It encompasses accessible, coordinated, and adequately resourced systems that are centered entirely on the needs and dignity of the survivor. It means a woman should not have to tell her story five different times to five different agencies; it means she should have immediate access to legal aid; and it means that the officials she encounters—whether they are police officers, doctors, or judges—are trained to handle her case with empathy and professional rigor.
The call for action is not without precedent or proof of concept. The Spotlight Initiative, a massive global partnership supported by the European Union, has served as a blueprint for what can be achieved when the United Nations acts in a coordinated, well-funded manner. Between 2019 and 2024, the initiative helped facilitate the reform of 548 laws related to gender equality and violence against women. More importantly, it moved the needle on accountability, doubling conviction rates in 13 different countries. These results demonstrate that when political will is backed by financial investment and inter-agency cooperation, the "cycle of impunity" can indeed be broken.
Building on the success of the Spotlight Initiative, programs like the EU-funded ACT to End Violence Against Women have focused on the "resilience" of the movement. By strengthening the institutional capacities of hundreds of civil society organizations (CSOs), UN Women and the UN Trust Fund have ensured that the fight for justice is led by those most familiar with the local context. These CSOs have been instrumental in facilitating evidence-based advocacy, ensuring that new laws are not just symbolic but are grounded in the actual needs of the community.
However, the progress made over the last five years is fragile. The leadership at UN Women has been clear: maintaining this momentum depends entirely on sustained political will and a significant increase in investment. The "Group of Friends," a powerful coalition of 96 Member States, has been identified as a critical engine for this continued progress. This group has the diplomatic weight to keep the issue of ending violence against women at the top of a global agenda that is increasingly crowded by competing crises, from climate change to geopolitical conflict.
The Group of Friends is being urged to champion "budgeted" national action plans. Too often, governments pass ambitious laws or adopt national strategies without allocating the funds necessary to implement them. A law that mandates specialized training for police is useless if there is no budget to pay for the trainers. A national plan that promises shelters is an empty gesture if no buildings are ever funded. Justice, in its most practical sense, requires a line item in a national budget.
As the 70th session moves toward its conclusion, the message to the international community is one of both urgency and cautious optimism. The successes of the past five years—the law reforms, the increased conviction rates, and the strengthening of feminist leadership—prove that change is possible. But these successes also highlight how much work remains. The goal for the next five years is to outpace the challenges that have emerged, including the "pushback" against women’s rights seen in various regions of the world.
The responsibility for this change lies with humanity as a whole. As leaders at the UN have noted, providing justice for women and girls is not just a policy goal; it is a moral debt owed to half of the world’s population. It is about sending a clear, unequivocal signal that violence will never be tolerated and that those who perpetrate it will be held to account.
The path forward requires a deepening of partnerships between governments, international bodies, and civil society. It requires a shift from "idle" support to "vigorous" action. With the leadership of the European Union, the commitment of the Secretary-General, and the collective power of the 96 Member States in the Group of Friends, there is a belief that the next five years can surpass the successes of the last. The tools for justice exist; the laws are largely in place. Now, the world must find the resolve to make those laws mean something for the women and girls waiting for the system to finally see them.
