The halls of the United Nations Headquarters in New York were filled with a sense of renewed urgency on March 12, 2026, as the Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls marked its fifth anniversary. Convening on the sidelines of the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), the high-level meeting served as both a celebration of half a decade of coordination and a sobering assessment of a world where progress for women is increasingly under siege. Since its inception in 2020, the Group of Friends has expanded into a formidable coalition of 96 Member States, yet the speakers gathered in New York made it clear that political consensus is no longer enough. The focus has shifted decisively toward "durable impact"—the desperate need to move beyond the signing of treaties and toward the actual protection of women and girls in their daily lives.
The timing of this five-year milestone coincides with a period of profound global instability. As conflict, economic volatility, and a sophisticated digital backlash against gender equality converge, the mission of the Group of Friends has never been more vital. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed opened the proceedings with a searing critique of the current global priorities, suggesting that the international community is at a crossroads. She warned that the world is dangerously close to a reality where the machinery of war is prioritized over the safety of half the population. “It’s time to pull the world back from the brink of celebrating war while abandoning women and girls,” Mohammed stated. Her address emphasized that the fight against violence is fundamentally a fight against the structures of power that protect perpetrators. She called for an end to impunity in all its forms, arguing that true justice only begins when those who speak out against abuse are protected rather than silenced.
Despite the fact that the Group of Friends has successfully mobilized political and financial support across all regions since 2020, the statistics remains a haunting reminder of the work left to do. Globally, nearly one in three women will experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. This figure has remained stubbornly stagnant even as Member States have spent the last several years strengthening national action plans and expanding legal frameworks. The consensus among the leaders at CSW70 was that a "stark gap" has emerged between the laws on the books and the lived realities of women. While the legal architecture for protection exists in many nations, the actual enforcement of these laws is often thwarted by shrinking civic spaces and a lack of political will.
Hadja Lahbib, the EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness, and Crisis Response, addressed this gap by highlighting the organized nature of the opposition to women’s rights. She noted that the "backlash" against gender equality is not a series of isolated incidents but a coordinated global movement. Consequently, she argued, the response from the international community must be equally strategic and unified. “No country can do this alone,” Lahbib remarked, urging the 96 member states of the Group of Friends to renew their commitment to collective action. She framed the struggle as one of basic human dignity, asserting that standing beside women and girls is a prerequisite for a just and stable society.
A central theme of the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women has been the concept of access to justice, which participants identified as the primary bottleneck in the global effort to end violence. The discussions revealed a troubling trend: at the very moment when the demand for frontline services and legal aid is skyrocketing, the funding for these essential resources is being slashed. This financial "implementation gap" means that even the most progressive laws remain symbolic if a survivor cannot find a safe house, a lawyer, or a sensitive healthcare provider. The Group of Friends underscored that access to justice must be treated as the central entry point for all prevention and accountability efforts. Redress is not a luxury; it is a fundamental right that requires comprehensive legal frameworks capable of keeping pace with modern threats.
Among those modern threats, technology-facilitated violence has emerged as a primary concern for the Group. As artificial intelligence and digital platforms evolve, they have created new frontiers for harassment, stalking, and the silencing of women in public life. Human rights defenders, journalists, and female politicians are particularly targeted, often facing coordinated online campaigns designed to drive them out of the public sphere. The Group’s endorsed priorities for 2026 reflect this shift, noting that justice systems are currently failing to provide accountability for harms committed in digital spaces. Without updated regulations and a tech-literate judiciary, the "chilling effect" of online violence will continue to undermine women’s participation in democracy.
The financial reality of the movement was brought into sharp focus by Sima Bahous, the Executive Director of UN Women. She delivered a stark warning regarding the survival of the feminist movements that the UN depends on to implement its mandates. According to UN Women’s latest analysis, more than one-third of women’s rights organizations have been forced to suspend their programs addressing violence due to a lack of predictable, long-term financing. Almost all such organizations report severe reductions in the ability of women and girls to access essential services. “The strong feminist movements and organizations we depend on are ever-more underfunded,” Bahous said, pointing to a paradox where the global community demands more results while providing fewer resources.
To address these systemic failures, the meeting highlighted the success of targeted partnerships like the EU-funded "ACT to End Violence against Women" program. This initiative focuses on investing directly in women’s rights movements and building cross-sector alliances between justice, health, and social services. By institutionalizing partnerships with civil society, the ACT program aims to ensure that advocacy remains resilient even in the face of national budget cuts. The discussion made it clear that women’s organizations are not just service providers; they are the primary drivers of accountability who push states to fulfill their legal obligations.
Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the founder of the Women Aid Collective (WACOL) and an ACT partner, provided a perspective from the front lines of advocacy. She argued that the persistence of sexual and gender-based violence is not due to a lack of legislation, but a failure of enforcement. "The laws exist, but they continue to fail survivors," Ezeilo explained. She called for justice systems to be made affordable and accessible to the most marginalized women, stressing that the protection of civic space for activists is non-negotiable. Through her work with WACOL, Ezeilo has seen how evidence-based advocacy can force reforms, but she reminded the assembly that the responsibility for resourcing these responses ultimately lies with the State.
As the meeting concluded, the Group of Friends reaffirmed that ending violence against women is not a niche "women’s issue" but a core requirement for global peace and security. The path forward, according to the gathered experts, must be survivor-centered and gender-responsive. This involves not only punishing perpetrators but also addressing the root causes of violence—challenging harmful gender norms and dismantling the patriarchal structures that normalize abuse. The consensus at CSW70 was that the next five years must be defined by "durable impact." In a world increasingly defined by crisis, the safety and dignity of women and girls must be treated as the foundation of a stable future, rather than an afterthought. The meeting served as a powerful reminder that while the Group of Friends has built a significant political platform over the last five years, the true measure of their success will be found in the lives of the millions of women still waiting for the promise of justice to become a reality.
