As the global community gathers for the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), a sobering reality hangs over the proceedings: more than 676 million women now live within 50 kilometers of active, deadly conflict. This figure represents the highest number ever recorded, signaling a systemic crisis that transcends borders and cultures. Against this backdrop of rising instability, world leaders, activists, and legal experts convened on March 11, 2026, to issue a clarion call for a fundamental overhaul of how the world delivers justice to women and girls. The message from the high-level event was clear: justice is not a luxury to be deferred until peace is established; it is the very foundation upon which peace must be built.
The discussion, titled "Advancing Justice in Every Context," highlighted a persistent and dangerous "justice gap." In conflict-affected regions, more than 60 percent of women report that their legal needs go entirely unmet. From the loss of identity documents during forced displacement to the theft of ancestral lands and the pervasive threat of gender-based violence, the obstacles to legal recourse are often insurmountable. However, a new paradigm is emerging—one where women are no longer seen merely as victims of broken systems, but as the primary architects of new ones.
Sima Bahous, the Executive Director of UN Women, opened the session by emphasizing that justice reform is ineffective if it does not begin with the lived experiences of those it is meant to serve. According to Bahous, centring women and girls means addressing the practical, everyday hurdles that prevent them from exercising their rights. This includes the restoration of identity documents, which are often the only gateway to social services, voting, and legal standing. It also involves the protection of land rights and the safety of children, as well as the creation of "safe spaces" where women can speak without fear of retribution and see their rights actively enforced.
To support this shift, UN Women unveiled a landmark publication: Advancing gender equality through legislative reform in transitional justice contexts. The report underscores a critical lesson learned from decades of international development: legal change on paper is insufficient. Bahous noted that for reforms to translate into real-world protection, they must be fueled by three essential components: the power of grassroots women’s movements, unwavering political will, and sustained, long-term financing. "Women are not only demanding justice," Bahous told the assembly, "they are designing it."
The urgency of this mission was echoed by Alexander De Croo, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He challenged the traditional "security-first" approach to stabilization in crisis zones, which often relegates gender justice to a secondary or tertiary priority. De Croo argued that this delay is a strategic error that fuels further instability. "Justice cannot wait," he asserted. "Too often, justice for women is treated as something that comes later—after security, after stabilization, after recovery. But delaying justice does not create stability. It entrenches inequity and fuels impunity."
The partnership between UNDP and UN Women has already begun to yield tangible results through the Gender Justice Platform. In 2024 alone, the platform facilitated access to justice for nearly 80,000 women and girls through a combination of formal and informal mechanisms. Of these, over 76,000 individuals received legal information and awareness through innovative delivery models such as mobile courts and legal clinics that travel to remote or high-risk areas. Currently, the platform supports justice and security reforms in more than 40 countries, proving that even in the most challenging environments, progress is possible when resources are directed toward gender-responsive institutions.
The international perspective was further enriched by Peter Derrek Hof, the Netherlands’ Ambassador for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. Hof stressed that justice systems must be judged by their ability to deliver "tangible and visible" results. He reaffirmed the Netherlands’ commitment to supporting partners who refuse to treat women’s needs as an afterthought. This sentiment was supported by Márcia Lopes, Brazil’s Minister of Women, who shared her country’s progress in building justice systems "with women," rather than just for them. Lopes emphasized that listening to survivors, feminist organizations, and community leaders is the only way to ensure that the legal process is culturally relevant and truly restorative.
The session was moderated by Raquel Lagunas, UNDP’s Director of Gender Equality, who framed the conversation with a powerful reminder: "Justice begins where silence ends." This theme of breaking the silence was particularly resonant during the testimony of Kateryna Levchenko, the Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy for Ukraine. Since the full-scale invasion of 2022, Ukraine has had to rebuild and strengthen its justice system while simultaneously defending its sovereignty.
Levchenko detailed how the Ukrainian government has utilized international legal frameworks to restore trust among its citizens. This includes the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Istanbul Convention on violence against women. Furthermore, Ukraine signed a Framework of Cooperation with the United Nations specifically addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. For Ukraine, these are not just legal formalities; they are essential tools for maintaining social cohesion and democratic legitimacy during wartime. By holding perpetrators accountable and providing survivors with a path to redress, the state reinforces its commitment to the rule of law even under fire.
However, the path to justice is often blocked by deep-seated structural inequalities. Tea Trumbic, the Manager of the Women, Business and the Law project at the World Bank Group, provided a data-driven look at the global "rights gap." According to the World Bank’s research, women globally enjoy less than two-thirds of the legal rights afforded to men. Perhaps more concerning is the implementation gap: even in countries where equal rights are enshrined in law, only about half of the necessary policies to enforce those laws are actually in place.
In fragile and conflict-affected states, this disparity is magnified. "Women have fewer rights on paper, fewer systems to support those rights, and limited ability to enforce them," Trumbic explained. She argued that investment must go beyond the legislative chambers and into the machinery of the state—investing in the training of judges, the recruitment of female police officers, and the creation of accessible legal aid networks. Without these institutions, a law remains a hollow promise.
The role of grassroots activism was also highlighted by Amrita Kapur, Secretary-General of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Kapur pointed out a tragic irony: while women are on the frontlines of every major conflict, providing aid and documenting abuses, they receive the least amount of institutional support. "We need sustained support for feminist movements," Kapur urged. "This is where the transformative potential is most urgent, and yet it is where there is the least support." She argued that feminist peacebuilding is the only way to ensure that justice is not just a top-down imposition but a bottom-up transformation.
As the event drew to a close, Michelle Muschett, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, offered a vision for the future. She described the gender justice gap as a "systemic crisis" that, while disproportionately affecting women, ultimately harms all of society by hindering economic growth and social stability.
"Positive transformation is already happening," Muschett noted, pointing to the successes of the Gender Justice Platform and the courage of women in conflict zones. "We need to pay attention to scaling what’s working… and advance reforms with a gender-responsive lens." She concluded by reminding the audience that gender equality is not a standalone objective but a "clear accelerator" for every dimension of global development, from poverty reduction to climate resilience.
The proceedings at CSW70 have made one thing abundantly clear: the old ways of delivering justice are no longer sufficient for the complexities of the 21st century. The global community can no longer afford to wait for "perfect conditions" to uphold the rights of women and girls. Whether in the courtrooms of Brazil, the mobile clinics of conflict-torn regions, or the legislative halls of Ukraine, women are actively dismantling the barriers that have kept them in the shadows. The task for the international community now is to provide the political will and the financial resources to meet them on that journey, ensuring that when the silence finally ends, justice is there to meet it.
