In Focus: International Women's Day 2026 and Commission to the Status of Women (CSW70)
This year’s International Women’s Day and CSW70 put access to justice at the centre of the global agenda for one reason: ending violence against women and girls is impossible without it. When justice is out of reach, violence persists with impunity and survivors are left to carry the cost alone.
Laws may exist, but access is not guaranteed. With one in three women experiencing violence in their lifetime, and with conflict, backlash, authoritarianism and digital repression tightening civic space and disrupting funding flows, making justice reachable is not a technical debate. It is life-saving.
What access to justice means in practice
For survivors, justice is not a single courtroom moment. It is a journey that requires:
Safety and trust to speak and seek help
Accompaniment so survivors are not navigating systems alone
Care alongside accountability, including coordinated, multisectoral support
Institutions that act, so rights on paper become protection in practice
Justice often begins far from formal institutions, in homes, shelters, health centres, refugee camps and informal spaces where survivors first seek support.
What keeps survivors from reaching justice
Survivors face layered barriers long before they reach formal institutions: fear and stigma, distance, language barriers, costs, low legal literacy, care burdens and time poverty, alongside weak enforcement. These barriers deepen for women and girls facing intersecting discrimination and exclusion.
Who is making justice reachable
Women’s rights and civil society organizations put the “access” in access to justice. They document violations, provide legal aid and accompaniment, strengthen referral networks, train justice actors, and drive legal and policy reform so survivors can pursue protection and redress.
In 2025, 65% of UN Trust Fund–supported initiatives integrated at least one access to justice strategy, representing close to US$50 million in multi-year investments across 103 women’s and civil society organizations worldwide.
Across that portfolio, our partners deliver concrete results for women and girls, from stronger forensic documentation through digital evidence tools in Kenya, to community-led data in Bolivia that reveals hidden violence, to legal protections advanced through reform coalitions in Armenia and Liberia, to trauma-informed legal and mental health support in Ukraine, and to integrated survivor-centred referral pathways in Ethiopia and Nigeria.
The strain on justice pathways
The conditions that make justice reachable are under pressure:
A rapid assessment found 3 out of 5 UN Trust Fund grantee partners directly affected by major donor funding cuts, including reductions and closures of essential services such as shelters and legal aid.
As CSW70 begins, the UN Trust Fund and its grantee partners are bringing a shared priority into the deliberations: Justice cannot wait. Women’s rights organizations are leading the way, but they cannot, and should not, carry the weight alone. It is essential to protect civic space and invest in women’s rights and civil society organizations with sustained, flexible, long-term funding.
That is how justice becomes reachable, and how violence becomes preventable.
The UN Trust Fund convened its 2026 Grantee Partner Solidarity Circle, bringing together women’s rights organizations from more than 70 countries to address the accelerating erosion of access to justice for survivors of violence. The event presented key findings from the 2025 CSW/HRC report, highlighting shrinking civic space, chronic underfunding, and rising threats to survivor‑centred services. Partners aligned on urgent priorities ahead of CSW70: protecting civic space, strengthening multisectoral services, and increasing long‑term, flexible funding for feminist movements.
The UN Trust Fund will host its high-level side event, Putting Access into Access to Justice, marking its 30th anniversary and the launch of its 2026–2030 Strategic Plan. The event highlights how shrinking civic space, rising backlash, and volatile funding are undermining survivors’ access to justice, and why long‑term, flexible financing for women’s rights organizations is essential. Bringing together senior UN, government, philanthropic and civil society leaders, the discussion will spotlight frontline evidence and the strategic partnerships needed to deliver justice and accountability at scale.
From 7:00 - 8:30pm, "From Principles to Voices: Survivor-Centred Global CRSV Practices and Survivor Stories from Ukraine", organized by the Mukwege Foundation with a delegation of partners and survivors, at the Ukrainian Institute of America. Register here.
On 10 March
From 4:30 - 6:00am, "Assassinated Justice: Palestinian Women between Genocide and Ethnic Cleaning", organized by the Rural Women's Development Society virtually.
From 10:00 - 11:30am, "Shift Financing. Support Women. Secure Justice.", organized by Women for Women International, with support of WPHF, Germany, UK, Australia, UN Women, UNHCR, UNFPA, African Development Bank, Action Network on Forced Displacement, at UN Women HQ Office and virtually. Register here.
From 10:30am - 12:00pm, "Countering Anti-Gender Backlash: Pathways to Law, Policy Reform, and Access to Justice", organized by SIHA Network at Council of Churches UN Office, New York (Drew Room). Register here.
From 11:00am - 12:30pm, "Access to justice and compliance with the Belém do Pará Convention: a regional comparative analysis (2022–2024)", organized by Corporación HUMANAS & Articulación Regional Feminista (ARF) & MESECVI, at NYC Bar Association, 42 W 44th St. (in-person event)
From 6:30 - 8:00pm, “Access to Justice: Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Voice Their Demands”, organized by Mukwege Foundation (MF), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) at UN Church Centre, 10th floor, New York City. Register here.
On 11 March
From 4:30 - 6:30pm, "Healing through Art: Feminist Approaches in Times of Backlash", organized by Women for Women International, with support from Ukraining WRO Beregynia, at UN Church Center (Drew Room). Register here.
On 12 March
From 8:30 - 9:15am, "Justice for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Advancing Implementation Through Survivor-Led Advocacy", organized by Mukwege Foundation and Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations, at Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations (666 Third Avenue, 18th floor, New York). Register here.
From 12:30pm - 2:00pm, "Reinvigorating the Path to Justice and Accountability: Strengthening Strategies for Prosecuting Sexual and Reproductive Violence as Genocide in Darfur", organized by SIHA Network at Council of Churches United Nations Office, New York (8th Floor). Register here.
On 13 March
From 3:15 - 4:30pm, "From Crisis to Resilience: Advancing the Economic Empowerment of Women and Girls in Fragile and Post-Crisis Contexts", organized by Women for Women International with partners at Islamic Relief, Building Markets, ChildFund Alliance, Innovations for Poverty Action and Near East Foundation, at Baha'I International Community, 866 UN Plaza, Suite 120. Register here.
On 14 March
From 5:00 - 7:00pm, "25 Years of Impact: Women, Peace, and Security", organized by Women for Women International, at Kimpton Hotel Eventi, 851 6th Avenue. Register here.
On 16 March
From 6:30 - 8:00pm, "Justice Without Borders? Analysis of Violence Against Women in Mobility in Mesoamerica", organized by Mesoamerican Network of Women, Health and Migration (RMMSyM), Franciscans International, the Franciscan Network for Migrants, and the Women in Migration Network (WMN), at UN Church Center (Drew Room). Register here.
On 17 March
From 10:30am - 12:00pm, "Leveraging Strategy, Systems, and Innovation for Women’s Access to Justice", organized by HACEY Health, at 8th Floor, CCUN, 777 United Nations Plaza, Manhattan, New York.
From 4:45 - 6:00pm, "Ensuring Justice for Women and Girls with Disabilities Survivors of Sexual Violence in Central Asia: Legal and Procedural Changes Needed to Guarantee Access to Justice", organized by Equality Now, Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN, Association of Women with Disabilities ’Ravenstvo’ Kyrgyzstan, Association of Women with Disabilities ’Shyrak’ Kazakhstan, Human Rights Movement Bir Duino, Ilm Nuri Markazi, at UN Headquarters, CR9. Register here.
