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The 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 70) has completed its two-week gathering in New York. The focus this year was on ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and addressing structural barriers.
Agreed Conclusions include:
📜 Ratification of international frameworks and legal reforms: The Commission urges governments to ratify and implement international treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and to conduct comprehensive reviews of national laws to eliminate provisions that discriminate against women in areas such as family law, property rights, and criminal justice.
🚫 Eliminating violence and ensuring remedies: The conclusions emphasize the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls and creating survivor-centered pathways to justice, providing effective remedies, and establishing reparations.
📢 Participation and leadership: Governments are encouraged to remove systemic barriers to ensure women’s full and equal participation in leadership and decision-making positions within the justice system and public governance.
💼 Labour rights: The conclusions call for protecting women’s rights at work, promoting equal pay for work of equal value, and supporting the transition from informal to formal employment while recognizing the burden of unpaid care work.
🌐 Inclusivity and specific needs: The conslusions call on justice systems to respond to the diverse needs of all women, particularly those in vulnerable situations, including women with disabilities, migrants, indigenous women, and those living in rural or remote areas.
🔬Technology and data: The Commission highlights the need to close the gender digital divide, address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and use data-driven policy formulation to monitor progress.
🤝Adequate funding and cooperation: Strengthening access to justice requires gender-responsive budgeting and international cooperation to support developing countries.
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