In Focus: UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70)
Date:
The 70th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), the UN’s largest annual event dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment, will take place from 9 to 19 March 2026.
Priority theme: 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
Review theme: Women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-fifth session)
This year's priority theme strongly emphasizes the urgent need for judicial reform and gender-responsive legal frameworks in securing the fundamental rights and protections of all women and girls. Simultaneously, the review theme, "Women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls," reflects on the progress made since the sixty-fifth session, focusing on achieving gender parity in decision-making and ensuring that women can lead and participate without the threat of violence or discrimination.
The Commission on the Status of Women is one of the largest annual gathering of global leaders, non-profit organizations, private sector actors, UN partners and activists from around the world, focusing on the status of rights and empowerment of all women and girls, everywhere.
Session outcomes
The outcome of the Commission’s consideration of the priority theme during its 70th session will take the form of agreed conclusions, to be negotiated by all Member States.
More information regarding the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (2026) will be uploaded in due time.
On 10 December 2025, Human Rights Day, Central Asia and Azerbaijan reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring equal access to justice for all women and girls during a Preparatory High-Level Meeting for the 70th Session of the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW70) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
On the eve of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), over 120 representatives from justice institutions and gender equality bodies across Eastern Europe, the Southern Caucasus, the Western Balkans, and Türkiye gathered to take stock and accelerate action so women and girls can fully access justice across the region.
The document reflects recommendations from youth in the Europe and Central Asia region on ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls. These recommendations emerged from an online consultation organized in November 2025 in preparation for the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70).
The online youth consultation was organized to make sure the region’s perspectives and realities are well reflected at CSW70, while also serving as a platform for young people to deepen their understanding of women’s access to justice.
This position paper contributes to the deliberations of CSW70 by presenting the priorities and recommendations of women-led civil society organizations (CSOs) working in crisis- and conflict-affected contexts. It highlights the urgent need to ensure accessible, gender-responsive, and survivor-centered justice systems, including transitional justice mechanisms, to address structural discrimination and impunity. The paper aims to inform commitments and strengthen accountability for advancing women's rights and gender equality in fragile and crisis settings. ( Also available in Russian).
