14th plenary meeting - Commission on the Status of Women, Seventieth session (CSW70) - General discussion (resumed)

Good morning. I called to order the 14th meeting of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Item three follow up to the 4th World Conference on Women and to the 23rd special session of the General assembly entitled Women 2000 Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century. I now invite the Commission to resume its consideration of agenda item 3 to continue its general discussion under the item. Before giving the floor to the First Speaker, I would like to remind delegations to kindly respect their agreed time limit of four minutes. For individual delegations, the microphone will be automatically muted when the allotted speaking time has elapsed. I thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

I kindly request that statements be delivered at a normal speed to ensure proper interpretation. Longer versions of statements may be sent for posting in the Journal of the United nations to estatementswin.org I now give the floor to the representative of Fiji on behalf of Pacific Small Islands Developing States.

Madam Chair, Excellencies, warm greetings and bulwinaca. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Development States whose members are represented in New York. We extend our appreciation to you for your leadership throughout the session, including successful finalization of the CSW outcome document. This achievement reflects your stewardship, the resilience of multilateralism in the face of unprecedented global state challenges and the value that we the people continue to place to to this Commission. The PCID statement is aligned with the statement delivered earlier by the Honorable Kathy Nori of the Solomon Islands on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Madam Chair the theme of this year's session ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls is of fundamental importance globally as we pursue a collective commitment to empower women and girls who continue to face the marginalization for peace seeds. The Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers meeting July last year acknowledged that the challenging global transformative tide and shifting global commitments have disproportionately affected women and girls as a region. We have addressed this by strengthening mainstreaming, gender equality and social inclusion efforts throughout the 2050 strategy of the Blue Pacific Continent, including through our national implementation efforts. Madam Chair Central to promoting inclusive legal systems in the Pacific is a relationship between customary and formal justice must ensure that justice mechanisms bridge gaps across public life, employment, economic participation and family law. Strengthening these linkages is essential.

We must work with systems in context specific and culturally grounded ways consistent with international human rights obligations. Gender based violence remains one of the most serious structural barriers to global justice, with no exception to our region 29% of Pacific women experience intimate partner violence annually, slightly beyond the global average. Addressing GBV requires a whole of government, whole of population, holistic approach encompassing faith, culture and values rooted in family and community. However, this cannot be achieved without the active engagement of men and boys as allies. It cannot be achieved also without increasing investment in national prevention strategies.

And as a group, we are committed to strengthening survivor centered services, expanding legal aid and community based paralegal initiatives as well as taking a whole of government, whole of life. Culturally informed approach to prevention and response to technology facilitated GBV prevalent in the region. Furthermore, addressing these challenges requires strengthening engagement across justice policy, environment protection and international cooperation. To this end, we reaffirm the commitment to the Beijing plus 30 action agenda, the Sendai Framework and the Paris Agreement equally. We draw the Pacific owned frameworks, the revitalized Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration and the Pacific Platform for Action on Gender Equality and the Women Human Rights.

Gender equality must be owned, nationally supported, regionally and mainstreamed across all public policies and measurable targets and annual reporting. These frameworks are brought live by Pacific women themselves. Women's leadership roles in the Pacific have gained momentum and with our countries to continue and promote the active participation in relief works, planning, policy building and mediation is a treatment. It's a testament to what inclusive leadership achieves and has yield results to our society. Underpinning all these challenges is the impact of climate change.

Sea level rise, ocean acidification and also increasing severity of natural disasters impose disproportionate cost on women and girls. It is this reason that we recommend Vanuatu and the young lawyers who have advocated secured welcome the landmark of ICJ Advisory Opinion on Community on Climate Change Obligations. However, this must be accompanied by sustained, predictable and accessible climate finance in our efforts in mainstreaming gender equality across all public policies. Madam Chair to to conclude, our group looks ahead to the effective implementation of the CSW outcome this year and to renewed international cooperation that will transform this agreement into the meaningful measurable action. We remain committed to efforts that expand access to justice, elevate women's leadership and strengthen economic empowerment, fostering holistic and sustainable development with women and girls in the heart of our collective work.

I thank you, I thank the representative of Fiji and I now give the floor to His Excellency Kalilor Rahman, Minister for Foreign affairs of Bangladesh.

Good morning, Madam Chair and ladies and gentlemen. At the outset allow me to congratulate you on convening the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Bangladesh remains fully committed to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in line with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For Bangladesh, access to justice means that every woman and girl, regardless of identity or social economic status status can seek justice without fear or barrier. Over the years, Bangladesh has undertaken transformative legal and institutional measures to protect the rights of women and girls.

We have enacted laws, special laws, set up dedicated courts and modernized our legal system through the use of digital and forensic tools. Our new government, which was installed last month after our party won landslide victory in parliamentary elections, we are committed to continue to pursue this path. We have expanded our legal aid services, strengthened women friendly policing and ensured that victims and survivors receive full support through our one stop crisis centers and national helplines. Our climate policies also take into account the disproportionate impacts on women, particularly in disaster situations. Bangladesh is equally proud for the role that our women play on global stage.

As one of the leading troop contributing countries to the UN peacekeeping and peace building, we are committed to increasing the participation of women in peace operations and are very proud of the role they're playing right now. Inspired by the women peace and security agenda, Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to adopt a national action plan on wps. This plan includes gender responsive humanitarian actions in the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazaar. As you know, we have over 1.2 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, Rohingyas who are sheltered in one of the largest refugee camps in the world. Madam Chair, despite progress, the fight for equal access to justice for women and girls remains an uphill battle for all of us, not just Bangladesh is a challenge that we face as a global community.

The Secretary General's report makes clear that national efforts have not been enough. Climate change, economic uncertainty, conflicts, including conflicts that we see right now and digital divide are all creating new challenges for women, particularly in rural areas. In this regard, Bangladesh offers four key priorities for our collective action. First, address the root causes of injustice by injustice and inequality by tackling poverty, discriminatory social norms, lack of education, lack of access to remunerative jobs and the impacts of climate change and humanitarian crisis. Second, strengthen justice system through a whole of government approach and ensure women's full participation and leadership at every level.

Third, strengthen regional and global cooperation to combat trafficking and protect migrant women and girls and finally, reinforce international cooperation including predictable finance.

It.

I thank the Minister for Foreign affairs of Bangladesh and I now give the floor to the representative of Canada who's speaking on behalf of a group of countries of the Justice Action Coalition.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Liberia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, so Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sweden and Switzerland. Members of the Justice Action Coalition, a multi stakeholder, cross regional partnership of countries and organizations committed to advancing equal justice for all under SGD SDG 16.3. The session of the Commission on the Status of Women takes place at a decisive moment to achieve this goal. While progress has improved millions of lives, the world is not on track to deliver on its promise for women and girls.

That gap is not abstract. It is experienced every day at home, in the workplace, in in public administration, and in courts and tribunals, where the promise of justice remains out of reach. Justice gaps facing women and girls are not only an obstacle to the full realization of their human rights, they are structural barriers to building peaceful, just, inclusive and equal societies. Consider the scale of violence Violence against women and girls remains a prevalent global challenge challenge across the world. Far too many women and girls continue to experience physical or sexual violence, often within their own families and communities.

But violence is only part of the story. Women face a distinct and pervasive set of justice problems rooted in inequality and discrimination. Lack of legal standing, family disputes, employment conflicts, loss of housing or social benefits, barriers to public services, financial constraints, lack of legal information and advice, fear of retaliation and social norms systematically block their path to justice. These barriers are compounded by unequal access to resources and power and by legal systems that are often too complex, too costly and and too distant from their lives. When women cannot access justice, the damage goes far beyond the individual.

It weakens families, destabilizes communities, erodes trust in institutions, and stifles development. Simply put, women need access to justice. If we are serious about delivering on the 2030 Agenda. In order to change course, we must put individuals, especially women and girls, at the center of justice systems. This means designing justice systems around their needs and lived experiences, not for institutional convenience.

In practice, this starts with data. When countries collect and disaggregate data, a consistent pattern emerges. Women's justice experiences are different and often harder. Equal access to justice for all women and girls also means prevention, community based approaches that address root causes and stop the harm before it escalates. It means legal empowerment, giving women the knowledge and tools to claim their rights.

And it means rethinking service delivery, for example, one stop shops that combine legal aid with social, health and psychological support and protection services so women do not have to navigate fragmented systems on their own. It also means power and representation Women remain underrepresented in justice institutions, especially in senior roles. This is not only a question of fairness. Evidence shows that women's representation in the judiciary strengthens credibility, trust and gender responsiveness in justice systems overall. Finally, none of this will happen without financing.

The challenge is not only how much we invest, but how we invest. That is why the Justice Action Coalition has developed a justice Financing framework to help countries identify sustainable funding sources, set clear priorities, and ensure that resources translate into real outcomes for individuals, especially for women and girls. If we are serious about gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and if we are serious about sustainable development, then equal access to justice for women and girls cannot take a back seat. It must be treated as a core pillar of social, economic and democratic progress, with political will, smart policy, good governance and real resources behind it. Justice for women is not optional.

It is foundational. I thank you,

I thank the representative of Canada, and I now give the floor to the representative of Hungary.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates. Today we gather not merely to discuss policy, but to reaffirm a principle that lies at the very heart of any justice, just society. Equal access to justice for women and girls. Around the world, justice is too often distant, delayed or denied. Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls is a democratic imperative, human rights obligation and a moral test of our institutions.

Access to justice is more than the existence of courts or the text of constitutions. It is the lived reality that girl can report violence without fear, that a woman can claim her inheritance without intimidation, that a survivor of discrimination can seek redress without facing humiliation or retaliation. Justice, if it is to be meaningful, must be accessible, affordable, impartial and responsive to the realities of women's lives. Regarding the Hungarian legal system, non discriminatory access to justice is a fundamental value in Hungary's constitutional order and democratic rule of law. Its obligation arising from its membership of the European Union and its commitment in the international area are also essential.

Hungary's fundamental law stipulates that women and men have equal rights and that everyone is equal before the law and has legal capacity. The Hungarian legal system also stipulates at the constitutional level that there is no difference between women and men. Our fundamental law also guarantees rights related to the administration of justice, regardless of sex. Accordingly, this is a fundamental requirement in criminal proceedings as well. In line with this, the Hungarian act on Criminal Procedure ensures that all participants in the proceedings can exercise their rights and fulfill their obligation in an appropriate manner.

In Hungary, we are proud of the fact that the number of women working in the judiciary is particularly high. As for concrete statistics, in 2025, the proportion of women employed in justice system was 63%. In the courts, this ratio reached 77%. Many women and girls are unaware of their rights and distrust formal institutions due to past experience of discrimination or corruption. Public legal education campaigns, partnerships with civil society organizations and support for grassroots women's group can bridge this gap.

By empowering women with knowledge, we enable them not only to seek justice, but to shape the systems that deliver it. We must also recognize that access to justice is intrinsically linked to broader social and economic rights. A woman who is economically dependent, who lacks safe housing or who fears social exclusion may be unable to pursue legal remedies. Policies that promote education, decent work, childcare support and social protection are therefore integral to dismantling structural barriers and enabling women to assert their rights without endangering their livelihood. In strengthening access to justice for women and girls, we are not granting special favors.

When women and girls can rely on equitable legal systems, societies became more stable, more prosperous and more resilient. Justice that includes women strengthens democracy itself. Let us therefore move beyond declarations and toward decisive action. Justice must belong to everyone. Thank you for your attention.

I thank the distinguished representative of Hungary. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of South Sudan.

Good morning, Madam Chair. Thank you for this opportunity. Distinguished delegates, at the outset, my delegation aligned itself with the global commitment to the advancing the equality and empowerment of women and girls in reaffirm our commitment to the Declaration, the Beijing Declaration on Platform for Action and the SDG 2030.

Now for South Sudan, we recognize that advancement of women and girls is fundamental to achieving sustainable peace, inclusive development and social progress. South Sudan's women continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience and leadership despite the complex challenges faced facing our young nation. Years of conflict, displacement and climate related pressures have profound have profound socioeconomic impacts often affecting women and girls disappropriately. Nevertheless, women remain at the forefront of sustaining families, supporting communities resilience and contributing to peace building efforts across the country. The Government of the Republic of South Sudan remains firmly committed to promoting gender equality and ensuring that meaningful participation of women in all aspects of national life.

In this regard, the Revolutionized Peace Agreement on the Conflict of the of the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan provide a strong framework for advancing women in decision making processes, including the provision of maintaining a minimum of 35% of representation of women in all public institutions. This important commitment reflects our recognition that inclusive governance strengthens national unity and sustainable peace. Furthermore, the government continued to strengthen national policies and institutional mechanism aimed at protecting the rights and dignity of women and girls. Efforts are ongoing to address gender based violence, expand access to justice and improve services for survivors of gender based violence. Through cooperation with national institutions, civil society and international partners.

Education remains central to our national priorities. The government is committed to expanding access to education for girls, recognizing that education is one of the most effective pathways to empowering women and breaking the cycle of poverty. Measures are being implemented to promote girls enrollment, rotation and completion of schooling. In addition, the economic empower of women is a key pillar of our development efforts. Through initiatives that support livelihood opportunities, skill development and women's entrepreneurship, we aim at enhancing women's participation in economy and strengthen commitment resilience.

Madam Chair, While progress has been made, we acknowledge that challenges remain. Addressing these challenges requires sustained commitment, national ownership and strengthened partnership with the international community, including UN women development partners and regional organizations. South Sudan remain committed to advancing policies and programs that promote gender equality and empower women and girls as agents of peace, development and transformation. Let us reaffirm our collective determination to ensure that girls, girls rights and dignity are potential for every woman and girl and they are fully realized. I thank you for your kind attention,

I thank the distinguished representative of South Sudan and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Namibia.

Madam Chairperson, Excellency, distinguished Delegates, a very good morning to you. Namibia remains committed to the ideal of CSW in fully realizing women's equality and empowerment. This commitment is clearly demonstrated through the enactment and adoption of domestic laws and policy and their alignment to relevant international and regional instrument that are in line with our national priorities. The enjoyment of access to justice by women in Namibia is deeply anchored in our Constitution which guarantees equality for all persons before the law and prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex, race, color, ethnic origin, religions, creed, social or economic status. The Constitution also provides for a legal system seeking to promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity by providing free legal aid in defined cases with due regard to the resources of the state.

Namibia has therefore established a robust legal system that equally ensure justice for women and men. Notable example include key legislative reform dealing with cases of rape, domestic violence, child protection, witness protection, trafficking person and immoral practices. Madam Chairperson to provide effective services to GBV survival, the Government of the Republic of Namibia established 17 GBV Protection Unit countrywide under the National Police. This unit offer multiple services to survivors including investigation, health care, psychosocial support and legal services. Specialized GBV victim friendly court has also been established countrywide.

Subsequently more cases of GB and violence against children has been finalized with regards to advocacy for legal aid for survival of violence, particularly women and girls, including those in disability. The third National Gender Equality and Equity Policy of 2025-2035 provides for strategies to strengthen the legal aid system by allocating adequate human and technical resources to improve access to justice for the poor and people in vulnerable situation. Despite this achievement, Namibia continues to face challenges, particularly in the area of violence against women and girls. In response, the Government of the Republic of Namibia in partnership with key stakeholders is implementing national awareness campaign such as Hashtag and JBV Namibia to strengthen prevention and respond effort within communities and among religious and traditional leaders. This survivor center initiative to promote a culture of care and early health.

In addition, parlour regal officers, the front liner actors including social workers, life skills teacher, license officer and media practitioner are being capacitated to raise awareness with focus on violence against women and child sensitive reporting. Namibia remains committed to strengthening and providing the necessary assistance to the family, which is the natural and a basic unit of society as stipulated in our Article 14 of the Constitution. When the family is empowered, it builds a productive, morale and resilient community. Our government will therefore continue to mobilize resources and implement initiatives aimed at preventing.

I thank the distinguished representative of Namibia and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Malta.

Madam Chair, I thank you. Malta aligns itself with the statements delivered by the European Union and the UN LGBTI Core Group. Access to justice is a cornerstone of gender equality and democratic governance and without it, the commitments we have collectively undertaken under the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, cedaw and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development cannot become a lived reality. Despite progress, women and girls continue to face barriers that undermine equality before the law and impede access to justice. These barriers are compounded for those in vulnerable situations, including survivors of gender based violence, women with disabilities and girls whose access to justice is too often denied or delayed.

Malta firmly believes that justice systems can only be truly inclusive and equitable when they are accessible, accountable and centered on the needs of victims and survivors. Guided by this principle, we have therefore undertaken a comprehensive review of our legal framework to remove unjustified differentiation between women and men, ensuring that any distinctions are proportionate, non discriminatory and grounded in human rights principles. At the national level, Malta continues to strengthen its response to gender based violence and its impact on access to justice. Courts issue temporary protection orders and protection orders, including during ongoing proceedings where immediate safeguards are required. Domestic violence cases are handled through dedicated court sittings with specialized magistrates assigned to enhance timeliness consistency and victim safety.

Malta has also strengthened its response to the most serious forms of violence against women, including femicide. Recent sentencing reforms require courts to consider whether convictions for the willful homicide or attempted homicide of a female victim occurred in femicidal circumstances, ensuring that accountability is not diminished in such cases. Alongside substantive criminal law reform, Malta has reinforced victim centered procedural safeguards and measures which support timely and proportionate interviews and limit unnecessary repetition, ensure access to interpretation and translation, protect victims privacy and allow victims to be accompanied by persons of trust and legal representatives. These reforms are reinforced by continuous training across the justice chain, including for the judiciary, prosecutors, law enforcement and frontline professionals. In line with the Istanbul Convention's emphasis on protection, support and justice.

Madam Chair, Rights on paper do not guarantee justice in practice and unless women and girls can invoke laws and navigate systems safely and confidently, the justice system fails one of its most fundamental purposes. We often say that justice delayed is justice denied, but justice is also denied when it becomes inaccessible, when reporting feels unsafe, or when accountability fails to protect, support and empower survivors. Ensuring access to justice for all women and girls in all their diversity is a shared responsibility. Malta calls on all states to continue reforming discriminatory laws and addressing structural barriers so that justice systems truly serve all. Let us work together to ensure that justice and is not a privilege, but a lived reality for every woman and every girl.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Malta and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Poland.

Madam Chair, Poland aligns itself with the statements delivered by the Cyprus on behalf of the European Union, by the European Union on behalf of the Group of Friends for elimination of the violence against women girls as well as Albania on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. But I'm sure access to justice for all women and girls is not only a legal principle. It is a test of whether our institutions, our societies and our international system truly deliver of the promise of equality. Justice must not be theoretical. It must be accessible, effective and responsive to the life realities of women and girls everywhere.

This principle is being tested in many parts of the world today. Reports of conflict related sexual violence, documented among others by United nations data, remind us that such crimes are not inevitable by products of war, but grave violations of international law. From that perspective, for Poland and for many countries in our region, the war in Ukraine has reinforced our fundamental justice delayed or denied, only deepens trauma and undermines peace. Especially when the war of aggression, like Russian aggression against Ukraine, has that devastating consequences for women and girls. Accountability for conflict related sexual violence is therefore essential.

Survivors must have an access to justice, support services and reparations, and perpetrators must be held accountable and responsible. Only through accountability can we break the cycles of violence and ensure that such crimes are never normalized. This war has also shown the extraordinary resilience and leadership of women. From humanitarian responders to soldiers, community leaders and human rights defenders. Their voices must remain central to all efforts and aimed at recovery, peace and justice.

These experiences inform Poland's own policy efforts. We are currently working on our second National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, building on lessons learned in recent years and strengthening our commitment to to ensuring women's participation, protection and access to justice in situation of conflict and crisis. More broadly, the protection and promotion of women's rights remains a priority of Poland's engagement within the United nations system. In this context, Poland is seeking election to the Human Rights Council for the term 20292031 with a commitment to advancing human rights, including rights of women and girls at the national level. The past year has also brought important steps forward in strengthening legal protections for women and girls.

In 2025, a reform of the Polish Penal Code entered into force, replacing the historic forced based definition of rape with a constant centered model. This brings domestic law in line with broader international standards. Also in 2025, the Polish parliament approved a bill to expand hate crime protections to include gender, sexual orientation, age and disability as a protected characteristics. We also recently introduced legal measures to increase transparency in pay and address wage discrimination. Strengthening economic justice for women.

Yet progress cannot be taken for granted. Around the world, we are witnessing a troubling backlash against women's and girls rights and gender equality. It is deeply regrettable that the agreed conclusion of the commission were challenged and ultimately put to a vote for the first time in history. At the same time, Poland would like to comment the Chair and the Bureau for their leadership, resilience and commitment throughout the process. Access to justice also depends on the courage of those who defend human rights on the ground.

Women human rights defenders play a critical role in advancing accountability, supporting survivors and challenging discrimination and violence. Yet too often they face intimidation, harassment and the threats they deserve. Our protection and our full support, Madam Chair. To conclude, ensuring access to justice for women and girls requires strong institutions, accountable systems and unwavering political will. Poland remains committed to working with all partners to advance this goal and I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Poland and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Slovenia.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Slovenia welcomes this year's Priority Team. Without equal access to justice rights remain only promises on paper. More than 30 years after the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, progress remains uneven and fragile.

Hard won gains are challenged and persistent structural barriers continue to prevent many women and girls from exercising their rights and realizing their full potential. In Slovenia, access to justice is firmly embedded in the constitutional order. It guarantees the right to judicial protection before an independent and impartial court, equality before the law without discrimination, equal protection of rights in all proceedings, and the right to an effective legal remedy. These principles are furthermore implemented through legislation and other concrete measures. In addition, we also recognize that justice systems must be accessible, inclusive, gender responsive, and free from discrimination.

Structural inequalities such as economic dependence, the disproportionate burden of unpaid care, work, and multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination continue to impede women's full enjoyment of of their rights. Addressing these barriers requires comprehensive action that goes beyond legislation to ensure that rights are not only formally guaranteed but effectively realized in practice. Madam Chair Violence against all women and girls remains one of the most pervasive barriers to justice in the digital era. Emerging forms of violence, including online harassment and abuse, must also be addressed. Slovenia recognizes that public trust in institutions is essential for preventing, prosecuting and eliminating such violence.

Our approach emphasizes accessible, survivor centered and timely support services, including strong protection mechanisms for the prevention of secondary victimization and the full guarantee of fair trial rights. But equal access to justice cannot stand alone. It must be accompanied by women's full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in public life and decision making. In recent years, Slovenia has taken significant steps to advance more balanced representation in political and public decision making, including through legislation and targeted initiatives. Yet through equality requires more than numerical representation alone.

It asks for inclusive environments that challenge gender stereotypes, prevent harassment and violence, and dismantle structural and cultural barriers to leadership. Madam Chair Ensuring access to justice requires political will, adequate resources and sustained institutional reform. We call for renewed political will to ensure that every woman and girl can participate equally, live free from violence, equal in rights, and able to seek justice with dignity. I thank you,

I thank the distinguished representative of Slovenia and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Qatar speaking on behalf of the League of Arab States. States

thank you, Madam Chair. I am honored to deliver the current statement on the in our capacity as the Chair of the Arab Women's Committee. This meeting comes at a time where Arab countries are targeted in their sovereignty and integrity as they are witnessing attacks by ballistic missiles and UAVs by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which began on Saturday, 28 February 2026 and continues relentlessly. Therefore, we strongly condemn the cowardly and unjustified Iranian attacks on the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the uae, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Amman, the State of Kuwait, the Republic of Iraq and my country Qatar, which is a blatant violation of the sovereignty of our countries and undermines peace and security in the region and and which has endangered the lives of civilians, including women and children and girls, and has led to the death of civilians and the destruction of civilian objects and civilian infrastructure. We call for the immediate stop of this aggression.

Madam Chair, We work on having disaggregated statistics also as a tool for measuring. For measuring progress. Achieving justice for women and children in today means to deal with them in the areas of conflict and occupation and humanitarian crisis. This specifically relates to what women and children are facing in Palestine by Israeli occupation and women and girls in Sudan through the rebel forces and the importance of supporting communities that go through crises and conflicts or conflicts from external interventions or through interim phases or through Israeli occupation and to deal with all forms of violence against them to ensure accountability, lack of impunity and strengthen legal and humanitarian protection in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law. We here refer to the conclusions of reports of independent international investigation committees and United nations reports on Palestinian territory in terms of using sexual violence and other forms of violence, gender based violence against Palestinians and the targeting of maternity health facilities in Gaza.

We also condemn the continued illegitimate Israeli occupation in Palestinian territories and their racist and colonial practices and their crimes such as genocide and their attempts to end the case of refugees which prevents the Palestinian people from their right to self determination to live in freedom and dignity which also undermines the excess of women and children to justice. The end of the Israeli occupation of Arab states including Syria and Gulan is a prerequisite for justice and peace. We also condemn the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and we reiterate our solidarity with Palestinian Sudani women and all of them in areas of conflicts. We condemn also the incursions in the Syrian Republic, including the murder and abduction of Syrian youth, causing suffering for their women and their families. We call on ending this immediately.

In conclusion, we are working on transforming texts into realities. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Qatar and I now ASH representative of Albania, speaking on behalf of Albania, Australia, Spain, Uruguay and a group of countries.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I delivered this statement on behalf of Australia, Spain, Uruguay, my own country, Albania and 59 other member states and observers of the United Nations, Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Capo Verde, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Island, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor Leste, Ukraine, United Kingdom and European Union at this 70 session of the Commission on the Status of Women we express our grave concerns about the continued systematic erosion of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Since August 2021, Afghan women and girls have faced the most sweeping rollback of rights anywhere in the world. The Taliban have demonstrated a pervasive disregard for Afghanistan's human rights obligations, including under CEDAW and CRC restrictions that have placed on women's and girls freedom of movement as well as access to education, work, health care and legal protection violate international law and deny dignity and self determination.

We call for the restoration of the full, equal and meaningful participation of all women and girls in Afghanistan public and political life as well as their civic space. In recognition of the priority theme of this CSW session, we express our alarm at the Taliban's entrenchment of gender based discrimination in law, policy and practice and interference in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those most in need. Women have been outset and removed from their roles within the justice system. The Dalipan edicts, inshared in its so called morality law and most recent penal code, systematically erase women and girls, including those belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, from public life and punish them for resistance. Provisions that in practice permit physical disciplinary punishment are unacceptable.

This deepening campaign of sustained oppression enables and normalizes sexual and gender based violence, including abuse, harassment, arbitrary detention and coercion by the Taliban, as well as violence within homes and communities. We call for the immediate reversal of these egregious laws, policies and practices and note that after almost five years the Taliban have made no move to revise their approach. Today we reaffirm our deep and enduring commitment to advocating for rights of all women and girls in Afghanistan. We support accountability efforts for the Taliban's ongoing human rights abuses and call for establishment of good governance and the rule of law. In our call for justice, we lend our full support to the inclusion and amplification of the voices of all women and girls in Afghanistan and we urge their full, equal and meaningful participation in the country's future.

I thank you, I thank the distinguished representative of Albania and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Nicaragua

on behalf of our co President's Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Comrade Rosario Muir and the people of Nicaragua, we would like to extend our fraternal greetings and our wishes for peace and common good for all. Madam Chair, Nicaragua reaffirms that justice for women and girls is an inseparable part of our model of peace, social justice and restitution of rights. For Nicaragua, equality is a sovereign and irreversible decision that has reconfigured the state's institutional architecture. This is a substantive transformation that puts women at the center of political, economic and social leadership in the country. In Nicaragua, over fear, 53% of seats in parliament and over 64% of ministerial positions are held by women.

This majority presence of women consolidates an effective exercise of female leadership when we define public policies and in the strategic direction of our national development. And based on that sovereign decision, we have strengthened a robust legal framework and a model for holistic attention that articulates our legal branch, the public ministry, our specialized police, the health system and social protection programs, ensuring effective access to justice throughout our national territory. This is a policy that is a priority for our states and it's geared towards the full restitution of rights with clear avenues for reporting holistic detention and protection measures that prioritize dignity and the non victimization of women. Justice for women should get to every single community where there is a woman reclaiming her rights. That is why we have expanded institutional presence in rural areas and indigenous and Afro descendant territories, ensuring close legal services and full support for women and girls.

Rural and indigenous women and girls are a pillar of our productive and social development. Law number 717 that creates a fund to buy land with gender equality for rural women, facilitates access to property as a strategic basis for economic autonomy. Holding land deeds, productive credits, entrepreneurship and free public education are the expressions of a state policy that boosts economic independence, seeks to reduce gaps and ensure social justice. Madam Chair, when we speak coherently about accessing justice, we must denounce the imposition of illegal, unilateral coercive measures that contravene the charter of the United nations and international law. These measures are a violation of the principle of sovereign equality among states and the principle of non intervention.

They also affect our right to development and undermine the capacity of states to ensure public policies that benefit women and girls. Nicaragua reiterates its sovereign commitment to consolidate participation based on parity to strengthen the axis of altered justice and ensure effective protection in the face of any kind of violence. And we will defend a true multilateralism based on sovereign equality. Continue moving forward. With determination, without any kind of internal, external interference.

The dignity of Nicaraguan women will not be negotiated. Conditions will not be imposed. It is an inseparable part of our sovereignty of the peace that we defend and a model for social justice that we have built as a people. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Nicaragua and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran,

bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Madam Chair, distinguished delegates, I have the honor today to be the voice of one of 170 innocent school girls killed by the United States and Israeli regime on 28 February 2026 in Shahjaret Ayeba Elementary School in the southern Iranian city of Minab. On the very first day of the premeditated, unjustified and unprovoked war waged against Iran by the United States and the Israeli regime, 170 angels were slaughtered, children whose feet did not even reach the floor from their schoolroom desks. They were posing no so called imminent threat to either the United States or the Israeli regime.

Their killing stands as a stark and indefensible manifestation of the brutality of that assault. This act constitutes a war crime. Those children cannot speak to anymore. They are asking you to be their voice for for justice and hold the perpetrators accountable and responsible for crimes against humanity. It is precisely for this reason that the question of justice, particularly justice for women and girls, must be approached with seriousness and integrity.

The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that justice for all, especially for women, is vital to achieving prosperity and development. The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that justice for women must be multidimensional, extending beyond legal text into tangible daily reality. It encompasses fair and transparent judicial process, accessible legal aid and representation, equitable enforcement of law, the broader sphere of educational, economic and social justice. The legal system of the Islamic Republic of Iran is founded upon the principles of justice for all and the promotion of women's status. Our approach to legislation is dynamic, prudent and dignity oriented.

Accordingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran has taken significant steps to institutionalize justice for women across all areas of policy and planning, including the adaptation of family protection laws, safeguards for women's rights in the workplace, expanded social women's rights in the expanded social insurance coverage and special support for women's heads of households. We have established family courts, legal aid centers and counseling services within the judiciary to facilitate women's access to legal recourse and justice. These efforts reflects our conviction that justice for women is not merely a legal aspiration but a societal responsibility that must be pursued through sustained commitment. In conclusion, it is regrettable that due to the U.S. administration failure to issue visas to the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, their participation in this commission was not possible. Consequently, the delegation was unable to directly brief distinguished participants based on the field observation on the heinous atrocity by the.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Czechia.

Well, thank you, Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates. Today's global environment is marked by rapid and often unpredictable changes that put pressure on democratic institutions, the protection of human rights and gender equality. These developments remind us that progress cannot be taken for granted. Our aim is to ensure that rights and protections are accessible in practice, not only in principle, especially for women and girls.

The Czech Republic is firmly committed to to strengthening access to justice for all women and girls. We understand access to justice not only as equality before the law, but as women's real ability to seek remedies, to be heard and to participate in institutions that shape and deliver justice. To this end, the Czech Republic has adopted important legislative reforms. We have introduced specialized training for judges on gender based violence, supporting sensitive and expert handling of cases. We have also adopted a unified legal definition of domestic violence and reinforced protective measures for survivors.

At the same time, we have reinforced the legal framework and increased financial support for services assisting survivors of gender based violence. The government has approved an amendment to the Criminal Court redefining the crime of rape. Recent legislative developments also include the establishment of the Children's Rights Ombudsperson and the strengthening of mandate of the Public Defender of Rights. Ensuring equal access to justice requires efforts beyond the justice system. That is why we place strong emphasis on on education as a key tool for empowerment and prevention.

Revised national education curricula address gender equality and the prevention of harmful stereotypes, while universities have introduced ombudspersons to promote safe and inclusive academic environments. For the Czech Republic, the protection of women's rights is both a human rights obligation and a matter of national resilience. As we face evolving security challenges, we recognize that defence and security strategies must be inclusive. This approach is reflected in our National Gender Equality Strategy and our third National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security. Last month we engaged in a constructive dialogue with the CEDAW Committee during the consideration of our seventh Periodic Report.

We greatly value the Committee's work and guidance. I also wish to express our sincere appreciation to civil society organizations for their long standing commitment to advancing women's rights both at home and globally. Madam Chair, the Czech Republic remains fully committed to gender equality and the protection of human rights. Only through collective action and and strong multilateral cooperation we can achieve meaningful and lasting progress in ensuring access to justice for all women and girls. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Czechia and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Oman.

Ra. In the name of God, the most merciful and gracious peace and blessings of God be upon you all. Madam Chair, Excellencies, esteemed attendees at the outset, it is my honor to deliver the statement of the Sultanate of oman during this 70th session of the CSW. And we wish you every success. Sultanate of Oman has made the principles of women's empowerment key to the building of the state.

And we have empowered women to participate in all avenues of national development on equal footing with men. It is important for women to enjoy all rights stipulated by the law. This continuous approach embodies our commitment to the principles of equality and we emphasize that women's and girls access to justice is not merely an objective, but rather part and parcel of the march towards development and our commitment to sustainable development. Madam Chair, our constitution has entrenched the principle of equality before the law. We have furthered this approach by guaranteeing women's rights within the legislation.

By drafting laws that protect women's rights in social and economic avenues, we have increased social insurance coverage and guaranteed equal rights in nominations and elections to different positions. We have achieved great gains through state strategies. Women's participation in the judiciary has also increased. Women have also had a prominent participation in financial activities and the information and communications field. Women also participated in research and development and participating in civil society organizations.

Women have also become the beneficiaries of over 49% of different programs and this ensures that women become part and parcel of our development process. In the Sultanate of Oman, we aim to enhance women's position locally and globally. We aim to push forward the dignity of all people, including women, and everyone's access to redress through a comprehensive legislative and judiciary process. In conclusion, we will continue our efforts to further gender equality in light with our international commitments so that we continue to take firm steps towards a just and comprehensive society that guarantees all the rights of all women. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished representative of Oman. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Brunei Dar es Salaam

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Madam Chair, Excellencies and distinguished delegates allow me to share key achievements and ongoing efforts to ensure access to justice and opportunity for all women and girls who make up 47.2% of Brunei's population. The Wawasan 2035 Brunei's long term national vision to build a nation of educated, highly skilled and accomplished people enjoying a high quality of life and a dynamic and sustainable economy. Women are not peripheral to this vision, they are essential to it.

Our forthcoming National Plan of Action on Women is designed to ensure women become active participants in achieving the vision with a strategic objective to develop women's optimum potential through capacity building and self development. This direct alignment between the Plan of Action and Vision 2035 sends a clear Women's empowerment is not a standalone agenda, it is a national development imperative. The statistics speak to real progress. Women account for 56% of the public sector and representation in senior roles has grown to 65% in 2022. Female labor force participation stands at 53% above the global average of 51%.

Women also hold senior positions in the judiciary and the diplomatic service. These figures reflect the confidence Brunei places in women as drivers of national progress. On 12 March just last week, our Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports launched Executive Summary of the National Research on Women's Development in Brunei in conjunction with International Women's Day. The research examined 10 focus areas including education, economic participation, gender based violence, health leadership and support systems and identified three strategic thrusts to guide our plan of action first, to prioritise safety and well being, second, to optimize work potential and career development and third, drive empowerment within the community. While the research confirms considerable progress considerable progress, it also identifies areas that require further attention, particularly expanded child care support, greater participation in STEM fields and strengthened mental health services.

We are committed to address these gaps through a hold of nation approach, engaging government, the private sector, NGOs and communities at all levels. Brunei Rosalam has also strengthened legal frameworks to protect women and children operating under both civil law and Sharia law, ensuring protections that are inclusive and contextually grounded. Distinguished Chair Women hold multiple roles as mothers. We are the first educators of our children. Women are also wives, primary caregivers and workers in society, therefore contributing to family economic growth and community sustainability.

We remain steadfast in ensuring that every woman and girl in Brunei has the opportunity to succeed and in doing so contribute to our shared vision of a just, dynamic and flourishing society. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Brunei Dar es Salaam and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Costa Rica, speaking on behalf of the Group of Friends of Human Security.

Madam Chair, I have the honor of making the following Statement on behalf of the Co Chairs of the Group of Friends and Human Security Japan, Senegal and Costa Rica Women and girls around the world face serious barriers that are aggravated by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that are all related. Ensuring equitable access to justice is absolutely essential so that they may fully enjoy their human rights.

The existence and the coexistence of legal systems that are on the one hand traditional but also religious and based on custard primary law are very important and uphold their rights. We do this through the Beijing Platform for Action. We recall the fundamental role carried out by CEDAW to demand states to provide accountability for reform in their legal systems. We must pay special attention to human rights defenders as well as women that work in the justice and security sectors. Their protection should be a fundamental prior condition for any kind of legal or justice system reform.

Moreover, survivors of sexual violence and other types of gender based violence should have access to a justice system that is differentiated, timely and responsible. Chair we recognize the role of women as vehicles for peace, justice actors and community leaders in line with the women peace and security agenda. The participation of women and girls should be ensured in peace processes and in the justice system reforms. There is no peace without women. These challenges require an approach that is human centered, preventative and cross cutting.

Otherwise we will see that conflicts will persist and they will be a hindrance to improve the living conditions of women and girls. The human security focus ensures that all people can live free from fear and it also underscores the need to have justice systems that protect their rights and respect respond to their needs. They provide an effective perspective that aligns with the spirit of leaving no one behind and accelerating progress toward 2030, as Resolution 66290 establishes, which was adopted by consensus in the General Assembly. Human security is based on national appropriation and it should be applied always, respecting the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. Therefore, promoting human security does not respond to any kind of political agenda.

The GA resolution establishes its limits. Clearly, we invite all Member States to take a look at this resolution again in order to delve into the relevance of this concept. By promoting the human security focus, we reaffirm our commitment to protecting the dignity of women and girls. We are ready to cooperate with any country that seeks to uphold the same ideals. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Costa Rica and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Yemen.

Peace and blessings of God be upon you all. Madam Chair. The Republic of Yemen reaffirms its commitment to ensuring and promoting access to justice for all women and girls by supporting and developing inclusive and equitable legal systems that ensure equality before the law and address barriers that prevent women and girls full enjoyment of their political, economic, social, and cultural rights. We continue our efforts to consolidate the rule of law by developing legislative and institutional frameworks and enhancing the efficiency of judicial institutions and expanding women's access to protection and legal assistance in a manner that safeguards their rights and dignity. The Presidential Leadership Council and the Yemeni government renew their commitment to enhancing women's political participation as a national priority.

The new government formation included the appointment of three women in three ministry positions. This step confirms the state's continued support for women's empowerment and the state's support for women's participation in decision making, thereby consolidating the important role played by Yemeni women in managing public affairs and contributing effectively to the development of institutional performance. This in turn promotes the principles of efficacy and equal opportunities and women's employment in multiple fields, including in judicial bodies. This comes along with the adoption of many decisions granting women executive positions in ministries, departments, institutions, government bodies, and governorates. This is within the framework of national plans and programs aimed at enhancing the role of women in various fields.

The Government of Yemen continues to strengthen and empower its institutional legal system in a manner that consolidates the protection of women's rights and ensures their effective access to mechanisms of protection and redress. A manual on common standard action procedures has been adopted to protect women and girls from violence and to implement programs and initiatives aimed at women's economic empowerment and enhancing their active participation in various areas of life. Madam Chair Yemeni women in areas controlled by terrorist Houthi militias face systemic violations that intersect with a number of grave deprivals of rights, including the abduction and detention of hundreds of women, depriving them of their political and economic social rights, throwing them into secret detection centers and prisons, fabricating charges against them, and practicing various forms of extortion and psychological and physical torture against them because of their political, media and human rights activities. This is an attempt to exclude them from public life and undermine their active role in building and developing society. In this context, we underline the importance of continuing to support the efforts of the National Commission of Inquiry into allegations of human rights violations in Yemen to document these violations and promote accountability for their perpetrators.

Madam Chair the promotion and protection of women's rights is a key pillar in building a secure and sustainable future, a goal that can only be achieved through concerted national and international efforts. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished Representative of Yemen and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Monaco.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We observe throughout the world with serious concern a rise in attacks against women that are a threat to the progress we've made when it comes to equality. And still today, women only have 64% of the legal rights that men have. In order to ensure that women can exercise their rights in front of the law without any kind of discrimination, Monaco in recent years has updated its legal and institutional framework for this. The review of over 12,000 legal texts seeks to eliminate any kind of obsolete provision or provisions that were an obstacle for equality between men and women.

So we proceeded to update all of these legal texts and we adopted new provisions to ensure equality and to fight against economic violence and coercive control. When it comes to women victims of violence, we provide training for our police, for legal professionals and for social workers. These programs seek to improve detection and attention provided to victims of gender based viol violence and to ensure that support is victim centered and to strengthen trust toward the police and our legal institutions. Our legal authorities have also implemented initiatives to prevent recidivism through programs that encourage accountability for the perpetrators and that seek to raise awareness and incite a sustainable change in behaviors. Moreover, we've seen legal advances such as mechanisms to provide indemnization of reparation for victims.

Madam Chair. Defending women and girls rights and the fight against all kinds of discrimination will be a priority when Monaco presides the Council of Ministers, the Council of Europe. And this will be demonstrated during the first joint meeting of networks for tribunals and community networks in order to ensure the efficacy of justice. Moreover, the Committee of Ministers will hold in June a thematic debate on the fight against violence against women.

Digital technologies are transforming legal systems and the modalities to access justice systems. It is necessary to make sure that these tools are used ethically and in an inclusive fashion in order to avoid worsening the inequalities that women and girls may face in Monaco. This means using digital tools to improve women's access to information and to support systems. The Committee to Promote and Protect the Rights of Women has carried out digital campaigns and also provided online resources to raise awareness on the issue. And this includes psychological violence and we provide orientation to victims so they know what services are available to them.

Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Monaco. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Lesotho.

Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates. The Kingdom of Lesotho is honored to participate in the 70th session of the Commission on the status of women, we align ourselves with the statements delivered on behalf of the Africa Group and the least developed countries. We also extend our appreciation to UN Women for its continued leadership in advancing gender equality and the rise of women and girls as well as elderly women. Lesotho reaffirms that access to justice is a fundamental human right essential for the full realization of gender equality. Regrettably, women and girls continue to face intersecting forms of discrimination, limited access to legal services and structural barriers that hinder their ability to laymen enjoy their rights.

At the same time, elderly women, particularly widows, remain vulnerable to discrimination, abuse and harmful practices such as property grabbing. Mental health challenges, including dementia, expose many elderly women to stigma, neglect and harmful accusations, including witchcraft related violence. In response, public and private institutions in my country are intensifying advocacy and awareness raising efforts to combat ageism, elderly abuse and discrimination. Lesotho is strengthening its legal and policy frameworks to eliminate discriminatory laws and practices, enhance accessibility of justice institutions and expand community based legal aid services. Through sustained advocacy, we remain committed to promoting inclusive and age friendly services across all sectors.

Madam Chair, we recognize that violence against women, girls and elderly women remain pervasive, often hidden and insufficiently addressed. Lesotho continues to scale up prevention and response measures through national GBV referral pathways, community policing initiatives and strengthened coordination across the health, social protection and justice sectors. We are expanding safe spaces, psychological support and accessible reporting mechanisms to ensure that no survivor is left behind. On the review theme, Lesotho underscores the women's full and effective participation in public life that is essential for inclusive governance and sustainable development. We continue to advance women's leadership through capacity building programs, mentorship for young women and efforts to dismantle social and institutional barriers for women and girls.

We are promoting leadership opportunities, accessible civic spaces and meaningful participation at all levels. Madam Chair Lesotho Reaffirms Lesotho remains firmly committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Beijing Platform of Action, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Plan of Action on Aging and African Union Protocol on the Rights of Rights of Older Persons and the African Union Agenda 2063. As we look ahead, we call for stronger global partnerships, increased financing for disability, inclusive and age friendly services and enhanced support for national capacities to implement transformative reforms. Together, we must ensure that every woman and girl can live free from violence, participate fully in public life and access justice without discrimination. I thank you,

I thank the distinguished representative of Lesotho and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Ethiopia.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My delegation aligns itself with a statement delivered by Gambia on behalf of the African group and by Kyrgyzstan on behalf of the lladc. Ethiopia appreciates the report of the Secretary General on the Priority Team and we take note of the recommendations contained therein. The priority theme of the year that focus on ensuring access to justice for all women and girls is both timely and urgent in promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems and eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices. Across the world, women and girls continue to face discrimination, negative stereotypes and social norms that limit their right to access justice.

Article 37 of the Ethiopian Constitution provides the right of access to justice in the same way as enshrined under the International Bill of Human Rights. In the same vein, guided by the constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity, Ethiopia has undertaken wide ranging steps to ensure the right to access justice. Among others, the revision of land tenure laws, labor and commercial laws are major legislative reforms. There are also extensive institutional reforms in addressing violence against women and girls, including efforts in preventing rape, assault, trafficking, early marriage and fgma whenever such acts of violence occur. We have in put in place an integrated and the Multisectoral center on Violence against Women.

The overall strategy and institutions are designed to ensure coordinated victim centered responses. These include one STOP centers that provide medical, psychosocial and legal protection services, including in humanitarian settings specializing in investigation in the prosecution units. Women and Children crime units and a special bench in the Federal Criminal Court have strengthened accountability. Furthermore, the 2023 National Led Aid Strategy established a coordinated framework to provide pro bon services. The Justice Sector Transformation Plan recognizes customary and religious courts that observe international human rights standards, thereby advancing legal pluralism.

Ethiopia's Beijing Certi Action Plan prioritizes access to justice, legal literacy, strengthen data systems and accelerated endorsement of the gender equality policy. The report of the Secretary General has alluded that in the face of multiple challenges, ensuring access to justice has never been more critical. Hence, we call for strengthened international cooperation and adequate development financing to remove pushbacks on the realization of SDGs 5 that remains stalled. We are of the view that multisectoral process need to remain focused on delivering concrete and meaningful progress in the lives of women and girls in the protection of family. Prolonged debates on sensitive languages should not overshadow our shared responsibility to tackle structural barriers such as poverty, limited access to education, energy, economic opportunities, justice and protection from violence.

Ethiopia remains firmly committed to advancing the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and a Platform for action and promoting the rights, dignity and empowerment of women and girls. I thank you, Madam Chair,

I thank the distinguished representative of Ethiopia, and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Sri Lanka.

Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished Delegates, Sri Lanka regards access to justice as a cornerstone of gender equality and the empowerment of men and girls. Without practical, affordable and timely avenues to seek redress, rights remain out of reach. Ensuring that justice systems are accessible and trusted is therefore fundamental to achieving both the Beijing Platform for action and the 2030 agenda. Madam Chair Sri Lanka's constitution provides a foundation for equality before the law and our court system is structured to enhance accessibility. Lower courts, magistrates courts and the high courts may conduct proceedings in the language predominant to the region in which they sit.

Complementing this, the Legal Aid Commission provides free legal assistance and representation to those without the financial means to obtain it through a nationwide network of branches. These foundations are reinforced by broader reforms undertaken in recent years. The enactment of the Women Empowerment act and the establishment of a National Commission on Women have strengthened oversight and accountability. Sri Lanka's multisectoral National Action Plan to address Sexual and Gender based violence and our National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security further enhance coordination and survival centered responses. Sri Lanka continues its constructive engagement with international human rights mechanisms and remains committed to strengthening implementation.

Madam Chair, on the review theme, Sri Lanka has made meaningful progress in advancing women's participation in public life and decision making. Sri Lanka has a proud tradition of female political leadership, including the world's first female Prime Minister, and that tradition continues until today. The Women Empowerment act itself enshrines the goal of equal representation of women in decision making structures at every level of government. Sri Lanka remains committed to deepening this progress. Yet participation in public life means little if women cannot equally access the justice systems that protect their rights.

We recognize that legal frameworks alone do not guarantee justice in practice. Many of the barriers women face are not unique to them. Poverty, geographic distance, procedural delays and limited awareness of available remedies affect all citizens, but can fall more heavily on women. Societal factors and care responsibilities can also discourage women from approaching formal institutions even where protections exist. Addressing this requires standard, sustained effort and it is a challenge shared across our region and beyond.

Sri Lanka is committed to strengthening public awareness of available remedies so that women know their rights and feel confident claiming them. We believe that improving legal literacy and building trust in institutions are as important as they lost themselves. Madam Chair. As I conclude, I want to emphasize that the measure of any justice system is not what it promises, but who it actually reaches. Sri Lanka looks forward to learning from the experience of Partners gathered here as we work collectively to a more inclusive and equitable justice system for all.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished representative of Sri Lanka. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Afghanistan.

Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, we wish to draw the attention of this commission to an issue that lies at the very heart of its mandate. Confronting systems of discrimination that deny women and girls access to justice, protection and equal participation in public life. For Afghanistan, this priority is not theoretical.

Afghan women and girls today are living under one of the most severe systems of institutionalized gender discrimination in the world. What we are witnessing is not merely restricted access to rights, but the systematic dismantling of legal protections. Since August of 2021, constitutional safeguards have been suspended, the legal framework dismantled and the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women abolished. Women judges and prosecutors have been removed from the justice system and the statutory law has increasingly been replaced by by decrees rooted in ideological control. Recent legal developments, including newly introduced penal and criminal procedure codes, further institutionalize discriminatory hierarchies.

And we can due process guarantees undermining equality before the law. Women who attempt to seek justice frequently face dismissal of complaints, forced mediation, intimidation and retaliation, while shelters for survivors of gender based violence of violence have been closed. In such conditions, the denial of justice is not incidental, it is systematic. Madam Chair, the international community must also confront the legal characterization of what is occurring. Human UN human rights mechanisms have called upon States to consider recognizing gender apartheid within the framework of crimes against humanity.

While Taliban policies have been characterized as gender persecution under international law, encouragingly, accountability pathways are beginning to emerge. The establishment of an independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan represents an important step toward preserving evidence and supporting future criminal proceedings, complementing ongoing work by the International Criminal Court. Madam Chair, we therefore call on Member States to reject the normalization of systematic gender persecution, support efforts to recognize gender apartheid within international law, strengthen and adequately resource accountability mechanisms, and sustain support for Afghan women, human rights defenders and legal professionals. Justice in Afghanistan will ultimately depend on a legitimate and inclusive system of governance grounded in the rule of law and reflecting the will of the Afghan people. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Afghanistan. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Lebanon.

Madam Chair, we have met. We are meeting today at a turning point on the international stage, where a difficult truth is coming to light. Wars, crises, conflict do not afflict all persons in an equal way. Women and girls often pay the heaviest price when justice is being undermined and when rights are flouted in light of the situation in the Middle east and the daily tragedies that have beset the region. The tragedy is all the more painful.

We extend our condolences and we must remain sympathetic with the victims. Extend compassion to victims of war, those people, to those people who fear being displaced. We applaud the resilience of our fellow citizens in Lebanon, women, men and children who are bearing such a heavy burden with tremendous fear. And they are facing the situation with admirable courage. This serves as a reminder of the fact that justice is not a luxury.

Justice is a necessity to protect human beings and their dignity both during times of war and during times of peace. Lebanon has in recent years been plagued by a spate of unprecedented crises which have undermined the basis of stability. These crises, which have exacerbated poverty and social system, social protection systems. Justice under these circumstances is not merely a question of procedure. It is one of survival and dignity.

Justice is not a choice. It is an inalienable right that must not be stripped away. Therefore, there can be no recovery without justice. There can be no state without rule of law. There can be no peace, no lasting peace without guarantee for guarantees for the rights of all women and girls to be upheld.

Justice is not a sectoral manner matter. Justice is not something that is reserved for certain social groups. It is a very bedrock of stability, the bedrock for the restoration of trust between the government and society. It is the very entry point into a fair and comprehensive recovery. A meaningful justice includes the protection of women against all forms of violence, guaranteeing meaningful access to pathways for justice and for laws to be upheld.

Each equitable, equitable participation in public life decision making, particularly during times of crisis and war. There are tremendous challenges being faced by Lebanon. And yet we remain committed, wedded to our constitution and to international law. We continue to strengthen independence of the judiciary to build an effective and efficient and secure judiciary which guarantees equality between the sexes to meet the needs of women, particularly amid times of difficulty when they are vulnerable. We support the implementation of the women's peace and security agenda through the launch of our National Action Plan for the implementation of Resolution 1325.

This is a comprehensive political framework to enhance the protections granted protection as well as accountability and other measures. Justice is intrinsically linked to women's participation in decision making. There can be no justice without the voices of women being heard. There can be no reforms without women's presence in decision making bodies. Therefore, we continue to strengthen women's participation insofar as this is a key significance for accountability and for more just, more transparent governance.

For this reason, reiterate, reiterate today that justice, equality and respect for rule of law. These are not merely short term slogans. These constitute a commitment of our state, the responsibility of our leaders, a key decision that has been undertaken as we move towards peace and development.

The microphone has been cut off. I thank the distinguished representative of Lebanon and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Holy See.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Ensuring access to justice for women and girl requires more than just formal legal protection. It also involves addressing the root causes that put them at risk, prevent them from seeking justice and ultimately undermine their God given human dignity. Poverty and its consequences pose significant barriers to accessing justice. Poor women and girls often lack the resources to secure legal representation and many legal aid organizations are unequally resourced or overwhelmed.

Moreover, those in rural areas are further impeded by a lack of transport and reliable communication networks. In addition, women and girls who have not received a quality education or do not speak the majority language may be unaware of their rights and how to seek help and navigate the justice system. Equal access to justice justice also requires daughters to receive the same resources and opportunities as sons and for families to be a healthy and peaceful environment for all. As Pope Leo has observed, justice cannot be reduced to the mere application of the law or the work of judges, nor it is limited to its procedural aspects. For this reason, it is important to recognize and dismantle the barriers that women and girls face, such as violence and discrimination.

To this end, effective system of accountability and a culture of responsibility are necessary to prevent abuse and ensure redress for violation. Failure to tackle these issues also puts women and girls at risk of re victimization and exploitation, including human trafficking. Women and girls constitute a majority of trafficking victims, often for sexual exploitation such as prostitution, but also for forced marriage, surrogacy and criminality. Strengthening efforts to prevent, detect and prosecute those who traffic women and girls is vital. At the same time, women and girls accused of crimes must enjoy fair trial guarantees, adequate legal representation and safe hygienic single sex detention facilities.

The particular health and nutritional needs of pregnant women and mothers of infants must be considered during their detention. In line with international law, girls must receive special care and accommodation in age appropriate custodial settings. Madam Chair, ensuring access to justice is vital for achieving a justice society. This requires a holistic approach involving the eradication of poverty, the combating of discrimination and violence, the strengthening of institutions and education. The Holy See and numerous Catholic institutions will continue to support these efforts.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished representative of The Holy See and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Belarus.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Belarus views follow up action in connection with the 4th World Conference on the Status of Women as an important component of national efforts to uphold the rights of women and to fulfill international obligations. The Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action remain relevant as a universal basis for the advancement of gender equality and the expansion of rights and opportunities for women. Their comprehensive nature allows states to devise consistent policies in all spheres, social spheres, economic spheres and societal and other parts of society.

We support the National Platform of Action and we have a national development strategy. We proceed from the premise that gender equality is not merely a matter of human rights, but it is a condition for sustainable development and for economic growth. In this context, it is important to underscore the fact that 2026 in Belarus has been proclaimed the Year of the Belarusian Woman Woman, which will serve as an impetus for strengthening the role of women in Belarusian life and society. During the course of this year, there's a particular focus on education, social support and the protections for women, expansion of their opportunities in the economy and participation in social life in practice. In Belarus, tangible measures are being applied.

The gender assessment of draft laws allows for compliance with normative documents for women and this is at the preparatory stage. Now our state support includes assistance when children are born. Support for families with children with disabilities as well as other assistive measures are being provided. The system for preventing domestic gender based violence has been enhanced. There are crisis centers and a host of protective measures which are in effect.

Access to education for women is nearly universal. More than half of them already have access to higher education which allows for them to participate in professional and other areas of life. Talking about the economy, one cannot but mention the issue of unilateral coercive measures which are illegitimately being imposed upon developing countries. These measures buffet the economy, undermine trade and the and they have a particularly dire effect on women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

UCM significantly curtail the ability of States to conduct social policies and for the attainment of sustainable development goals, including gender equality related obligations. Belarus firmly believes that subsequent work on the Belarus for the subsequent work on the under Beijing to be effective, there's a need to respect States sovereignty, to abandon pressure and to establish normal international cooperation. We continue to firmly be committed to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the outcomes of the 23rd Special Session of the General assembly and we will continue to work on target goal 5. We view gender equality as a condition for sustainable and fair development for all thank you for your attention.

I thank the distinguished representative of Belarus. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Iraq.

Madam Chair, it is my honor to participate in the proceedings of the 70th session of the CSW at the United Nations. And I also welcome the choice for the priority theme for today, namely guaranteeing enhancing access for all women and all girls to justice. Specifically the promotion of inclusive equitable judicial systems and the elimination of discriminatory practices and policies by tackling structural obstacles. The rules and legal systems are the very bedrock for upholding women's rights to allow women to have to access access to justice and for meaningful participation in society. The State of Iraq since its establishment, Madam Chair has adopted legislation and laws which confirm the right of women to participate in public life.

And we have been continuously amending laws where necessary in order to facilitate women's participation in public life. Particularly the Right to work law number 37 dating 2015, which incorporates a number of provisions to protect women in the workplace as well as to guarantee the exercise of their rights based on their biological nature to preserve their dignity. We believe that women's rights are a national priority. We've incorporated women into all realms of political, economic and social life by enhancing their participation in decision making processes. We create economic opportunities.

We guarantee that that they have access to education as well as health care within a safe and secure environment. And we are striving to improve to facilitate a cultivate a social structure that facilitates access to their rights and abandoning any forms of discrimination. We urge the international community to continue reform at the legal and institutional levels to share experience and best practices as well as to to provide technical support for women's protection initiatives. Insofar as international cooperation is of key significance when it comes to facilitating global and sustainable development guaranteeing equality and dignity for all women and for all girls. This year we are marking the 45th anniversary of the adoption of the convention Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

CEDAW this is a milestone when it comes to upholding women's rights and to ensure their empowerment at the international level. We wish to voice our interest in participation in this Convention and we wish to reiterate our commitment to the purposes and the principles of this Convention in order to improve legal protections and to full to provide for full meaningful participation of women in all areas of life. We will continue to cooperate with the international community. By way of conclusion, we wish to reiterate our commitment to work to to establish a legal and political public policy frameworks in order to surmount the difficulties encountered by women to ensure that they be part of more prosperous society. Thank you.

Thank the distinguished representative of Iraq and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Thank you, Madam Chair Micronesia aligns with a statement delivered respectively on behalf of the Pacific Island Forum and the Pacific Small Island Developing States. Madam Chair, Micronesia is pleased to participate in this 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women and to reaffirm our enduring commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls around the world. Women continues to face challenges such as poverty, inequality, online abuse and the growing impact of climate change. Barriers to justice persist in many contexts. In the digital era, cybersecurity has also emerged as a critical frontier for gender equality where women and girls must be able to participate safely and meaningfully online, free from cyber violence and with strengthened access to digital justice and remedies.

Micronesia therefore welcomes CSW70's focus on women's rights, gender equality and access to justice, which is fully consistent with our national priorities under the Beijing Platform for Action to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and our National Strategic Development plan. During the 10th Micronesia Conference held in the State of Chuuk last October, Micronesia launched ITS Gender Policy 2025 2030. This new framework promotes promotes gender mainstreaming across all sectors, strengthen institutions to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, and advance women's economic empowerment and leadership in advancing these goals. Micronesia recognizes that transformative change requires the full engagement of all members of society. This meaningful participation and support of men and boys as partners and allies is indispensable to dismantling harmful stereotypes and power imbalances, just as women and girls must be able to contribute fully to building more just, peaceful and resilient communities for all.

The implementation of this commitment is led by Department of Health and Social affairs in close collaboration with other national stakeholders and with the support of international partners providing technical and financial cooperation. These national efforts directly contribute to the priorities of the CSW 70 and to the achievements of the SDGs, particularly Goal 5 and 16 on gender equality and access to justice. Micronesia alliance itself.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished Representative of the Federated States of Micronesia for his statement. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,

Madam Chair. Women are powerful driving force of social progress and national prosperity. Ensuring the dignity, rights and social status of women is not merely a matter concerning a particular group, but a fundamental issue related to the destiny of society as a whole. In the dprk, where the people first principle is consistently embodied in state activities, women are enjoying genuine rights and dignity as masters of the state and society. Under the woman oriented and women esteemed policy of the government, the socialist constitution and sectoral laws, including the law of the protection and promotion of women's rights, provide firm legal guarantees for the advancement of women.

All women fully exercise their political rights to vote and to be elected and actively participate in state administration and social life. Ordinary women workers and intellectuals are elected as deputies to the Supreme People's assembly and many women hold responsible positions in party government and working people's organizations, thus contributing to policy making and national development. In recent years, the DPRK government has continued to take practical measures to further strengthen the social status and role of women. For example, the study while work system is being further strengthened, enabling women to acquire qualifications in their chosen fields without limitation of time and place. In the field of health care, women are granted 240 days of maternity leave and telemedicine system linking central and provincial maternity hospitals further strengthened maternal and child health services.

Madam Chair, this year's session provides an important opportunity to review our efforts toward achieving gender equality and empowering women in the Context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a state party to the CEDAW Convention, the DPRK will continue to faithfully implement its obligations and further develop cooperation and exchange in the field of women's rights on the basis of mutual respect and equality. By consistently upholding the people's first principle and the women esteemed policy, the government of the DPRK will continue to take substantive measures to protect and promote the dignity, rights and well being of women at the highest level. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative and the permanent representative of Qatar. Ambassador

thank you, Madam Chair. This meeting comes at a time where the city state of Qatar has been subjected since 28 February February to daily unjustified and illegal attacks with missiles and drones from Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, that do not respect the sanctity of civilian areas including residential and educational areas and infrastructure. This aggression has caused adverse effects specifically on women and children whose daily lives have been directly affected, including their education and their practical and educational lives. We repeat our condemnation of these hostilities as they are a blatant violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity and a blatant violation of international law on the UN Charter. We also condemn the continued targeting of GCC countries and other Arab countries as condemned in UN Security Council Resolution 2817 which called on the immediate and unconditional hall to these hostilities.

The state of Qatar is moving steadily towards enhancing the status of women guided by ambitious objectives and our national vision for 2030. In terms of justice and law. The representation of women in the judiciary is 13% and representation of women in judiciary management is 46.8% and about 51% in leadership judiciary management positions. The percentage of women's participation in judiciary will reach its highest level by 2030. In national economy, the percentage of women's participation in labor force rose to over 63% in 2025.

In terms of empowering women economically and enhancing their participation, a social observatory and an early social warning system was established to detect violence against women. In addition to reviewing the family law and reviewing the penal code and also having a national index for social cohesion, we reiterate our steadfast position in supporting the Palestinian cause and their resilience based on international legitimacy resolutions. In closing, we reiterate our commitment to leverage all races to ensure that women reach their access to justice in all fields. Thank you. I thank the distinguished representative of Qatar.

And now I give the floor to distinguished representative of Myanmar. You have the floor.

Thank you. Madam Chair. Madam Chair.

Myanmar welcome. This year, priority things for our people. Justice is not merely an abstract concept. It is the absolute prerequisite for peace, stability and the empowerment of of all women and girls. Since the military coup, systemic injustices inflicted upon our people disproportionately upon women and girls have escalated to unprecedented levels.

According to the I mm, atrocities committed by the military junta amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Over 3.6 million people are being displaced. Nearly 22 million, including over 10.4 million women and girls require humanitarian assistance. Over half of the population is living under the national poverty line. The junta has dismantled the rule of law, replacing with daily killings, arbitrary arrests and indiscriminate airstrikes.

And Myanmar has become a safe haven for transnational organized crime, directly threatening regional stability. The national legal system has has been entirely weaponized into an instrument of oppression. Vietnames are denied justice, left only with military control. Kangaroo coats. The junta systematically use sexual and gender based violence as a tactic of war.

Yet the resilience of Myanmar's women is extraordinary. Courageous women, human rights defenders and local activists remain at the forefront of our revolution. In liberated area, local resistance authorities and ethnic revolutionary forces are building community based governance, delivering essential public services and alternative justice mechanism to the most vulnerable. The NUG has adopted policy to combat sexual and gender based violence, embedding survivor centered approaches directly into our transitional justice mechanism. We remain and evocally committed to our obligation under the CEDAW and the WPS agenda.

We ensure that women are not just protected but are actively leading the design of our interim governance and our future federal democratic structures. However, these efforts operate under immense constraint to ensure access to justice move from the thematic aspiration to a reality. I stress the following four points. First, direct engagement the international community MASBASU coordinated efforts to work directly with the nug eros local resistance authorities and women led civil society networks ensuring assistance reaches to the people in need. Second, flexible funding.

We strongly encourage donors to provide educate sustainable funding to frontline respondents delivering holistic survivor centered care. International Accountability Members of the international community must collectively or individually impose targeted sanctions, hold off the flow of amps and jet fuel and support international justice mechanism to end impunity. Fourth, address the root cause the military leadership is the root cause of this crisis. The sham elections are transparent facades designed to obscure their crimes and evade justice. Therefore, we appeal to the international community to fully support our people's effort to dismantle their military dictatorship and build a federal democratic union only through a true federal democratic union where sustainable peace and stability prevail.

Allow the women and girls of Myanmar to access equitable justice, ensure their full participation in all political process and fully enjoying their fundamental rights and thank you Madam Chair

I thank the distinguished representative of Myanmar and now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Suriname. You have the floor.

Thank you Chair. Suriname aligns itself with a statement delivered on behalf of the Caribbean Community and the group of 77 and China and wishes to add the following in its national capacity, Suriname strongly believes that access to justice is a fundamental principle of law and a cornerstone of democratic governance. It ensures that individuals and communities can exercise their rights, address discrimination and hold institutions accountable.

Although access to justice is regulated in international and national legal and regulatory frameworks, in practice women and girls still face structural barriers in accessing justice systems, protection services and legal remedies. Addressing these barriers remains crucial to ensure that women and girls truly are and feel safe and enabled to participate meaningfully in both private and public spheres of life. Therefore, intersectionality approach should be at the center of our efforts as women of different backgrounds and factors such as gender, ethnicity, age, geographic location, socioeconomic status and language may intersect and limit their access to justice services and resources. Chair in recent years, Suriname has made progress in strengthening access to justice for women and girls. Different laws and regulations have been adopted to promote equal relations between men and women and to protect women against inter ilia domestic violence, stalking, sexual harassment and human trafficking.

In addition, several institutional measures have been implemented, such as the reinstallation of the Intergovernmental National Council for domestic violence in November 2025 for a period of three years with the aim to promote an integrate effective and sustainable approach to address domestic violence in Suriname. Domestic violence units and focal points within the various police stations are operational in urban and rural areas. The Domestic and Gender Based Violence Referral Pathway, which contains contact details of the service providers agencies involved in tackling violence, is currently being updated and will soon be available and broadly accessible. Availability of services free of charge, such as psychosocial counseling, shelter and legal assistance by government and non government organizations Decentralization of judicial services, including the holding of civil proceedings in the rural district as an important step towards reducing geographical barriers and inequalities and ongoing awareness raising initiatives by government, non government organizations and international partners such as the United nations aimed at preventing various forms of violence and discrimination, promoting equal relations between men and women and increasing access to justice. Chair despite the progress, further enforcement of laws and institutional strengthening of government institutions is very much needed.

Continued awareness and collaboration between government, civil society, local communities and international partners is also essential to ensure adequate access to justice for women and girls. In closing, Chair, the Government of the Republic of Suriname reaffirms its unwavering commitment to ensure equal and affordable access to justice for all women and girls, especially those in vulnerable situations. Without meaningful access to justice, rights remain theoretical rather than practical. I thank you Chair

I thank the distinguished delegate of Suriname. And now I give the floor to distinguished delegate from Eritrea.

Have the floor. Good morning, Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, on behalf of the Government of the State of Eritrea and the women of Eritrea, I'm honored to address the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. My delegation is pleased to join distinguished delegates from New York and from across the world in this important high level session. This session provides a timely opportunity to collectively reflect on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of action adopted 30 years ago. My delegation is confident that the outcomes of our deliberations will contribute meaningfully to the high level Plenary meeting of the General assembly scheduled for September this year.

Madam Chair, today conflicts and geopolitical tensions remain widespread and the principles of international law are too often challenged. These conditions undermine development, threaten peace and security and disproportionately affect the lives and aspirations of women and girls. The Priority theme of this year's session, Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for Women and Girls, calls on all actors to move beyond commitments and translate these principles into meaningful action through equitable and accessible legal systems. Our experience reminds us that gender equality cannot be achieved through legislation alone. It must be rooted in peace, social transformation, and the active participation of communities in shaping their own development.

Madam Chair, the Government of Eritrea has placed gender equality at the core of its national legal and institutional architecture. Following independence, Eritrea undertook early legal reforms to repeal discriminatory Canolian laws and establish equality before the law as a fundamental national principle. These reforms established equal rights in marriage and family law, guaranteed equal access to and control over land and productive resources, strengthened labor protections, ensured equal nationality transmission to children, and advance the protection and dignity of women through progressive legislation. Proclamation 158 of 2007 prohibiting female genital mutilation stands amongst the earliest comprehensive legislative bans in the region and reflects Eritrea's commitment to safeguarding the health, dignity and bodily integrity of girls and women. Madam Chair to ensure access to justice for all citizens, the Ministry of Justice continues to expand community councils and courts across the country.

These institutions are valued for their accessibility, their proximity to communities and their culturally grounded approaches to dispute resolution, bringing justice closer to citizens. Women play an active role within these community structures, contributing to mediation, conflict resolution and legal awareness, thereby strengthening trust between institutions and the communities they serve. Women have increasingly assumed leadership roles within this structure. Women now account for roughly 37% of community court judges, with many benches intentionally including female judges to ensure balanced perspectives in cases involving family matters, property disputes and community relations. This inclusive approach has strengthened public trust in the justice system while addressing women's participation in decision making at the local level.

Enhanced police presence, professionalization of justice institutions, strengthened legal aid initiatives and ongoing training for judges, prosecutors, police and the community. Actors have collectively broadened access to children justice and improve the responsiveness.

I thank the distinguished representative of Eritrea and now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Marshall Islands. You have the floor, Madam Chair.

Distinguished Delegates the Marshall Islands welcomed the Pacific Islands Forum leaders adoption in 2023 of the Revitalized Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration of 2012. The Marshall Islands has also addressed substantial legislative reforms, including our Gender Equality act, which better aligns domestic legislation with cedaw. Our national Strategic Plan and legislative changes have reached across sectors and levels to mainstream gender equality.

However, favorable outcomes alone are not effective and major step changes in particular implementation will be needed to realize these outcomes. A range of challenges remain for us in the Pacific Islands region, including more effectively addressing high rates of gender based violence and low rates of participation in political decision making. Each at gravely concerning levels.

Girls often stay home to do domestic work and miss out on education. And there remains a view that politics is simply men's work. All of this is compounded by violence, abuse and poverty. Economic empowerment is a cornerstone of gender equality. The Marshall island is working to create opportunities for women in all sectors of our economy.

From supporting women entrepreneurs to ensuring equal access to education and training. We are committed to breaking down the barriers that hinder women's economic participation. By doing so, we not only uplift women but also strengthen our entire society. A revolving loan program provides seed funding for small women owned businesses. And a stronger role in our economy leads to a stronger role in decision making.

But it isn't enough. We need to change persistent social attitude that have been with us for generations. This includes reversing course on the belief that male dominated structures are part of our traditional identity. In fact, it is the opposite. Let me offer an example from my own country.

We are proud of the fact that our President, Dr. Heini made history as the first woman leader of any Pacific island nation when she was elected President of the Marshall Islands in January of 2016. By her election, Dr. Hynie did not only make history, but also broke history by dispelling the long held tradition of male dominance in politics. President Haney is now serving a second term. And so as a former member of Parliament myself, I am proud to have had the privilege to endorse and voted for Dr. Hani to be the first woman president of my country. Chair finally, let me close by saying that I strongly agree with the recent statement of the President of the General Assembly.

At the opening of this meeting, Wendy Said and I call the question is not why a woman should be Secretary General, but why not after 80 years? Close code thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Marshall Islands. And now I give the floor to distinguished representative of Niger.

Madame La President. Madam Chair, it is a privilege for the Republic of Niger to speak in this 70th CSW session. We are meeting at a pivotal moment. It's been 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Program of Action. This anniversary is an invitation not just to reflect, but also to renew our determination to ensure justice, dignity and equality for all women and girls.

Nigeria deems that it is very important to protect the rights of women and girls. They are a majority component of our society. The charter for the founding of Niger in Article 26 says the state should eliminate all discrimination against women and girls. Our public policy in all spheres of life ensure their full well being and their participation in our national development. This commitment has guided our national efforts to ensure access to justice and improve the participation of women in public life.

Throughout these years, Niger has carried out important reforms to make sure the justice system is more accessible and can react better. This is why we reviewed our legal framework to fight against human trafficking, exploitation and sexist violence. A major legal review in 2021 helped us identify gaps linked to violence, negative practices and sexual and reproductive health and rights. In order to bring justice closer to survivors, we have established four regional centers to provide holistic support to survivors of gender based violence. These centers offer health care, psychosocial support and security support in a single space supported by digital tools that improves or case management.

As our national report points out, this allowed us to centralize data on gender based violence, which reinforces accountability and coordination. Madam Chair, justice must also be accessible for communities. In order to do this, Niger has trained over 1000 gendarmes and has strengthened community protection committees. These mechanisms have strengthened trust in institutions and improved referrals to the formal justice system. Even in fragile or remote areas.

Eliminating violence is still a major challenge, but it is also a major priority for us. We have invested in prevention through changing social norms. We have carried out national consultations with traditional and religious leaders that have contributed to negative practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation. Platforms supported by UN women have contributed, created safe spaces for dialogue and have contributed to a measurable decrease in violence in several regions. Madam Chair, the economic empowerment of women is a pillar of our justice system.

Thanks to our national strategy, we now have expanded access that women have to land, capital and the means of production. We have different initiatives to provide climate resilient tools, especially in vulnerable areas. In 2023, women are 70% of the beneficiaries of these socioeconomic interventions. Finally, Niger continues to prioritize justice in humanitarian and fragile context. We have mobile clinics, safe avenues for reporting and specialized maps to ensure that displaced women and girls have protection and support even in areas affected by insecur security.

Our progress when it comes to protecting women and girls rights are notable, but there are still major challenges ahead. The microphone is cut off.

I would like to thank the distinguished representative of Niger. Give the floor to distinguished representative of Vanuatu. You have the floor, Ambassador,

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues. Vanuatu aligns itself with the statements delivered by Fiji on behalf of Seeds and Solomon Islands on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum. Today we confirm our UNWAVERING commitment to ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls.

Justice is a fundamental human right that underpins peace, sustainable development and gender equality worldwide. Despite progress, women and girls continue to face systemic barriers, discriminatory laws, social names and structural inequalities that deny them equal access to justice. The Secretary General's report underscores that in many countries, legal frameworks still fall short of guaranteeing equality and gaps in implementation hinder meaningful progress. Women often encounter discrimination in family laws, unemployment protection and access to justice services, especially for those in conflict, affected rural or marginalized communities. Excellencies for the Blue Pacific we exemplify that justice is not an abstract aspiration but a lived reality.

We regard justice as a vital priority, one that directly affects the safety, dignity and empowerment of women and girls across the vast oceanic region. Our communities face unique challenges. Geographic isolation, limited transport and communication infrastructure and climate induced displacement, all of which restrict access to legal aid, policing and judicial services. Social norms and cultural practices can further hinder reporting of violence and limit women's participation in decision making processes. Excellencies at the national level, we have made notable strides in advancing gender equality and access to justice over the past five years.

The development of the National Gender Equality Policy 2020-2030 led by the Department of Women's affairs has been a cornerstone in this progress. Through these policy and provincial action plans, Vanuatu has implemented strategies across all critical areas of concern, including eliminating violence against women and girls, improving access to health, education and economic opportunities and strengthening legal frameworks. Achievements include the establishment of the Victim Support center, development of the Survivor Victims Charter and the enactment of the draft Child Protection Bill which aims to provide a legal framework for protecting children at risk. The country has also seen the election of its first female member of Parliament in 14 years, increased women's representation in local councils and the crucial integration of gender considerations into disaster risk reduction and climate Resilience program. However, challenges remain high.

High levels of gender based violence, discriminatory social norms like bright price practices and limited resources for women's organizations COVID 19 and climate related disasters have exacerbated vulnerabilities, but Vanotu's approach has been resilient with initiatives like the Women's Wet and Water Network providing early disaster warnings via SMS to to hundreds of thousands of women, including those with disabilities, ensuring their safety and participation in climate action. For notus, Legal and institutional reforms are complemented by community based efforts training community leaders, faith based organizations and traditional chiefs to challenge harmful norms and promote gender equality at all levels. The country's commitment is also reflected in its integration of gender perspectives into environmental policies, disaster preparedness and climate resilience strategies, ensuring that no one is left behind in the face of climate change Excellencies as we look to CSW 70, Vanuatu revamps that justice systems must be people centered, culturally respectful and transformative. We call for increased investment in justice services for remote and vulnerable communities. Stronger global partnership.

I thank the distinguished representative of Vanuatu and now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Papua New Guinea. You have the floor,

Madam Chair. Distinguished Delegates Access to justice for women and girls is fundamental to Papua New Guinea. Without it, the rights of women and girls cannot be fully realized and our collective efforts towards equality will remain incomplete. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls remain central to Papua New Guinea's national development agenda, as reflected in our national Constitution and national policies.

Our efforts are further guided by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Madam Chair Addressing the persistent scourge of violence against women and girls in Papua New guinea, including intimate partner violence, violence and sorcery, accusation related violence remains a key priority. In response, the government has strengthened its legal and policy frameworks to improve protection and access to justice. These include the Family Protection act, the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Policy, and the revised National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender Based Violence recently launched in Parliament. These measures aim to strengthen survivor protection, improve coordination between law enforcement and the judiciary, and and expand access to essential support services for survivors.

Papua New Guinea's bipartisan Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment also plays an important oversight role in advancing legislative accountability and national action to address violence against women. Madam Chair While laws and courts remain essential, experience shows that justice cannot rely solely on punitive responses after harm has occurred. Sustainable access to justice must also include prevention, community engagement and rehabilitation. In Papua New guinea, justice is shaped not only through formal legal systems but also through families, communities and traditional structures. Our approaches therefore place increasing emphasis on prevention rehabilitation alongside legal accountability.

We recognize the important role of civil society, faith based organizations and the private sector in supporting survivor services, trauma healing, community education, and behavioral change programs that engage men and boys. Organizations such as the Nazareth center for Rehabilitation in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and the Voice for Change in Jewaka Province demonstrate how rehabilitation and accountability can help reduce repeated violence and strengthen community well being. Madam Chair in closing, Papua New guinea acknowledges with appreciation the constructive partnership of our bilateral and multilateral partners Partners including the UN system, the EU through the Spotlight Initiative, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In supporting our national efforts, Papua New guinea remains firmly committed to ensuring that all women and girls live free from discrimination and violence and to strengthening inclusive and equitable systems that enable women and girls to fully realize their rights and access to justice. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Papua New guinea. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Republic of Korea. Ambassador, you have the floor. Thank you. Madam Chair, it is my great pleasure to address you on behalf of Republic Korea at the seventh session of the Commission on Status of the Women.

I extend my sincere appreciation to the Bureau and UN women for their dedicated work in preparing this session. Despite remarkable progress under the Beijing Platform, The SDGs and CEDAW, geopolitical instability, climate change and uneven digital transformation continue to deepen inequality and women and girls bear a disproportionate share of the burden. Without access to justice, they have no means to claim their rights or hold perpetrators accountable. Ensuring such assets is therefore not merely a legal imperative, but a prerequisite for building a society where no one is left behind. Please allow me to highlight three areas of particular focus for the Republic of Korea.

First, my government is strengthening its legal framework through the Pressure Framework act on Gender Equality and successive basic plans for gender equality policies. Our third basic Prioritize basic plan prioritize the victims legal rights and responses to gender based violence supported by Women's Emergency Online and the nationwide network offering integrated one stop services from crisis response and medical care to legal assistance. Second, we are addressing emerging threats in the digital space. National Centers for Digital Sexual Crime Response use AI based technology to detect and remove defects in real time while multilingual helplines, legal aid and public defender services ensures no one left without survival without this resource. On the margins of this session we also proudly co organized a side event in partnership with the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, bringing together voices from government, social, civil society and the technology sector to examine how AI can be harnessed and its risks mitigate and in advancing gender responsive justice systems.

Third, the Republic Korea is actively expanding women's representation across the justice sector including the police where women are now account for 15.9% of officers and 7.8 of management positions with targets rising year on year. In closing, the Republic Korea welcomes the adoption of the agreed conclusions of the session and pays tributes to Chair and co facilitators and bureaus for their tireless effort to seek the greatest possible balance in the text, their dedication in navigating a complex and at times difficult negotiating environment government deserves the highest recognition. We voted in favor and stand fully behind their substance, trusting they will serve as a meaningful framework for national action and international cooperation in years ahead. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Republic of Korea. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Tunisia. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My country believes that guaranteeing access for women and girls for justice is a key part and parcel of guaranteeing human dignity, as justice requires the elimination of all barriers that could prevent women from enjoying their full rights, be they legal, institutional, social or economic. In this context, Tunisia continues to develop its legal and institutional system with the aim of enhancing the protection of women and ensuring their full and effective participation in society. One of the most prominent legislative reforms adopted by our country is Our law number 58 of 2017 on the elimination of violence against women, which represents an advanced framework based on a comprehensive approach to prevention, protection, accountability and care for victims. This strengthens women's right to protection and access to justice.

Madam Chair Tunisa continues to adopt a comprehensive approach to enhancing women's and girls access to justice based on the development of legal, social and health services for women, especially women in vulnerable situations. We also ensure that these services are brought closer to women and we ensure an immediate and appropriate response to the needs of victims. We also attach special importance to strengthening the capacities of various service providers in the judicial, security, health, social, educational and media sectors in order to contribute to consolidating a culture of respect for human dignity and promoting equality between men and women within society. In the context of rapid digital transformations, Tunisia is also working to support the digital inclusion of women and girls and enhance their digital skills, providing them with greater opportunities for participation and empowerment and contributing to addressing emerging forms of violence in the digital space. We emphasize that economic and social empowerment is essential for achieving gender justice and equality, which is why we continue to support policies and programs that promote women's economic autonomy and facilitate their access to economic resources and opportunities.

We are now aiming to establish a comprehensive approach built on equality and justice and fairness. We renew our commitment to working with all member states and partners to ensure that all women and girls have access to justice, promote gender equality and build more just and equitable societies. Thank you. I thank the distinguished representative of Tunisia. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Italy, Ambassador Hempfer.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Distinguished colleagues, Italy has long been dedicated to advancing women's and girls access to justice. Through targeted action. This includes access to the legal professions, where women today in Italy represent more than half of our judiciary, an achievement that reflects meaningful progress but also calls for continued renewed determination. Yet true access to justice is measured not only by presence, but by possibility, by the conditions that enable every woman to pursue her professional path freely, fully and without structural obstacles.

In this perspective, maternity must never be allowed to become a fault line in a woman's path to empowerment. It must remain a free and supported choice, one that institutions protect and society sustains, so that no woman is ever compelled to choose between her professional aspirations and the desire to have a child. Access to justice is also one of the most powerful instruments to prevent and combat violence against women in all its forms. In recent years, the Italian government has reinforced a comprehensive framework addressing domestic, economic, sexual and digital violence. Victim support mechanisms have been strengthened, reporting procedures streamlined, harsher penalties for perpetrators increased, and mandatory specialized training expanded for health personnel and members of the judiciary.

At the same time, measures promoting women's economic independence have been introduced. In full recognition that financial autonomy is often the most crucial step in breaking the cycle of violence, I am therefore honored to announce that Italy has recently introduced femicid as a distinct offense into its criminal code, now establishing that, and I quote, whoever causes the death of a woman when the act is committed as an act of hatred, discrimination, subjugation, or as an act of control, possession or domination because she is a woman, or in relation to the woman's refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship, or as an act intended to limit her individual freedoms, shall be punished with life imprisonment.

Dear colleagues, our ultimate task is to build systems in which reporting is safe, proceedings are swift, rights are tangible, and women participate fully at every level of the legal profession. Indeed, when women can rely on justice, the very foundations of democracy are strengthened. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished representative of Italy. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Mauritius, Mauritius Ambassador. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mauritius welcomes the theme of this landmark 70th session of the Commission. Commitment to reforms of justice systems and strengthening the ability of citizens to access justice institutions is an essential element of development.

Human rights, democracy and the rule of law. And in this context, access for women and girls require particular attention. Mauritius is committed to giving equal protection of individual rights across the board. The Mauritian constitution guarantees protection of justiciable fundamental rights, which include protection against gender discrimination, providing strong constitutional basis for the protection of women's and girls rights. The supremacy of our constitution entails that any law inconsistent with constitutionally Entrenched rights can be struck down by the Supreme Court.

Mauritius has recently set up a Constitutional Review Commission which will further enhance constitutional guarantees of equality. Our efforts to advance a comprehensive, gender responsive and rights based approach to justice are fully in line with our international obligations. One area of women's access to justice that has received much attention is that of gender based violence. The Protection from Domestic Violence act has ensured that women seeking justice are not held back by financial or procedural barriers. Free legal advice are provided to victims.

The act also provides comprehensive, protective and meaningful remedies. Government is currently working on a new domestic abuse bill to strengthen the legal framework for preventing domestic violence and enhancing protection. We have established and strengthened independent oversight institutions including the National Human Rights Commission, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Equal Opportunities Tribunal. These mechanisms are vital in guaranteeing that discrimination is prohibited and redressed both in the public and private sectors. In addition, Mauritius has rolled out nationwide legal, literacy and empowerment programs to strengthen women's and girls understanding of their legal rights, judicial procedures and available avenues for justice.

Ensuring no one is left behind. Mauritius has already taken initiatives which align with the agreed conclusions that call for public education campaigns to encourage the engagement of men and boys as agents and beneficiaries of change and as strategic partners and allies. We also support the call in the agreed conclusions for strengthening women's access to justice and legal protection in all matters relating to family relations. The Children's act provides a robust framework for protection, care and welfare of children. The Child Sex Offenders act and the Courts act further reinforce child centered justice and uphold the best interests of every child.

Government is also working on a new adoption bill which will provide an enhanced legal framework for adoptions. Mauritius is actively implementing its National Gender policy which takes an inclusive and intersectional approach. This policy is systematically mainstreaming gender in all sectors. Mauritius has adopted a gender responsive budgeting and gender priorities are systematically embedded into all policies, programs and action and implementation is overseen as the highest level of government. Reflecting our political commitment to real and lasting change.

Significant policies reinforcing legal and constitutional safeguards have resulted in higher women participation in leadership and decision making at the highest echelon of the civil.

I thank the distinguished representative of Mauritius for his statement. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Seychelles. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Seychelles places great emphasis on the protection of women and girls and the defence of their rights. We take seriously the promotion of their ability to not just engage in all aspects of social, civic, political and economic life, but also their empowerment as leaders in our society. To shape domestic and international agendas. In Seychelles, women's participation in leadership is increasing.

Over half of our current cabinet of ministers are female and for the first time in our history, a female speaker presides over our legislature. However, we are aware that there is no finish line. Challenges remained when gender based violence disproportionately and uniquely affect women. Emerging issues threaten to erode the status of women and the safety of women's spaces.

The vulnerabilities of women amidst global crises are misunderstood or misappreciated and economic empowerment remains both an opportunity and a challenge. Seychelles recognizes and values the disproportionate amount of unpaid care work performed by women and supports policies to address this gap. We believe that technology presents new opportunities to expand access to justice and public services. In this regard, digital literacy and access to technology is one of the most effective tools that we can provide women to give them agency over their futures whilst unlocking the enormous, innovative and economic potential that they have. From resolving conflicts to economic prosperity to tackling climate change.

Seychelles believes that when we unlock the potential of half of the world's population, the entire world benefits. Madam Chair. Women around the world from all walks of life count on us to ensure their voices do not go unheard. Entire new generations of girls count on us to lay the foundations on which their hopes and rights for a better life can be built. So let that be our motivation to strengthen cooperation, double our efforts and accelerate progress.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Seychelles. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Nauru. You have the floor, Madam Chair.

The priority theme of this 70th session, ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, resonates deeply with Nauru. Access to justice is not only the existence of laws or institutions, but measured by whether women and girls feel safe to speak.

Their voices are heard and the systems meant to protect them respond with dignity, fairness and care. Nauruans have a strong cultural identity and proud matrilineal heritage. Recently, Nauru strengthened its legal institutional frameworks by conducting legislative reforms that affect effectively address gender based domestic violence and improve child protection. With these reforms, we have intensified collaboration between the key institutions, justice, police, health and social protection agencies to ensure that women and girls receive timely, coordinated and compassionate support. We also acknowledge the realities of small island communities with close knit society.

Limited resources and small population dynamics can affect how justice systems operate. The issues of stigma and the sensitivity of family discord often deter women and girls from seeking justice in practice. Legal protections alone do not always guarantee justice and building trust in the system is paramount to bolstering women and girls to confidently access justice. For this reason, Nauru is focused on survivor centered and culturally responsive approaches. Through increased training for frontline responders, it is essential for the police, social workers and related service providers are able to respond to the confronting challenges of our communities.

Prevention is fundamental. Eliminating discriminatory laws must go hand in hand with addressing harmful attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate inequality and violence. Women and girls must know their rights and understand how to seek support. Educating the community through engagement and partnerships with faith and traditional leaders are essential to this effort. Empowerment through knowledge remains a key pillar of our work.

Madam Chair. For a small island developing state like Nauru, regional and international cooperation and partnership remain vital. We value their support and recognition of our unique context. Nauru remains committed to strengthening inclusive and equitable justice systems so that every woman and every girl can live free from violence, discrimination and fear. Justice should not only exist in law.

It must be experienced in the lives of our people. I thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished representative of Nauru. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Senora President, Madam Chair, Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, representatives of the United nations and civil society on behalf of the government. The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, on behalf of the Constitutional President Nicolas Maduro Moros and President Del C. Rodriguez Varro Gomez, I wish to extend greetings to you and welcome the work of the Commission. The work of the 70th session is taking place at a profound point of transformation and of global tensions. This, the topic that has been chosen for this year, is geared towards enhancing care, access to justice for all women and girls and needs to.

We cannot overlook the nefarious impacts of unilateral coercive measures on women. These are measures which deepen structural gaps and undermine social protection systems. Discriminatory normative frameworks, institutional obstacles, structural inequality, all of this obstruct exercise of the rights for millions of women. These obstacles persist and in Venezuela we are facing them. The international community has an obligation to work to have an inclusive inclusive justice systems, gender inclusive and advancing human dignity.

Our systems, through 28 specific judicial instruments, recognizing equality of rights and recognizes equality of rights and protects women's rights in various aspects of their lives. We have been promoting poet protection policies for women. We also have initiative, the Great Venezuela Woman Initiative, which helps to meet the needs of Venezuelan people in terms of women, in terms of independence, economic independence, health care participation, ecology, culture, communication and this List goes on. This governmental macro policy enhances women's participation in public life and guarantees access to institutional mechanisms in order to provide support for victims of violence or discrimination. Justice for women requires that there be public policies, sustainable public policies, international cooperation and social conditions to ensure that the people fully harness our capabilities.

We're willing to work with all member states in the UN and different social actors to exchange experiences, strengthen institutional capacities and move toward justice systems that are increasingly accessible for for women and girls. Madam Chair, the economic and social conditions of our countries influence effective access to rights. The difficulties that the Global south in particular is experiencing have a direct impact on women who in adverse contexts, have to assume additional responsibilities. Strengthening justice for women requires an international sphere based on respect, dialogue and cooperation amongst states, without imposing measures that limit the development of our peoples. The United nations must be a place for diversity and for seeking consensus.

Venezuela believes in the path of diplomacy, international cooperation and the capacity of peoples to forge an understanding that can help us advance towards more just societies. And it is with that spirit that we we reiterate our willingness to promote initiatives that strengthen gender equality, the leadership of women and their full participation in public life and decision making processes. We are convinced that when women participate equally, our democracies become stronger, our economies become dynamic, and our societies obtain a greater level of well being. Madam Chair, Venezuela would like to reaffirm its commitment with the elimination of all forms of discrimination. The microphone is cut off.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Burkina Faso.

Merci, Madame La Prince. Thank you, Madam Chair. It is a great honor for me to take the floor on behalf of my country, Burkina Faso, on the seventh 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which is dedicated to the issue of access for all women and girls to justice.

The stakes the relevant stakes represent a priority for the authorities of my country and indeed Burkina Faso. As we continuously seek to uphold sovereignty, we reaffirm the fact that access to justice is a social right, a basic, fundamental social right which contributes to ensuring liberty, equality, social cohesion, as well as the protection of human rights. This is a societal program which is of key significance for the full attainment of those socioeconomic goals for the people. Madam Chair, Burkina Faso continues to work to enhance our regulatory framework to provide security for and exercise for the exercise of the rights of women and girls to ensure that the exercise of their basic rights are not obstructed. In that vein, we have established new frameworks and we have adopted new measures which are conducive to promoting women and girls access to justice.

Inter alia. We have revised. In 2025, we revised the Penal Code and the Family Code with a view to harmonizing the legal age of marriage to setting at 18 and recognition of customary and religious marriage. These two initiatives are harmonized their legal judicial claim. Mobile judicial clinics have been established to make access to make justice accessible to women who are vulnerable living in remote areas.

There's training for community based actors for police, for gendarmes, for health care officials to ensure that there is a better care being provided and for there to be better protection of human rights. There's a green line that a hotline that has been established to address issues of domestic violence 25 virus seven days a week and to provide treatment and support for survivors of violence to help to ensure that there is accountability for the perpetrators of violence against women and girls. These are all initiatives which reflect the intent of our senior most officials to eliminate all obstacle obstacles in the way of full enjoyment of women and girls access to the right to justice. Ladies and gentlemen, there are many gains that have been achieved, but there are also persistent challenges that need to be resolved. Some nefarious social actors continue to resist progress and women, alas, continue to remain underrepresented in certain decision making bodies.

And this is compounded by the issue of security and safety issues related to terrorists, terrorist bodies and affiliates affiliates who strip Burkinabe women and girls of the most basic rights, including the basic right to life. This serves as a reminder of the fact that justice is something which is never, can never be taken for granted. For this reason, we have adopted an initiative to continue to meaningfully implement our regulatory frameworks and texts to provide safety and security for women and girls. By way of conclusion, Madam Chair, Burkina Faso continues to firmly believe that a society that undermines women's rights and denies them access to justice is damaging to itself. When women have access to these rights and justice and reparations, then a whole nation is able to flourish.

And when girls are protected, When a girl is protected, then the future becomes brighter. Burkina Faso continues to be engaged in to inclusive, equitable, accessible institutions. And this is our commitment. The microphone has been cut off.

I thank the distinguished representative of Burkina Faso. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Cote d'. Ivoire. You have the floor, Madame.

Madam Chair, Cote d' Ivoire aligns itself with a statement delivered by Molly.

On behalf of the African group and in a national capacity, we wish to deliver the following remarks. The 70th session is taking place in an international landscape that is punctuated by multifaceted crises with consequences that have a significant impact on living conditions for women and girls who continue to encounter legal economics and socio cultural obstacles. Obstacles which obstruct the effective enjoyment of their rights. And yet, access to justice is a universal a basic right. Madam Chair, for my country, access for women and girls to justice requires a modern and reinforced legislative framework as well as the establishment of infrastructure, the relevant infrastructure as well as initiatives being undertaken by specialized organizations.

For this reason, in accordance with the international texts, we have adopted numerous laws to reduce gender inequality and to enhance protection provided for women and girls. These key measures include the constitutional protections which enshrine gender equality and prohibit any discrimination against women. Also the penal criminal punishments for female genital which includes up to 20 years imprisonment when the victim dies. This includes political parity which establishes a 30% quota for women in electoral registries with additional public financing provided for political parties which reach 50% women's participation in terms of candidatures. And this is in addition to treatment mechanisms which include GBV platforms which provide judicial assistance to rape survivors as well as centers which provide a safe haven and support for women and girls as well as legal clinics which provide information to women and girls about their rights and provide them support in their judicial proceedings.

Madam Chair, this significant progress notwithstanding their persistent structural challenges, they include socio cultural barriers as well as community related pressures and these issues persist and they hinder women's access to judicial proceedings. And the same holds true for underrepresentation. Certain bodies and a pretext being used are spurious and political parties fail to meet their commitments. In this regard, our State continues to work with various stakeholders in order to surmount these obstacles through land securitization initiatives, increasing the legal framework with a 30% quota for women's participation, criminal code, civil code reforms with incorporation of prohibition on female genital mutilation and a ban on early child marriage as well as improvement enhancement of the status of women. When it comes to succession related initiatives.

We remain resolved as we seek to contribute meaningfully to the implementation of inclusive innovative policies to ensure that every woman, every girl can continue to exercise fully their rights and to contribute to sustainable inclusive development of our society. Thank you very much. I thank the distinguished Representative Kotiva. I will give the floor to the distinguished representative of Kuwait Ambassador.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

For us it is a pleasure to participate in the 70th session for CSW. We welcome all efforts to shed light on a topic that is Extremely important. Strengthening access to justice for women and girls. Ensuring this access to justice is an essential pillar of the rule of law. It is absolutely fundamental to make equality effective and preserve human dignity.

It is also an element that is essential for the creation of societies that are more just and inclusive. It is an indispensable condition for sustainable development. And it is in this context that would like to express its commitment. We have a constitutional framework that ensures and enshrines equality in terms of dignity, in terms of the law, and in terms of responsibilities without any kind of discrimination based on sex, race, origin or religious belief. This is the basis of our legal system.

And in this context, we have continued to adopt legal and institutional measures to ensure access to justice for women and girls. And we have continued to develop our legislation to strengthen the principles of equality and non discrimination.

In 2025, we adopted a decree that overturned a series of discriminatory legal provisions. This allowed us to develop a legal regime that is modern in nature. Moreover, our national legislation has seen that certain provisions in our Civil Code have been amended. For instance, increasing the legal age of marriage to 18 years to protect girls and adolescents. Madam Chair, strengthening women's access to justice cannot be limited to the development of our laws or legislation.

No, of course not. It's about empowering women and girls. In this framework, we've made major progress when it comes to the participation of women in our legal system. Since 2014, we have female prosecutors, in fact, also female judges that have shown that they are highly talented professionals. Moreover, we have nominated female judges in several courts in our country.

And all of this shows the institutional trust that women that there is in the capacity of women to defend and uphold justice and the rule of law. We believe the fight against gender based violence is essential. This is a major challenge when we talk about access to justice for women in girls. Girls. In this framework, we adopted law number 16 from 2020 on domestic violence, which created support centers and shelters for victims.

We have also adopted legal measures to ensure accountability for perpetrators of this kind of violence.

The microphone is cut off. I thank the distinguished representative of Kuwait. Sorry, Ambassador Rosa Rose. And now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Equatorial Guinea.

You have the floor,

Madam Chair. Distinguished authorities, ladies and gentlemen, delegations. The Government of Equatorial guinea has always considered ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls as a national priority. That we have articulated in our different plans and policies, according to international recommendations and national needs.

Expressing the political will of the government when it comes to supporting women has yielded positive results, such as better access to legal services, continuous training for our legal personnel as well as our police personnel. When it comes to the gender perspective in women's empowerment, we've strengthened state mechanisms and civil society organizations in order to promote and protect the rights of women and we have also elaborated a draft law on our family code and a draft law to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence against women. These bills hopefully will be passed by our Parliament very soon. Equatorial guinea has a standard route for inter institutional action for our legal, police, health and social institutions that are implicated in cases of violence against women. In order to improve our response system as well as our referral system in cases of violence.

We also have a specialized protocol to provide attention for victims of gender based violence which facilitates activity, access to free legal services and legal aid through pro bono lawyers. Madam Chair, training for our security forces in terms of the application of our legal framework and international treaties on the rights of women are things that are very important for the Government of Equatorial guinea. And despite the progress achieved when it comes to the protection of women in guilty girls, there is still a lot of work to do because we still face challenges such as the lack of awareness and the fear that many women feel because they do not know their rights fully and they do not know how to protect them through legal processes. This is a barrier for reporting. We also see the persistence of discriminatory attitudes, patriarchal stereotypes and other sexist practices in our society that continue to see violence against women as a private affair rather than a criminal.

To conclude, Equatorial guinea would like to say that the rights of women and girls, like the rest of everyone's rights, are state priorities in Equatorial Guinea. We would like to overcome any kind of inequality gap between men and women in all spheres of social life. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Equatorial Guinea. We have just heard the last speaker in the general discussion for this meeting.

The general discussion will resume the this afternoon at 3pm in this conference room. Information on the session, including the live list of speakers, is now accessible on the igov portal@igov.un.org the meeting is adjourned.