Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
The seventieth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) opened today, on March 9, 2026, at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Established in 1946 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Commission remains the world’s foremost intergovernmental body dedicated to advancing gender equality and protecting the rights of women and girls. Every year, representatives of governments, UN agencies, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations gather to evaluate progress, highlight challenges, and push for stronger commitments toward gender justice.
This year’s theme—“Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls”—is both timely and urgent. The focus on equitable legal systems, elimination of discriminatory laws, and removal of structural barriers reflects a growing recognition that justice is the cornerstone of empowerment. Without justice, rights remain promises on paper rather than realities in the lives of women.
Opening the session, Ambassador Maritza Chan Valverde of Costa Rica, the Chairperson of CSW70, delivered a compelling call to action. She urged governments and institutions to move beyond rhetoric and turn commitments into concrete change. Access to justice, she stressed, is not merely a legal entitlement but a foundation for dignity, empowerment, and social progress. “Let us send a clear and united message to the world,” she said, “by adopting this roadmap to ensure justice for all women and girls.”
Echoing that urgency, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Ambassador Annalena Baerbock, challenged the global community to “flip the narrative.” According to her, the debate about why women’s rights matter should already be settled. The evidence is overwhelming. What is lacking is not knowledge but the political will to act.
Similarly, Reem Alsalem, Oxford graduate and the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, warned that the world’s response to gender-based violence remains deeply inadequate.
Professor Claudia Flores, Chair of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, emphasized that the credibility of global institutions depends on their ability to deliver justice not just in policy documents but in everyday realities.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, reminded the gathering that when women are denied justice, the consequences extend far beyond individual cases. Public trust erodes, institutions lose legitimacy, and the rule of law itself begins to weaken.
These powerful statements reaffirm a principle that the international community formally recognized decades ago. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action proclaimed that women’s rights are an “inalienable, integral and indivisible part of human rights.” Likewise, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action set out a comprehensive agenda to empower women and remove structural inequalities. Together, these historic frameworks represent decades of collective effort by governments, civil society organizations, and grassroots movements determined to advance gender equality.
Yet despite these commitments, violence against women remains one of the most persistent and devastating human rights challenges of our time. Across conflict zones and militarized regions, women continue to endure systematic abuse, exploitation, and sexual violence. From Rwanda and Bosnia to Kosovo and Myanmar, armed conflicts have repeatedly demonstrated how women’s bodies are turned into battlefields where power, domination, and intimidation are exercised.
Sexual violence in war is not merely a byproduct of conflict; it is often deployed deliberately as a weapon to terrorize communities, destroy social cohesion, and silence dissent. Survivors of such violence frequently suffer long-term psychological trauma, including what experts describe as “rape trauma syndrome,” characterized by recurring flashbacks, nightmares, and severe emotional distress.
One of the most troubling contemporary examples of this pattern can be found in the Indian occupied Kashmir. Numerous reports by international organizations, human rights groups, and UN mechanisms have documented allegations of serious human rights violations, including sexual violence against women. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a detailed report in July 2019 highlighting widespread concerns about abuses in the region.
According to these reports, decades of conflict have left thousands of women widowed and many others traumatized by violence. Civil society organizations have documented allegations of sexual abuse, abductions, and intimidation by military ad paramilitary forces. The impact on Kashmiri women has been profound—socially, psychologically, and economically.
One particularly disturbing case that continues to haunt the collective memory of Kashmir is the alleged mass rape in the villages of Kunan and Poshpora in February 1991. Survivors and human rights advocates have spent decades seeking an impartial investigation into the incident. For many Kashmiri women, the unresolved nature of such cases symbolizes a broader pattern of impunity and denial of justice.
The consequences of prolonged conflict extend beyond physical violence. Many Kashmiri women live as “half-widows,” a term used to describe wives of men who disappeared during the conflict but whose deaths have never been confirmed. These women remain trapped in legal and emotional limbo—unable to move forward, yet unable to obtain closure.
Beyond the personal tragedies, conflict in Kashmir, also disrupts education, healthcare, and social institutions. Schools and colleges frequently close during periods of unrest, limiting opportunities for young women and reinforcing cycles of poverty and marginalization. Mothers struggle to imagine a stable future for their children in an environment shaped by insecurity and uncertainty.
Against this backdrop, the theme of CSW70—ensuring justice for women and girls—takes on deeper significance. Justice cannot be selective. It cannot apply only to women in stable societies while ignoring those living under conflict, occupation, or systemic repression. If the international community is serious about gender equality, it must address the suffering of women in regions like Kashmir and other conflict-affected areas.
The question therefore arises: can the global community truly celebrate progress in women’s rights while turning a blind eye to the voices of women who continue to seek recognition, accountability, and justice?
The women of Kashmir, like countless women in other conflict zones, are not merely statistics in human rights reports. They are mothers, daughters, teachers, and students whose lives have been profoundly shaped by violence and uncertainty. Their appeals are not simply political claims but human pleas for dignity and justice.
As delegates gather in New York for CSW70, the world must remember that empowerment begins with accountability. Access to justice must extend to every woman—regardless of geography, politics, or power dynamics. If the promises of Vienna and Beijing are to retain their moral authority, they must be applied universally.
The credibility of global institutions ultimately depends on their willingness to confront uncomfortable realities. True solidarity with women requires more than speeches and declarations. It requires courage, impartiality, and an unwavering commitment to justice.
Only then can the world truly say that it stands for the rights and dignity of all women and girls.
The writer is Chairman,World Forum for Peace and Justice and Secretary General World Kashmir Awareness forum.He can be reached at:WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435 or [email protected].www.kashmirawareness.org
