Justice for women, girls must be cornerstone of world: UN chief

UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Justice for women and girls must be a cornerstone of the world "we seek to build," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women on Monday.

"I am so pleased to be in a room full of leaders who refuse to accept inequality as inevitable," Guterres said.

No single step forward for women's rights has ever been given, but has been won by generations of women and girls, advocates and activists, community leaders and justice seekers, the UN chief said.

However, well into the 21st century, justice remains a distant dream for millions upon millions of women and girls, with women holding only 64 percent of the legal rights enjoyed by men across the globe, he warned. "This gap is structural, not accidental, and it limits opportunity across societies."

Guterres highlighted four frontlines for justice: justice is the engine for sustainable development; justice is the foundation of peace and security; justice is the guardian of human rights and human dignity; justice is essential to a safe and inclusive digital future; and justice is essential for climate action.

"Across every frontline for justice, success depends on women in leadership," he stressed, adding that for the first time in UN history, women now make up fully half of the UN's workforce across professional and higher categories, and for the first time, the world body has reached parity in senior leadership.

In her remarks, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said the struggle for women's rights is fundamentally a struggle for justice itself. "We no longer need to debate why women's rights matter. The facts are clear ... It's not that we don't know better."

Baerbock said that globally, women have only two-thirds of the legal rights afforded to men, and "these are not oversights but deliberate choices -- choices that violate the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and 70 years of commitments made in this Commission."

Underscoring that representation shapes priorities, interpretation of law, and outcomes, she noted that three quarters of parliamentarians worldwide are men, and 103 countries have never had a female head of state. "I am only the fifth female President of the General Assembly ... And in 80 years, a woman has never been Secretary-General."

"Justice in practice will never be delivered without justice in power," she said.

Highlighting that technology is accelerating abuse, she said the United Nations and UN member states have taken an active choice to protect women by establishing the new scientific panel on AI governance with equal representation of women.

UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said the dividends of women's leadership, their role in global, national, and local economies, and their contributions to their societies, science, culture and politics are immeasurable. "But they cannot be realized when justice systems are unjust."

"Today, in 2026, no country in the world has achieved full legal equality," she pointed out.

This year's priority theme, "Access to justice for women and girls," could not be more timely or critical, she stressed, calling for five concrete, clear, undeniable deliverables: justice systems that are fair, functional, funded and coherent; justice services that are gender-responsive, survivor-centered, and designed to meet the needs of women and girls; justice for all through legal aid that is available for free, always, everywhere and for everyone; funding and support for women's organizations that buttress justice and rights every day; and leveraging technology and data.

During the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which will conclude on March 19, representatives of UN member states, civil society organizations and UN entities gather at UN headquarters in New York to discuss progress and gaps in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 23rd special session of the General Assembly held in 2000 (Beijing+5), as well as emerging issues that affect gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

The Commission on the Status of Women, established in 1946 by the UN Economic and Social Council, is the United Nations' principal global body dedicated to promoting gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women. ■