UNCSW | Background Guide
MODEL UNITED NATIONS
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UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
UNCSW
BACKGROUND GUIDE
AGENDA ITEM
Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice
for All Women and Girls, Including by Promoting
Inclusive and Equitable Legal Systems, Eliminating
Discriminatory Laws, Policies and Practices,
and Addressing Structural Barriers.
Prepared by the Executive Board
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Letter from the Executive Board
Esteemed Delegates,
On behalf of the Executive Board, it is our profound honour and privilege to extend to each of you a
warm welcome to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) at this Model
United Nations conference. Your presence here is a testament to your commitment to diplomacy,
human rights, and the pursuit of a more equitable world.
This session tasks us with one of the most consequential challenges of our era: ensuring and
strengthening access to justice for all women and girls. The agenda before us is not merely a legal
question — it is a moral imperative that strikes at the very heart of what it means to build societies
founded on dignity, equality, and the rule of law. When women and girls are denied meaningful
access to justice, the fabric of society frays. Families are destabilised, economies are weakened, and
the promise of sustainable development remains unfulfilled.
Across the globe, millions of women continue to face discriminatory laws that strip them of
property rights, curtail their freedom of movement, and render invisible the violence perpetrated
against them. Structural barriers — from the high cost of legal proceedings, to illiteracy, to deep-
rooted cultural norms — prevent women from seeking redress even where formal legal protections
exist. This committee is called upon to bridge the chasm between the law on paper and justice in
practice.
We urge every delegate to approach this conference with an open mind, a spirit of collaboration,
and an unwavering respect for the diversity of perspectives that will fill this chamber. Robust
debate, creative diplomacy, and consensus-building are the tools at your disposal. We hope you will
use them to craft resolutions that carry real-world impact for the women and girls whose lives this
committee's work is meant to improve.
Remember: the strength of this committee lies not in the eloquence of individual speeches, but in
the collective wisdom forged through respectful dialogue. We encourage you to listen as much as
you speak, to find common ground across divides, and to remember that behind every position
paper stands the lived reality of women who deserve justice.
We have full confidence that this committee will rise to the occasion. Let us work together — in
harmony, in good faith, and with purpose — to produce outcomes worthy of the United Nations'
founding ideals.
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Yours sincerely,
The Executive Board
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
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I. About the Committee: UNCSW
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) is the principal global
intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the
empowerment of women. It is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC).
Established in 1946, just one year after the founding of the United Nations itself, the Commission
was created to document the status of women around the world and to promote women's rights.
What began as a small body of 15 members has grown into a 45-member commission that meets
annually at UN Headquarters in New York.
Each year, the Commission agrees on a priority theme and produces Agreed Conclusions — a set of
policy recommendations directed at governments, the UN system, civil society, and the private
sector. These Agreed Conclusions do not have the binding force of international law, but they carry
significant political weight and guide national policy in member states across the globe.
Key Facts about UNCSW
Founded: 21 June 1946 by ECOSOC Resolution 11(II)
Membership: 45 member states, elected by ECOSOC for four-year terms
Meets annually: Two-week session each March at UN Headquarters, New York
Linked body: UN Women (established 2010) serves as the Secretariat
Reporting body: Reports to ECOSOC and, through it, to the General Assembly
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II. Historical Background of the Agenda
A. The Origins: Why Women's Access to Justice Became a UN Priority
The question of women's access to justice has its roots in the broader struggle for women's legal
personhood. For most of recorded history across virtually every legal tradition, women were
considered legal minors — unable to own property, enter contracts, testify in court, or seek legal
redress independently of a male guardian.
When the United Nations was established in 1945, the Charter broke new ground by affirming
'equal rights of men and women' in its very preamble — the first international instrument of its
kind to do so. However, the gap between this aspirational language and the lived reality of women
worldwide was enormous.
The UNCSW itself was founded in 1946 partly in response to the failure of the Commission on
Human Rights to adequately address women's concerns. Early UNCSW work focused on mapping
the legal status of women globally, and its reports in the 1950s and 1960s documented with
alarming clarity that in most UN member states, women faced sweeping legal disabilities: they
could not sign contracts, could not pass citizenship to their children, and had no legal recourse
against domestic violence.
B. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) — 1979
The adoption of CEDAW in 1979 by the UN General Assembly was a watershed moment. Often
called the 'international bill of rights for women,' CEDAW obligates states parties to eliminate
discrimination against women in all areas of life — including before the law. Article 15 of CEDAW
specifically guarantees women equality with men before the law, and Articles 2 and 5 require states
to abolish discriminatory laws and to modify social and cultural patterns that perpetuate gender
inequality.
By 2024, 189 countries had ratified CEDAW — making it one of the most widely ratified human
rights treaties in history. However, CEDAW is also one of the most heavily reserved treaties, with
many states entering reservations to key articles, significantly weakening its effect in practice.
C. The Beijing Platform for Action — 1995
The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, produced the Beijing Platform for
Action — a landmark document that explicitly identified women's lack of access to justice as a
critical area of concern. Strategic Objective I.1 of the Platform called on governments to enact and
enforce legislation ensuring equal rights for women and protect women from violence, while
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Strategic Objective I.2 called for the review of national laws to ensure compliance with international
human rights instruments.
The Beijing+5, Beijing+10, Beijing+20, and Beijing+25 reviews (held in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2020
respectively) have each assessed progress and identified persistent gaps. The Beijing+25 review in
2020 found that no country had fully implemented the Platform for Action, and that structural
barriers to justice for women remained widespread.
D. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — 2015
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all UN member states in 2015,
embedded women's access to justice within a global development framework. SDG 5 (Gender
Equality) calls for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls, including
through legal reforms. SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) calls for equal access to
justice for all and the promotion of inclusive and accountable institutions.
The interlinkage between SDG 5 and SDG 16 is especially relevant to this committee's mandate:
gender-responsive justice systems are both a requirement of gender equality and a prerequisite for
peaceful, inclusive societies.
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III. The Current State of the Issue
A. The Scale of the Problem
Despite decades of international norm-setting, the gap between legal frameworks and reality
remains deeply troubling. According to the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law Index, as of
2024, women have on average only about 64% of the legal rights afforded to men. In some regions,
this figure is far lower.
Structural barriers to justice for women operate at multiple levels simultaneously:
● Legal barriers: Discriminatory laws that criminalise women's behaviour (e.g., adultery laws
applied only to women), deny inheritance rights, or do not recognise marital rape as a
crime.
● Institutional barriers: Lack of women judges, lawyers, and police; absence of gender-
sensitive court procedures; failure to implement legal aid systems.
● Economic barriers: Legal fees, travel costs to courts, and loss of income during proceedings
that women — who are disproportionately poor — cannot afford.
● Social and cultural barriers: Stigma, fear of reprisal, family pressure to settle disputes
privately, and cultural norms that discourage women from engaging with formal justice
institutions.
● Information barriers: Lack of awareness of legal rights, particularly in rural areas and
among women with low literacy levels.
B. Key Areas of Discriminatory Law
Several categories of law remain particularly problematic worldwide:
● Family and personal status law: In many states, family law governed by religious or
customary codes grants men unilateral divorce rights, denies mothers custody of children,
and limits women's ability to register marriages and births.
● Property and inheritance: Studies consistently show that women own less than 20% of the
world's land. Inheritance laws in dozens of countries explicitly favour male heirs.
● Criminal law: Gaps in criminalisation of gender-based violence — including domestic
violence, marital rape, and sexual harassment — remain in numerous jurisdictions. Where
laws do exist, enforcement is often weak.
● Nationality and citizenship: In at least 25 countries, women cannot confer nationality on
their children or foreign spouses on equal terms with men.
● Labour and economic rights: Restrictions on women's ability to work in certain industries,
open bank accounts, or sign contracts independently persist in law and practice.
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IV. Progress Across the UN System
A. UN Women
Established by General Assembly Resolution 64/289 in 2010, UN Women is the UN entity dedicated
to gender equality and women's empowerment. It plays a key role in supporting countries to
strengthen legal frameworks and improve women's access to justice. UN Women's Justice for
Women programme has supported legal aid services, trained justice sector personnel, and
advocated for legislative reform in over 90 countries.
B. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
OHCHR has produced a series of key publications on women and access to justice, including a
landmark report in 2015 titled 'Removing Barriers to Women's Access to Justice.' This report
identified specific recommendations for states, including the repeal of discriminatory laws, the
establishment of legal aid systems, and the training of justice sector personnel in gender-sensitive
approaches.
The Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, their Causes and Consequences, has
produced a series of reports highlighting the justice gap in cases of gender-based violence,
documenting how impunity for perpetrators functions as a structural barrier in its own right.
C. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW
Committee)
The treaty body that monitors implementation of CEDAW has consistently highlighted access to
justice as a cross-cutting concern. General Recommendation No. 33 (2015) on Women's Access to
Justice is the most comprehensive statement of the international community's expectations in this
area. It calls on states to ensure justiciability, availability, accessibility, good quality, provision of
remedies, and accountability of justice systems for women.
The CEDAW Committee regularly reviews state party reports and issues Concluding Observations
that identify specific legislative and institutional gaps and recommend corrective measures.
D. The Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council has addressed women's access to justice through multiple resolutions
and through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism. The UPR, which reviews the human
rights record of all 193 UN member states on a rotating basis, has generated thousands of
recommendations related to gender equality in law and access to justice.
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E. The General Assembly
The General Assembly has adopted a number of key resolutions relevant to this agenda, including:
● Resolution 68/191 (2014): Strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice responses
to violence against women.
● Resolution 65/228 (2011): Strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice responses
to violence against women.
● The United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial
Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules, 2010): Addressing the specific needs
and vulnerabilities of women within the justice system.
F. Regional Progress
Progress has also been made at the regional level, with important implications for the UN system:
● Africa: The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of
Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol, 2003) is the most progressive regional human
rights instrument on women's rights, guaranteeing rights to legal equality, protection from
violence, and access to justice.
● Europe: The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against
women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention, 2011) provides a comprehensive
framework for eliminating gender-based violence and improving access to justice for
survivors.
● Latin America: The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and
Eradication of Violence Against Women (the Belem do Para Convention, 1994) established a
regional standard for state obligations to provide legal recourse for victims of gender-based
violence.
● Asia-Pacific: The ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of
Women and Children has increasingly focused on legal protection and access to justice,
though progress remains uneven across member states.
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V. Persistent Challenges and Contested Issues
A. The Implementation Gap
The central paradox of this agenda is that the normative framework — the treaties, resolutions,
guidelines, and recommendations — is remarkably well-developed. The challenge is
implementation. Laws are adopted but not enforced. Institutions are established but underfunded.
Training is conducted but not sustained. Delegates should consider what mechanisms can move the
needle from aspiration to action.
B. Customary and Religious Law
In many societies, customary and religious legal systems operate in parallel with or instead of
formal state law. For women, particularly in family and inheritance matters, these systems often
apply discriminatory norms. The tension between respecting cultural and religious traditions and
upholding universal human rights standards is among the most contested issues in this space.
Delegates will need to navigate this tension carefully.
C. Access to Legal Aid
Formal equality before the law is meaningless without the resources to exercise it. Legal aid — the
provision of free or subsidised legal assistance to those who cannot afford it — is essential to
making justice accessible for low-income women. Yet many states lack adequate legal aid systems,
and where they exist, they are often under-resourced.
D. Intersectionality
Not all women face the same barriers. Women from marginalised groups — including rural women,
indigenous women, women with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, migrant women, and women
from ethnic and racial minorities — face compounded disadvantages. A gender-sensitive justice
system must be intersectional, addressing the overlapping forms of discrimination that compound
the barriers faced by the most vulnerable.
E. Digital Justice and Technology
The digital transformation of justice systems presents both opportunities and risks for women.
Online legal aid services, e-courts, and digital case management can expand access. However, the
digital gender divide means that women — particularly those in rural or low-income settings —
may be systematically excluded from digital justice pathways. Additionally, technology is
increasingly used to perpetrate violence against women through online harassment, non-
consensual image sharing, and cyberstalking, raising new challenges for legal frameworks.
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VI. What Delegates Should Know Before the Conference
A. Key Instruments to Review
Delegates are strongly encouraged to familiarise themselves with the following documents before
the conference:
● The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW), 1979 — in particular Articles 1, 2, 5, 15, and 16.
● CEDAW General Recommendation No. 33 on Women's Access to Justice (2015).
● The Beijing Platform for Action (1995) — in particular Strategic Objectives under Section I:
Human Rights of Women.
● SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and their
associated targets and indicators.
● The UN Secretary-General's report: 'Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all
forms of violence against women and girls' (most recent edition).
● The World Bank's Women, Business and the Law Report (most recent edition) — for
comparative data on legal rights by country.
● UN Women's report: 'Justice for Women' — the flagship publication on this agenda.
● The Bangkok Rules (UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners, 2010).
B. Country Research
Delegates should research their assigned country's:
● Ratification status of CEDAW and any reservations entered to key articles.
● National laws on family, inheritance, criminal justice, and labour as they affect women.
● Progress on SDG 5 and SDG 16 as reflected in Voluntary National Reviews.
● CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations for their country — available on the OHCHR
website.
● Any notable national programmes or reforms related to women's legal empowerment.
C. Questions to Consider
As you prepare your position paper and research, delegates should reflect on the following
questions:
● What specific legal, institutional, and structural barriers to justice for women persist in your
country?
● What reforms has your country undertaken, and what is the evidence of their impact?
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● How does your country balance universal human rights obligations with domestic legal
traditions, including religious and customary law?
● What international mechanisms — reporting, technical assistance, peer review — does your
country support as tools for advancing this agenda?
● What role should the UN, civil society, and the private sector play in expanding access to
justice for women?
D. Position Paper Guidance
Your position paper should address the following:
● An overview of your country's legal framework and relevant national context.
● Your country's stated position on the key sub-issues: discriminatory laws, structural
barriers, legal aid, customary law, and intersectionality.
● Specific proposals your delegation intends to put forward in committee.
● Potential areas of bloc alignment and anticipated areas of debate.
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VII. Bloc Positions and Dynamics
Delegates should be aware of the following broad tendencies in bloc positioning, though individual
state positions vary considerably:
Western and Northern European Bloc
Countries in this bloc — including the Nordic states, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom —
generally advocate for strong, binding international norms, robust legal aid systems, and
comprehensive legal equality. They tend to support expansive definitions of gender-based violence
and protection for LGBTQ+ individuals. They have been major funders of UN Women and UN justice
programmes.
African Group
The African Group is diverse, but many member states balance support for formal legal equality
with protection of customary and traditional legal systems. The Maputo Protocol represents a
strong regional commitment, but implementation varies widely. Several African states have
undertaken significant domestic reforms — Rwanda and South Africa are frequently cited as
examples of progressive legal frameworks — while others have been criticised by the CEDAW
Committee for persistent gaps.
Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
The GRULAC has historically been among the most progressive blocs on women's rights, with
strong support for CEDAW and the Belem do Para Convention. Many states in the region have
adopted femicide laws — criminalising the murder of women because of their gender — and have
invested in specialised gender justice courts. However, impunity and implementation gaps remain
significant concerns.
Asian Group
The Asian Group is the most diverse geographically and culturally. Japan, South Korea, and other
high-income states have advanced legal frameworks but face challenges around gender-based
violence and workplace discrimination. South and Southeast Asian states grapple with the
intersection of formal law and customary or religious practice. Several states have entered
significant CEDAW reservations.
Arab Group
Arab states have generally entered reservations to CEDAW provisions that conflict with Islamic
jurisprudence, particularly in the areas of family law, inheritance, and nationality. The debate
within the Arab Group about reform is active, and several states — including Tunisia, Jordan, and
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Morocco — have undertaken notable domestic legal reforms. Delegates from Arab states should be
prepared to articulate their country's specific position with precision.
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VIII. Possible Solutions and Directions for Resolutions
Delegates are encouraged to explore the following areas in crafting operative and preambular
clauses:
● Legal Reform: Calling on states to review and repeal discriminatory laws, with specific
reference to family, inheritance, criminal, labour, and nationality law.
● Legal Aid: Urging states to establish or expand free legal aid services for women, including
mobile legal aid units for rural areas.
● Capacity Building: Recommending training programmes for judges, prosecutors, police, and
other justice sector personnel in gender-sensitive approaches and trauma-informed
practice.
● Specialised Courts: Encouraging the establishment of specialised family violence or gender
courts to improve responsiveness and expertise.
● Data Collection: Calling for the collection and publication of sex-disaggregated data on
access to justice, to strengthen accountability mechanisms.
● Technology: Exploring safe, inclusive digital platforms for legal information and support
while addressing risks of technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
● Customary Law: Encouraging dialogue and reform processes that engage religious and
traditional leaders in promoting women's access to justice within pluralistic legal systems.
● Civil Society: Affirming the role of women's rights organisations and legal clinics in
providing frontline access to justice and advocating for systemic reform.
● Funding: Calling for increased domestic and international funding for justice sector reforms
that advance gender equality, including through UN Women and UNDP programming.
A Note on Operative Language
Resolutions at UNCSW typically use carefully calibrated language. Delegates should be aware
that terms such as 'universal access to justice,' 'comprehensive sexuality education,' and
references to 'sexual and reproductive rights' have historically been contested in
intergovernmental negotiations.
Seek formulations that reflect the broadest possible consensus while advancing the
substantive agenda. Reference established agreed language from CEDAW, the Beijing Platform,
and the SDGs where possible, as this language has already been accepted by most member
states.
Preambular clauses should establish the normative and factual foundation for your operative
clauses. Operative clauses should be specific, actionable, and avoid language that may be
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perceived as infringing on national sovereignty.
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IX. A Final Word from the Executive Board
This committee has before it both a profound challenge and a remarkable opportunity. The
normative architecture — the treaties, the platforms, the resolutions — already exists. What this
generation of delegates must grapple with is the harder question: how do we translate these
commitments into justice that women and girls can actually access, in their own communities, in
their own languages, and on their own terms?
The Executive Board challenges each delegation not to settle for comfortable generalities, but to
advocate for specific, measurable, and implementable commitments. The women and girls whose
lives depend on access to justice deserve nothing less than our best collective effort.
We wish every delegate a stimulating, rigorous, and ultimately productive experience in committee.
May this conference be remembered not only for the quality of its debate, but for the quality of its
outcomes.
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
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