A new UN Women report released on Wednesday warns of a widening “justice gap” for women and girls worldwide as rising conflicts, democratic backsliding and shrinking civic space erode legal protections and essential services. The report, Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for All Women and Girls, was presented at a briefing in New York by Sarah Hendriks, UN Women’s Director of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division.
The study finds that women globally possess just 64 percent of the legal rights enjoyed by men, and that in 54 percent of countries surveyed there is no consent‑based legal definition of rape. It identifies five core barriers to fair outcomes — discriminatory legal frameworks, restrictive social norms, gaps between laws and implementation, traditional justice systems operating outside the state, and conflict settings — and says these factors leave women disadvantaged in nearly 70 percent of the countries reviewed. UN Women also reiterated that no country has achieved full legal equality between men and women.
The report’s conflict‑related findings give fresh urgency to its recommendations. In 2024 an estimated 676 million women and girls lived within 50 kilometres of an active conflict — the highest level since the 1990s — and UN Women records an 87 percent increase in violations of conflict‑related sexual violence. At the same time, nearly 90 percent of organisations that work to end violence against women report reductions in essential services, and only 5 percent believe they can sustain current operations for more than two years.
“Justice systems do not stand apart from those pressures, they actually reflect them,” Hendriks told reporters. She warned that impunity remains pervasive: “When justice fails women and girls, the damage goes far beyond any single story, any single woman’s life. Communities lose faith, public trust erodes and justice institutions lose legitimacy.” The agency sets out eight recommendations for governments to implement by 2030, calling in particular for judicial reforms “shaped by women and shaped for women” and for increased public spending to secure services and accountability.
For Fiji, the report provides a stark backdrop to national efforts already under way. Earlier this year the Fijian government launched a five‑year implementation plan designed to meet obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), prioritising legal reform, greater access to justice and stronger protections against gender‑based violence. The UN Women findings underscore the need for those reforms to be matched with sustained resources and accessible services, and for reform processes to be inclusive of women’s voices at all stages.
Local legal and institutional overhauls being pursued in Suva — including a review of the Police Act and other measures aimed at restoring public trust and improving responses to gender‑based violence — will be tested against the global trends highlighted by UN Women. The agency stresses that change is possible: since 1970, it says, family law reform has helped more than 600 million women gain access to economic opportunities, an example the report cites to argue that justice systems can be transformed when laws, resources and social norms shift together.
The report signals an urgent window for governments and donors to bolster frontline organisations and to accelerate reforms. Without stepped‑up financing and explicit commitments to implement consent‑based laws and strengthen accountability mechanisms, UN Women warns the erosion of rights and services is likely to deepen, especially in countries and communities exposed to conflict.
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