Director-General/Executive Director
Minister Zadic
Minister Popovic,
Excellencies,
Distinguished panel members,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour to welcome you to the third Women in Justice/for Justice roundtable to mark the 2024 International Day of Women Judges.
I am very pleased to have Alma Zadic, the Minister of Justice of Austria, with us once again. I also welcome our distinguished speakers, both here in the room and online.
Before we begin, I would like to take this moment to celebrate the tremendous achievements of women on the frontlines of justice all over the world, from judges and prosecutors to police officers and customs officials.
The late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was the first woman on the US Supreme Court, once said and I quote:
“As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.”
We all benefit from a more inclusive society. And we urgently need more women in justice because the law too often fails women and girls.
It’s been nearly 45 years since the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the UN General Assembly, and nearly 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to advance women’s rights and empowerment was adopted unanimously. And it’s been nearly a quarter of a century since the Security Council adopted resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.
And yet, as of last year, none of the 18 indicators for Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality have been met or nearly met.
UNODC research has found nearly 89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally around the world in 2022, the highest yearly number recorded in the past two decades.
A new study from the World Bank found that globally, women still enjoy less than two-thirds of the legal rights available to men.
To overcome these challenges and achieve progress, we need to go back to basics, and support more women in justice for justice.
UNODC has been working for over two decades to promote more inclusive and more effective criminal justice systems.
Since 2010, UNODC has supported over 50 countries to improve the availability, quality and accountability of criminal justice systems in responding to violence against women.
The Office has also supported over 30 Member States in improving the treatment of women in prison and enhancing their access to non-custodial measures, in line the Bangkok Rules.
UNODC is further working to enhance women’s access to legal aid in different regions, including through training for more than 1,100 judges, prosecutors and lawyers in West Africa.
Nearly one-quarter of the law enforcement officers trained last year by our passenger and cargo border team were women.
2024 marks the third year we are hosting the Women in Justice/for Justice roundtable. This initiative aims to complement the operational work that UNODC is doing through its global programmes and field offices, to raise awareness of the challenges facing women and girls, support women working in the justice sector, and inspire the next generation of female police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, and judges.
Inclusion and diversity also represent essential building blocks of resilience, enabling societies and organizations to better withstand and adapt to change.
And in today’s world, we need resilience more than ever. From Covid to climate to conflict and economic crisis, our societies have no chance to recover before the next storm hits.
We need inclusive justice for resilience in the face of existing challenges and those to come. We need inclusive justice for fairness and efficiency, and to better protect societies and investments in prosperity.
The World Bank estimates that closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could raise the global GDP by more than 20 percent.
We need to be resilient in the face of adversity so we can bounce back better and leave no one behind.
The best way to achieve these goals is to ensure that women are equally represented among the decision makers and lawmakers, and those protecting and upholding the law.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Women have made great strides, but they continue to face obstacles in advancing their careers. And we continue to see a familiar pattern, with women achieving parity or better in university and at the entry level, only to find that the ladder of success has a broken rung.
For example, there are some 114 women enrolled for every 100 men in university and higher education, according to UNESCO.
In OECD countries, around half of law students are women, and women account for more than half of professional judges in many regions of the world.
So far, so good. But women remain underrepresented in top-ranking positions, holding just around one-third of judgeships in Supreme Courts in the OECD as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Women also remain vastly underrepresented in law enforcement. UNODC research has found that the share of female police officers globally is still very low, accounting for less than one out of six officers.
We need to take a close, hard look at what is holding women and girls back, and take practical steps to support progress.
One practical step I am pleased to announce today is the launch of the new UNODC Empowering Women in Justice/for Justice mentorship programme.
This pilot programme will connect women professionals in anti-corruption law enforcement and the justice sector with mentors who can help them navigate career challenges.
The call for applications will open after this event. I encourage you to follow UNODC on Twitter and Facebook for updates, and I urge our Member States to pledge their support for the mentorship programme.
We count on the assistance of our Member States to advance Women in Justice/for Justice, so we can achieve tangible results for women, and for justice for all.
In this regard, I want to thank and commend Austria and Minister Zadic for your commitment to the Women in Justice/for Justice initiative.
It has been rewarding for me personally to hold these roundtables with our host country, and bring together inspiring women and men from around the world to discuss how we can better empower women in justice.
Thank you once again for joining us today. I am looking forward to hearing from the trailblazers and champions we have with us, and without further ado, I would like to give the floor to Minister Zadic.