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DRAFT REPORT (2025/2240(INI))

On a European Parliament recommendation to the Council concerning the EU priorities for the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women

FEMM-PR-776895

Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality · Rapporteur: Lina Gálvez

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This draft report recommends that the Council reaffirm the EU's commitment to gender equality and ensure women's rights in external action, with Parliament's involvement in shaping the EU position for the 70th UN Commission on the Status of Women. It calls for support for UN Women, complementary legal instruments ensuring access to justice, gender mainstreaming and budgeting, action against all forms of violence, and women's representation in the judiciary.

Committee position. The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality recommends that the Council adopt the listed priorities for the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, focusing on access to justice and women's participation.

Key points

  1. Recommends the Council reaffirm the EU's commitment to gender equality and implement women's rights in all EU external action through an adequately funded, gender-transformative, inclusive and intersectional approach.
  2. Calls for full involvement of Parliament and its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality in the EU's position for the 70th session, with adequate information and access to the position document.
  3. Pledges support for UN Women and calls on all UN member states, together with the EU, to ensure adequate funding for UN Women.
  4. Urges complementary and ambitious European and international instruments to empower women and guarantee access to justice, including legal aid, and to examine specific courts for gender-based violence.
  5. Calls for gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting in all EU policy areas, and for states to allocate sufficient funding for gender-responsive legal aid and support services, especially for survivors of gender-based violence.
  6. Urges acceleration of international commitments to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls, including female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and cyber violence.
  7. Calls for full implementation of existing commitments on gender equality and women's empowerment, protecting women's equal human rights and advancing their participation in public life.
  8. Stresses that women's rights are fundamental to the rule of law and democracies, deplores violence against women in conflict and displacement, and reiterates the importance of consent-based rape legislation.
  9. Promotes the representation of women within the judiciary and its governing bodies to dismantle structural barriers perpetuated by a patriarchal and androcentric justice system.

Who is affected

  • The Council, which is recommended to adopt these priorities for the EU's position at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
  • UN Women, which would receive EU and member state funding and support.
  • Women and girls, particularly those facing multiple discrimination, who would benefit from improved access to justice and protection from violence.