11 November, 13:45-15:30 Women and Justi

Women and Justice: Co-Designing Systems that Empower

Session Time and Date

11 November, 13:45-15:30

Conference Room 2

Concept Summary

Women’s access to justice has increasingly become a central issue in global discourse, including in Asia Pacific, where recent events have brought the issue into sharp relief. The region has witnessed a series of alarming incidents that have highlighted the systemic failures of justice systems for women and sexual and gender minorities. From high-profile legal battles to widespread social movements demanding accountability and reform, these incidents have galvanized both public and government attention.

Access to justice is fundamental to achieving gender equality. However, women continue to face unique challenges in engaging with justice systems, including social, procedural, and institutional barriers. These obstacles are particularly acute for women facing severe injustices, and those with multiple and intersecting identities. Data shows that women are more likely than men to experience discrimination, legal exclusion, and inadequate legal support, severely hindering their justice journeys.

To address these challenges, we must advance a gender-responsive and people-centered approach to justice—one that complements existing systems while redefining justice through the lens of the people it serves. This includes making justice more accessible and reflective of women's lived experiences, and providing holistic and rights-respecting justice solutions. Approaches, such as, preventing injustices against women before they occur; decentralizing justice systems to make them accessible for women; innovating for justice in a way that recognizes the digital gender gap; and, strengthening cooperation between justice actors and women’s rights organizations.

A people-centered approach to justice aligns with the goals of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda, which ensures that women can meaningfully participate, lead, and benefit from justice processes. By linking justice with broader issues of peace and security, we not only address women's immediate legal needs but also support their long-term leadership and participation in public life.

This Plenary Session offers an opportunity for regional, and national voices to discuss how to operationalize gender-responsive and people-centered justice. By drawing on case studies, justice expertise, and the lived experiences of women navigating justice systems, we can collectively explore innovative approaches that enhance women’s access to justice and transform systems to meet the needs of current and future generations of women, in all their diversity.

In 2022, UN Women and UNDP launched the Gender Justice Platform to bring together diverse stakeholders with a commitment to supporting rule of law systems that work for women and girls.

Objectives

Understand women’s justice needs, how injustices can be prevented, and identify good practices to ensure that women in extreme conditions of injustice are not left behind.
Discuss how the justice journeys of women can be improved through solutions grounded in the principles of people-centered justice.
Strengthen collective efforts and partnership with women and women civil society towards co-creating justice systems that are responsive to the needs of women.

Questions

How can we operationalize a gender-responsive, people-centered approach to justice that breaks down barriers and provides opportunities for women to access to justice?
What strategies can we implement to make justice systems more reflective of women’s lived experiences, and ensure the long-term empowerment of women?
How can linking women’s access to justice with rule of law, inclusive governance, and the WPS agenda enhance women's participation and foster peaceful and equitable societies?

Agenda

Keynote address and welcome.

Panel discussion: Improving the justice journey of women through gender-responsive and people-centered justice.

Case study: Reaching women in cases of severe injustice.

Women transforming justice systems.

Format/Methodology

The session will be a hybrid in-person/online session that includes the voices of women justice users, justice experts, women civil society, and law and policymakers. Additionally, it will feature a deep dive into a case study of how to reach women currently invisible to justice systems.

Speakers

Grey Aesthetic World Day Of Social Justi

Dr. Elizabeth Imti

Gender and Indigenous Consultant

Dr. Elizabeth Imti holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

She has worked as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and has collaborated extensively with
various civil society organizations across Asia, focusing on peace and conflict, gender issues, and the rights of indigenous peoples. Her most recent work engagement was with the Indigenous Women Program at the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) in Thailand.

Currently, Dr. Elizabeth Imti works as a Consultant on Gender and Indigenous issues, continuing her dedication to social justice and the empowerment of marginalized
communities.

KIRTHI JAYAKUMAR

Feminist researcher and conflict
resolutions practitioner

Kirthi is a feminist researcher and conflict resolutions practitioner. She works in the areas of Women Peace Security, Feminist Foreign Policy,
and Decolonial Healing Justice. Her work on feminist foreign policy and women peace and security focuses on highlighting long-practised works of women and non-binary people in the
majority world to resist colonialism, casteism, racism, and militarism. Her work as a conflict resolutions practitioner strives to create routes for
healing justice, in the hope of moving away from carceral and punitive ideas of justice to centering healing. She founded and runs The Gender Security Project, which works on gender, peace,
security, feminist foreign policy, and decolonial healing justice. She runs the CRSV Observatory, a memory project that documents sexual violence
in armed and violent conflict, settler colonial, and mass violence contexts. She also weaves digital mycelia of justice through civitas resolutions.

Katherine Alano

Advocate and Artist

A former Philippine celebrity, Katherine traded in the spotlight of show business to use her platform to fight for a bigger cause: highlighting the plight of victims of sexual violence in the Philippines. An accomplished public speaker, she has spent the better part of a decade advocating on local news outlets, at political rallies including at the Philippine Senate and even partnered with with the former Office of the Vice President alongside multiple foreign embassies for a nationwide campaign entitled ‘Don’t Tell Me How to Dress’. She has also done multiple Tedx speeches including one in Hyderabad, India and spoken in schools and universities across the Philippines highlighting the need for a change in culture, exposing toxic attitudes towards victims. As a survivor herself, she is determined to have her message shift the narrative and ensure that no other victim have to go through what she endured ever again. 

Supatra Nacapew

National Human Rights Commissioner of Thailand

Miss Supatra Nacapew is the National Human Rights Commissioner of Thailand, recognized for her extensive contributions to human rights and public health reform. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from Thammasat University and an Advanced Certificate in Politics and Governance from King Prajadhipok’s Institute. Her notable roles include serving on the National Reform Council for Public Health and Environment, the Constitution Drafting Committee, and as Chairperson of the Health Service Subcommittee at the Thailand Consumer Council. She has been active in the promotion of AIDS rights and child and adolescent rights and was honored as an Ashoka Fellow in 2004 for her work in human rights.

Anacleto da Costa Ribeiro

Political-Security Advisor for Minister of Interior Timor-Leste

Mr. RIBEIRO has a degree of Master of Philosophy (MPhil.) in Development Studies in 2000 and Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration Degree in 2002 from Massey University of New Zealand.

He started his advisory role in the security sector since 2007 as the Advisor for Community Conflict Prevention and Security Management under the leadership of Secretary State for Security, especially in the establishment of the National Directorate of Community Conflict Prevention and Strategic Planning of Internal Security.

Mr RIBEIRO was the Team Leader of the drafting Team for Timor-Leste’s First and Second National Action Plan of Women, Peace and Security of UNSCR # 1325.

In 2018 – 2022, Mr. RIBEIRO assumed the supporting role as the Political-Security Advisor for ASEAN Political Affairs under the Directorate General of ASEAN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation especially in the process Timor-Leste’s Accession into ASEAN.

Prior to the current advisory role for the government, Mr. RIBEIRO was a researcher of Democracy and Social Changes of Timor Institute of Development Studies (TIDS) in Timor-Leste.

Beatrice Leong

Gender and disability activist and documentary filmmaker

Beatrice Leong is a Malaysian gender and disability activist and documentary filmmaker whose advocacy is shaped by her lived experiences of multiple psychiatric misdiagnoses, institutionalization, and coerced Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). Diagnosed with autism later in life, she came to understand the systemic barriers she had faced throughout her life—barriers encountered by many disabled individuals, especially women and girls. These challenges fuel her commitment to change, driving her to push for a human rights-based approach to disability rights and reframing society’s understanding of autism through her lived experience.

Through AIDA (Autism Inclusiveness Direct Action Group), the autistic-led advocacy group she founded, Beatrice amplifies the voices of autistic and disabled individuals, ensuring they are included and represented in policy-making and advocacy efforts both domestically and globally. She also actively contributes to mainstreaming gender-responsive budgeting to promote meaningful financial and economic inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in the global economy.

Beatrice’s is currently working on her feature documentary, The Myth of Monsters, a personal first point of view narrative following her journey of redefining what justice means to those often left behind and the importance of autonomy and choice, for all. The film follows her journey of how far can one woman go, to live life on her own terms.

Sera Blanche Maude Baleivuna Osborne

Advocate and the Office Manager of Psychiatric Survivors Association

Sera Blanche Maude Baleivuna Osborne is the Office Manager and a dedicated advocate for the Psychiatric Survivors Association (PSA) in Fiji, a leading organization representing individuals with psychosocial disabilities. As someone who identifies with psychosocial disabilities, Sera passionately drives disability inclusion, elevating PSA members' concerns to government and civil society.

Sera leads initiatives like a peer support model to aid community reintegration post-institutionalization and the Community Watch Zone to bolster grassroots mental health systems. Her advocacy extends internationally, contributing to the OHCHR Guidelines for Deinstitutionalization and pushing for legislative reforms in Fiji, including updating the Mental Health Act. With over a decade at PSA, Sera has managed operations, secured funding, and spearheaded impactful projects, committed to advancing disability rights

Emily Williams

Policing and Justice Policy Officer of Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL)

she leads ICCL’s work on policing and criminal justice reform. Prior to joining ICCL, she worked on the “Closing the Justice Gap” project at the University of Galway, which developed recommendations for effective access to justice for women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in Fiji, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines. Originally from the unceded territory of Mi’kma’ki (Atlantic Canada), she is interested in using her privilege to reforming policing structures to address inequalities and advance the rights of over-policed and under-protected communities. She is passionate about incorporating international human rights law into domestic public policy, following beginning her career at the Government of New Brunswick (Canada). She holds a LLM in International Human Rights from the Irish Centre for Human Rights and a BA in Human Rights and Criminology and Criminal Justice from St. Thomas University, Canada.

Norul Mohamed Rashid

(Moderator)

Policy Advisor on Governance, Peace and Security for the Asia-Pacific region, UN Women

Ms Norul Mohamed Rashid has more than 26 years' professional experience in the areas of human rights, development, gender, governance and the rule of law in conflict-affected countries, as well as at United Nations Headquarters. She is currently the Policy Advisor for UN Women on Governance, Peace and Security for the Asia-Pacific region, based in Bangkok.

Among her UN posts, Ms Rashid worked on post-conflict transitional justice for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. As a Policy and Programme Advisor at UN Women HQ, Ms Rashid worked with the UN system on integrating the Women, Peace and Security agenda in justice and rule of law initiatives in crisis and conflict contexts. She managed the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq’s human rights office in Northern Iraq, and has worked with UNDP in Libya and Indonesia on governance, peace and security programming.

She last served with the UN Executive Office of the Secretary-General where she supported strategic and high-level policy development and implementation of organizational vision and strategies in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, peace and security, and emerging global challenges such as climate change and new technology. Prior to joining the UN, Ms Rashid was a State Counsel in Singapore. She graduated with a law degree from the National University of Singapore and a LLM in International Law from the University of London, United Kingdom.