Amnesty International Urges Global Resistance to Attacks on Women’s Rights
NEW YORK, March 9, 2026 – As the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) gets underway in New York, Amnesty International is sounding the alarm about a global backlash against gender justice and calling for increased efforts to protect and advance the rights of women and girls.
Led by Secretary General Agnès Callamard, the organization’s delegation will engage with UN member states, officials, and civil society partners over the next two weeks, pressing for strengthened access to justice for survivors of gender-based violence and greater accountability for perpetrators. They will also advocate for the protection of sexual and reproductive rights and stronger safeguards for women human rights defenders.
“This year’s Commission comes at a particularly urgent time,” Callamard stated, “with gender justice under attack across much of the globe and many women human rights defenders and feminist organizations unable to enter the United States.”
Amnesty International’s new briefing, “Humanity Must Win: and it does when we stand together for gender justice,” highlights a disturbing trend: well-funded and coordinated anti-rights movements, supported by governments including the United States and Russia, are actively working to roll back decades of progress. These forces aim to control women’s bodily autonomy, impose violent denials of rights, instill fear, and shrink civic space.
The briefing also addresses the impact of the recently released “Epstein Files,” which have exposed global criminal networks of powerful men involved in the sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls. Callamard condemned the systemic impunity shielding abusers and the barriers faced by survivors seeking truth, remedy, and redress.
Despite these challenges, Amnesty International emphasizes that resistance is gaining momentum. The briefing details examples of courage and solidarity from around the world, including:
- Afghanistan: Women journalists, like Zahra Joya of Rukhshana Media, continue to report on issues affecting women despite sweeping restrictions imposed by the Taliban.
- Burkina Faso: Civil society campaigning led to reforms in 2025 setting the minimum age of marriage at 18 and establishing consent as a basis for marriage.
- Gaza: Human rights organizations have documented the genocide committed by Israel, a crucial step towards accountability.
- Hungary: Approximately 300,000 people defied a ban to participate in the Budapest Pride march in June 2025, protesting legislation restricting LGBTI+ rights.
- Malawi: A landmark High Court ruling in 2025 affirmed the rights of a 14-year-old rape survivor to access a safe abortion.
- Latin America: Activists continue to defend sexual and reproductive rights, particularly access to safe abortions, despite ongoing attacks.
“The last year has shown that even when states fail in their duties to deliver, the collective power of communities can still defend, uphold and advance gender justice,” Callamard said. “Far from accepting defeat, women, girls, LGBTI people and those who support them are standing tall and stepping up their work to expose, denounce and resist human rights abuses.”
Amnesty International’s briefing underscores the importance of naming the forces behind these attacks, organizing collective action, and ensuring accountability mechanisms function without fear or favour. CSW70, the organization argues, presents a critical opportunity to do just that.
