EU's Plan to Strengthen Gender Equality and Protect Women Everywhere

Recommendation to the Council for the EU’s priorities at the 70th UN Commission on the Status of Women (March 2026)

• Reaffirm the EU’s strong commitment to gender equality and the full implementation of women’s and girls’ rights in all EU external actions, including development, trade and foreign policy, through an adequately funded, inclusive and intersectional approach that challenges gender stereotypes and is based on non‑discrimination.
• Ensure the European Parliament and its Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality are fully involved in shaping the EU’s position for the 70th CSW, receive timely information, and have their priorities incorporated into negotiations.
• Promote gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting and an intersectional approach in all EU policies, and develop a comprehensive tool to monitor and counter democratic backsliding and attacks on women’s rights.
• Strengthen legal aid and access to justice for women and girls, removing financial, procedural, digital and cultural barriers, and ensuring that victims of gender‑based violence receive timely, victim‑centred support and protection.
• Increase women’s participation in the judiciary and other decision‑making bodies, aiming for balanced gender representation and a gender‑sensitive judicial culture.
• Address all forms of violence against women, including domestic, sexual, gender‑based, and war‑related violence, and support the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, the definition of femicide, and the recognition of trans women as women.
• Support safe and legal abortion, contraception, maternal care and broader sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as fundamental human rights.
• Encourage consent‑based rape legislation, accountability for rape as a war crime, and the elimination of impunity for all forms of gender‑based violence.
• Promote digital safety, counter online hate speech, and address the risks of AI‑generated content that target women.
• Support education, media literacy and gender‑equality training to counter anti‑gender movements and misinformation.
• Call for EU leadership in global efforts to counter anti‑gender backlash, defend the UN Women budget, and maintain strong cooperation with Eurojust, the ICC and the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.
• Ensure that EU external policies actively promote access to SRHR, support women’s empowerment in conflict and post‑conflict settings, and protect women and girls in humanitarian emergencies.
• Commit to the full implementation of existing gender‑equality commitments, including the Cédaw General Recommendation No 40 on equal representation, and to the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.