CSW 70: High-level event commemorating the 5th anniversary of the Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women & Girls: Five Years On - Securing Achievements and Ensuring Durable Impact

High-level Meeting on the occasion of the Fifth Anniversary of 
the Group of Friends for the Elimination Violence against Women and Girls

Five Years On: Securing Achievements and Ensuring Durable Impact

Thursday, 12 March, 11:30-12:45

Conference Room 2, UN Headquarters

CONCEPT NOTE

Background

Established in response to the alarming levels in domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. 

The Group convenes in a global context that has fundamentally changed in the past five years. Developments across a range of areas, including an upsurge in conflict, growing resource constraints, a pushback on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, shrinking civil society space, and new threats emerging in the digital sphere all risk undermining the hard-earned advances of the past decades and underscore the importance of sustaining progress achieved to date. At the same time, Member States have continued to strengthen legal and policy responses to violence against women and girls. Since 2019, 90 per cent of States have reported introducing or strengthening laws on violence against women and girls, including measures related to implementation and enforcement, while 79 per cent have established, updated, or expanded national action plans to end violence.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) nevertheless remains pervasive, affecting an estimated 736 million women—almost one in three women globally—over their lifetime, underscoring the scale of the challenge and the need to sustain and deepen State-led responses. And while legal and policy frameworks have expanded significantly, gaps persist in implementation, access to justice, and accountability, particularly where institutions are under-resourced or coordination across sectors remains weak.

Funding shortfalls also pose an increasingly acute threat to sustaining national commitments and frontline service delivery. Recent UN Women data under the EU funded ACT to end violence against women and girls programme, drawing on findings from 428 women’s rights and civil society organizations across 90 countries, show that 34 per cent have been forced to suspend or shut down programmes addressing violence against women and girls due to funding cuts, while over 40 per cent have reduced or closed essential services, including shelters, legal aid, and psychosocial support. These funding shortfalls directly affect the implementation of national laws and action plans, limiting survivors’ access to justice and protection even where legal frameworks are in place.

In parallel, emerging forms of violence, particularly technology-facilitated violence, are reshaping the landscape of risk. Analysis of over 7,500 State-reported actions by 193 Member States shows growing attention to digital forms of abuse, reflecting heightened concern about online violence targeting women in public life.However, it also reveals that enforcement, remedies, and protection measures, especially for women human rights defenders, journalists, and women in public life, remain uneven, highlighting the need for stronger justice responses and accountability mechanisms.

In this context, efforts to prevent and eliminate VAWG can only be successful if grounded in strong State leadership, underpinned by robust and comprehensive policy and legal frameworks; long-term, gender-responsive budgeting; multisectoral coordination; and institutionalised, long-term partnerships between Member States, international organisations, and civil society. Women’s rights organisations and feminist groups, operating in communities and at the frontlines of crises remain indispensable partners in supporting implementation and reaching survivors, while States retain primary responsibility for the effective and sustained implementation of international and national legal frameworks and commitments to end violence against women and girls, including by mobilising resources, creating enabling environments, and meaningfully including civil society in policy design, implementation, and monitoring.

Against this backdrop, the fifth anniversary of the Group of Friends provides an opportunity to take stock of progress, reaffirm political commitments, and galvanise renewed action to prevent and end all forms of VAWG. The event will showcase successful approaches and provide a forum for exchanging best practices. In addition, the discussion will demonstrate how investments in policies and programs to eliminate VAWG catalyse transformative impact for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, as well as for societies as a whole.

Event objectives

1. Discuss, in the current context of uncertainty and funding gaps, commitments Members of the Group of Friends can take to prevent and respond to VAWG. 

2. Identify impactful programmes and policies to eliminate VAWG. 

3. Explore the best use for limited resources to maximise impact.

4. Strengthen support for civil society and women’s movements and highlight ways to sustain and re-establish adequate, predictable, and long-term funding for their work.

Format 

The event, 75 minutes in length, will feature high-level opening remarks, followed by a moderated exchange with Members of the Group of Friends, as well as key partners, and closing remarks. The event is held on the ministerial level. 

Draft programme 

11:30-11:50: Opening segment

• Welcoming remarks by H.E. Hadja Lahbib, EU Commissioner for Equality

• Keynote address by H.E. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations (TBC)

• Statement by H.E. Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women

• Statement by civil society representative 

11:50-12:40: Moderated exchange with the Group of Friends and partners

This session will facilitate dialogue structured around the following guiding questions, with short interventions from select Group of Friends members and other partners including civil society, UN entities and other stakeholders. 

5. In the current global context of overlapping crises, growing resource constraints, and pushback on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, what concrete actions and commitments are needed to secure achievements in preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls, and to prevent backsliding? What actions are Member States taking to ensure that legal and policy gains translate into effective implementation, enforcement, and access to justice for survivors? What specific policies and programmes are successful in eliminating the root causes of violence against women and girls and accelerating progress to achieve gender equality?

6. In a context of limited resources, how can funding and partnerships be structured to maximise impact in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, while ensuring predictable, long-term support for civil society and women’s movements? 

7. What incentives and accountability mechanisms are needed to build meaningful and effective partnerships between governments, civil society, UN, and other actors to deliver sustained results in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls?

12:40-12:45: Closing remarks

• Closing remarks by H.E. Diene Keita, Executive Director of UNFPA (invited) 

About the Group of Friends

The Group of Friends was established in 2020 to promote the implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action to address rising levels of violence against women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a platform to share lessons learned on efforts to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence, to improve cooperation on this issue, as well as to support advocacy initiatives and the mobilisation of additional resources. 

The Group of Friends currently counts 96 members, representing all regions. It is open to all UN Member States and Observers, as well as relevant UN Agencies and other stakeholders. The UN Spotlight Initiative serves as the Group’s Secretariat. 

1. ^  UN-Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). 2025. Women’s Rights in Review 30 Years After Beijing. 
2. ^  UN Women (2025). At risk and underfunded: How funding cuts are threatening efforts to end violence against women and girls.
3. ^  UN Women (2025). Ending Violence against Women and Girls: Global Commitments, Local Actions.
4. ^  Up to 85 per cent of women in public life have experienced online psychological violence, including harassment, threats, and disinformation, with documented impacts on safety, participation, and access to justice. UN Women (2025). Tipping Point: The Chilling Escalation of Violence against Women in the Public Sphere in the Age of AI.