Roundtable: Justice for Women by Women - Challenges and Opportunities for Women’s Professional Participation in the Justice Sector
March 18, 2014, 1:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Commission on the Status of Women
Conference room 6, NLB (North Lawn Building)
United Nations Headquarters, New York
The present roundtable – organized as a side event during the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women by the Government of Italy and the International Development Law Organization (with the co-sponsorship of the government of Afghanistan and of the Mexican Supreme Court) – is intended to contribute to the Commission’s consideration of the “challenges and achievements in the implementation of the MDGs for women and girls and its review of women’s and girls’ access to education of decent work”. It will explore the key contributions that women justice professionals can make to sustainable development, combating poverty, advancing inclusive growth and addressing gender based violence. By bringing together different stakeholders, it will seek to show how women’s participation in the legal professionals is not only an important aspect of gender equality in education and employment, but can also make a crucial contribution to progress in post-conflict countries such as Afghanistan, contributing to the achievement of a more equitable and more sustainable development path, and producing significant benefits for governments, communities and individuals. Based on a vision of the importance of women’s participation in the justice sector, it will focus on the role that women legal professionals play in promoting the rule of law and particularly furthering women’s access to justice.
OPENING REMARKS:
- H.E. Sebastiano Cardi, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations
- H.E. Zahir Tanin, Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations
- and a welcome message on behalf of Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women
PANEL SESSION
Moderated by Margery Kraus, CEO, APCO Worldwide
- Irene Khan, Director-General, IDLO
- Maria Bashir, Chief Prosecutor General, Herat Province, Afghanistan
- Anne Waiguru, Ministry for Devolution and Planning, Kenya
- Olga Sánchez Cordero, Justice of the Supreme Court, Mexico
