The Center for Reproductive Rights is excited to convene with global leaders, organizations, and advocates at the 70^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (March 9 – March 19, 2026) to discuss critical work towards ensuring SRHR and reaffirming them as human rights for all.  

Join leaders from the Center at several events at CSW70 to discuss the progress, challenges, and opportunities around ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls and how the power of law can advance reproductive rights across the world.  

Below, find details on the CSW70 side events hosted by the Center.

Side Event: March 10

Commitment to Action: Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls in Africa Through Legal Reform 

Tuesday, March 10 • 8am – 10am ET • Venue: 730 Third Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY

Co-sponsored by the permanent missions of Rwanda, Tunisia, Cabo Verde, and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and organized by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Health Development Initiative.  

Taking place on the sidelines of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), this side event will be an opportunity to showcase the tremendous progress and leadership of Africa in advancing the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action by addressing barriers that hinder the achievement of gender equality.  

Through regional stories of progress, the event will spotlight how Africa’s recent successes have translated human rights commitments on gender equality, including SRHR, to binding national law and the implementation of strong legal protections to ensure the full realization of these rights for all without discrimination. 

Speakers: 

• Opening Remarks: Government Representatives
• Moderator: Enid Muthoni, Chief Program Officer, Center for Reproductive Rights 
• Silas Ngayaboshya, Director General for Gender Promotion and Women Empowerment, Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, Rwanda
• Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa
• Dr. Aflodis Kagaba, Executive Director, Health Development Initiative, Rwanda 
• Habiba Osman, Executive Secretary, Malawi Human Rights Commission 
• Deogratias Thobias Bwire, Director of Empowerment and Human Rights Response, Legal and Human Rights Centre, Tanzania 
• Rosemary Kirui, Legal Advisor, Center for Reproductive Rights, Africa

RSVP is required to attend this event. 

Side Event: March 11

Advancing Reproductive Justice: Eliminating Discriminatory Laws and Expanding Bodily Autonomy 

Wednesday, March 11 • 12:45pm – 2:45pm ET • Venue: Permanent Mission of Norway to the UN, 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza #35, New York, NY 10017 (882 2nd Avenue, between 47th and 48th St)

Co-sponsored by the permanent missions of Norway, Luxembourg, and Colombia and co-hosted by the Center for Reproductive Rights and SheDecides.

As policy leaders and advocates convene at CSW70 under the theme of strengthening access to justice for women and girls, this official side event will spotlight the urgent need to eliminate discriminatory laws, policies, and practices that impede reproductive freedoms.

It will underscore how justice and gender equality cannot be realized without full recognition—in law and practice— of sexual and reproductive health and rights, including abortion as a fundamental human right.

Speakers:

• Opening Remarks: Government Representatives
• Moderator: Nancy Northup, Chief Executive Officer & President, Center for Reproductive Rights
• Jovana Rios, Executive Director of Women’s Link Worldwide, Panama
• Vandana Venkatesh, Enfold, India
• María Ysabel Cedano, DEMUS, Peru
• Fernanda Doz Costa, Amnesty International, Argentina
• Hon. Crystal Asige, Senator, Parliament of Kenya, Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA)

RSVP is required to attend this event.

Roundtable: Strengthening Access to Justice for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in a Complex Global Context

Thursday, March 12 • 4:30pm – 6:30pm ET • Venue: 1177 6th Avenue, New York

Co-sponsored by the United Nations Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, the Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

This roundtable at CSW is designed as a strategic and participatory space for a candid and urgent collective conversation on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and access to justice in today’s challenging global context. Rather than a formal panel, the session will begin with brief framing interventions and then open to an interactive exchange. Active participation from all attendees is essential—the value of this space lies in shared reflection, diverse perspectives, and collective problem-solving. 

Speakers:

• Opening remarks: Enid Muthoni, Chief Program Officer, Center for Reproductive Rights 
• Keynote speaker: Laura Nyirinkindi, UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls  
• Moderator: María Cecilia Ibáñez, Senior Advocacy Adviser (LAC), Center for Reproductive Rights 

Framing Interventions:

• Carmen Martínez, Associate Director for Legal Strategies (LAC), Center for Reproductive Rights 
• Ana Barreto, Executive Director, Libera 
• Wanjiru Kamanda, Senior Advocacy Adviser (Africa), Center for Reproductive Rights 
• Floriane Borel, Senior Global Policy Associate at the Guttmacher Institute. 
• Mariakarla Nodarse, Global Advocacy Adviser, Center for Reproductive Rights 

This event is by invitation only.

Additional CSW70 Events

Find Center leaders at these additional events.

Understanding the Legal Frameworks Governing Sexual and Reproductive Health in Africa: A Continental Analysis Beyond Linguistic Borders

Monday, March 9 • 2pm – 5pm ET • Venue: Foundation for a Just Society (FJS), 25 E 22nd St, New York, NY 10010

Co-sponsored by the permanent missions of Côte d’Ivoire, Republic of Guinea, Madagascar, and the African Commission on Human Rights and Peoples’ Associations (ACHPR), and co-hosted by the ODAS Movement, Catalysts Africa and Zamara Foundation.

In this session, speakers will deconstruct the persistent myths and misconceptions that hinder the implementation of abortion laws in Africa. This event offers pertinent analysis and strategic response mechanisms to counter the growing influence of anti-rights movements threatening our progress. The event’s ambition is to transform normative frameworks, such as the Maputo Protocol, into concrete levers of action to guarantee effective reproductive justice.

Speakers:

Panel 1:

• Moderators: Wanjiru Kamanda, Senior Advocacy Advisor, Africa, Center for Reproductive Rights; and Cecile Yougbaré, Technical and Advocacy Advisor, Médecins du Monde 
• Nyokabi Njogu, Legal Advocacy Advisor, Africa, Center for Reproductive Rights 
• Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa 
• Government representatives from Madagascar, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire  

Panel 2:

• Moderators: Wambui Kimani, Director, Zamara Foundation; and Mallah Tabot, Lead SRHR  Architect of Cooperation, Africa, International Planned Parenthood Federation   
• Wasso Tounkara, President, Senegal Action Feministe,  
• Eric Mundia, Policy & Advocacy Manager, Kenya, IPAS Alliance 
• Frank Ategeka, Co-Founder and Director, Uganda, Rural Aid Foundation 
• Dr. Aflodis Kagaba, Human Development Initiative, Rwanda

RSVP is required to attend this event.

Access to Justice as a Tool to Advance SRHRJ and Bodily Autonomy

Wednesday, March 11 • 9:30am – 11am ET • Venue: Church of Sweden Cafe, 5 E 48th St, New York, NY 10017

Co-sponsorsed by Fòs Feminista, CEPAM-G, Women’s Pro Bono Uganda, Purposeful, Forum for Diversity, Santa Maria Fundación, Gire, Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Center for Legal Responses.

Moderator: Salima Namusobya, Vice President, Africa, Center for Reproductive Rights

This event aims to bring together activists from across different gender justice movements, particularly the reproductive justice and trans rights movements from across the Global South to share visions of access to justice from a decolonial lens and have a conversation around how this justice can and has played out in practice in relation to bodily autonomy (comprehensive sexuality education, abortion, female genital mutilation, menstrual dignity), with concrete examples of cases from across the regions and movements.

Recognizing that justice can have diverse meanings, the event will explore cases from across the global south (one each from Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean). The role of victims, survivors, families, communities, legal actors, policy makers and other stakeholders will be explored as crucial actors in the different steps of the legal process and how these actors play a role in demanding and enacting justice.

Through this exploration, we will highlight the interconnectedness of diverse movements for bodily autonomy towards achieving meaningful access to justice.

RSVP is required to attend this event.