A key step forward in implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

Over 740,000 women and girls are held in prison worldwide. Women continue to make up a minority of the global prison population at 7%. However, women’s incarceration is growing at a faster rate than men, up 60% since 2000 compared to 22% for men. Around 19,000 children are living in prison with their mothers. The Justice for Women High-level Group report had found that discriminatory social norms, compounded by other disadvantages such as poverty, were powerful obstacles to equal rights. Indeed, research shows that poverty is a driving factor behind the increasing number of women in prison, despite the devastating impact of imprisonment on women and their families, especially their children. Most women in prison globally are charged or convicted for non-violent offences. Many serve short prison sentences simply because they are unable to pay fines or to afford bail. Additionally, punitive drug policies are also a key driver of the rising number of women in prison, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is also linked to poverty and discrimination.

Despite these stark numbers, the issues disproportionately impacting incarcerated women and girls have received minimal attention from high-level forums on women’s rights, such as CSW. The Human Rights Council resolution 53/27 of 2023 calls upon States to take immediate and effective action to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in criminal justice detention. In June this year. the UN Human Rights Office will submit a report on this issue to the Council. Halfway through the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, progress on SDG 5 and SDG 16 has been minimal. The linkages between these two Goals are significant and must be highlighted at high-level forums. 2025 also marks 15 years since the adoption of the Bangkok Rules, though implementation remains ineffective and inconsistent.

This official side event at CSW69, sponsored by the Mission of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, the Mission of Canada to the United Nations, and the UN OHCHR, and co-organized by the Thailand Institute for Justice, Penal Reform International, Women Beyond Walls and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, is one of the first to address how to reduce the harmful impact of imprisonment on women from a global perspective.