BIC NEW YORK — As representatives of governments and civil society organizations prepare to gather at the United Nations for the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) has released a statement calling for a far-reaching reconceptualization of justice: one that extends well beyond legal and judicial mechanisms to encompass the values, relationships, and social norms that shape the daily lives of women and girls.
The Commission’s priority theme this year focuses on “ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls,” an issue that, in international fora, is often approached through the lens of policy reform, judicial mechanisms, and legislative change, says the BIC.
The statement, titled “Reconceptualizing Justice: Laying Foundations for a Gender-Equal World,” acknowledges the importance of such efforts while arguing that they alone are insufficient to bring about the kind of just societies the world’s people aspire to build.
“Justice is often understood narrowly as a remedy offered to those who have been wronged,” said Liliane Nkunzimana, a representative of the BIC.
“But at a deeper level,” she continued, “the pursuit of justice is bound up with the pursuit of truth, including the truth about who we are as human beings. When we recognize the inherent nobility and dignity of every person, we begin to see justice not only as something to be delivered, but as a capacity to be cultivated within individuals, within communities, and within the institutions that serve them.”
Ms. Nkunzimana noted that despite significant legal advances in many countries, deep questions of trust and fairness remain largely unresolved. When people do not perceive that they are being treated fairly, she observed, no amount of legislation can bridge the resulting gap. What is needed, then, is a collective exploration of what justice means in practice in societal relationships, in social norms, and in the culture of communities themselves.
The statement draws on a Bahá’í-inspired national initiative in Brazil, where hundreds of participants from academia, government, civil society, and faith communities have come together in an ongoing series of discussions exploring how conceptions of justice can be deepened to more effectively advance equality, unity, and peace.
Describing the initiative’s approach, the statement notes that the pursuit of justice demands commitment not only in principle but in practice: “It is one thing to acknowledge a value such as justice in principle; it is quite another to embrace it wholeheartedly in one’s personal conduct, and more challenging still to refashion social norms and institutions in ways that give collective expression to it.”
The statement suggests that the advances achieved through the Brazilian initiative could be creatively adapted to the international stage. It proposes that the Commission convene spaces for sustained exploration of the foundations of justice, gathering diverse stakeholders in ways that minimize competition, de-emphasize institutional affiliation, promote shared commitment to moral principle, and foster collaborative action. Such steps, it adds, could also inform broader efforts at multilateral reform, including the UN80 Initiative and the revitalization of the Commission itself.
The statement of the BIC to the 70th session of the Commission, which will be held from 9 to 19 March at United Nations Headquarters in New York, can be found here.
