On March 6, 2026, as part of the regional commemoration of International Women’s Day 2026, organised by UN Women and ESCAP, our Founder and Executive Director Nidhi Goyal spoke on a panel focused on strengthening inclusive societies through legal empowerment, under the theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls.” The session, which she joined virtually, was attended by over 80 people in-person and online.
Nidhi joined a distinguished group of speakers including Dr. Angela Macdonald, Australian Ambassador to Thailand; Tajeshwari Devi, Engagement Adviser at Fiji’s Online Safety Commission; and Phiset Sa-ardyen, Executive Director of the Thailand Institute of Justice. The session was moderated by Christine Arab, Regional Director at UN Women Asia-Pacific.
Bringing an intersectional perspective, Nidhi spoke about gender, disability, and access to justice. She noted that Asia-Pacific is home to around 350 million women and girls with disabilities, yet they remain largely invisible in conversations on justice.
She highlighted barriers across the justice chain, including restrictive guardianship laws that limit legal capacity, stigma that contributes to underreporting of violence, and violations of bodily autonomy such as forced institutionalisation or medical procedures without free and informed consent. Inaccessible infrastructure and digital systems also prevent many women with disabilities from reporting violence or seeking support.
Nidhi emphasised that without women with disabilities at the table, discussions on rights and justice risk leaving them behind. Moving beyond “nothing about us without us,” she called for a future of “nothing without us.”
Other speakers also stressed the need for role models, inclusive policies, stronger online accountability, and survivor-centred justice systems for women and girls. Across the discussion, one message stood out: justice cannot be partial. When systems exclude those at the intersections of inequality, they fail their purpose.