9 March 2026 - ¡°Today I stand here heartbroken. Never have I seen so many children suffering from war and violence, injured and dying at the hands of unaccountable leaders,¡± said Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Messenger of Peace Malala Yousafzai in her speech at an event marking International Women's Day at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Headquarters in New York on 9 March 2026. The event coincided with the opening of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ¡¯s largest annual forum on gender equality.
In addition to Malala, the event featured speeches by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women Goodwill Ambassador Anne Hathaway, alongside Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women Sima Bahous, and Afghan musician Sunbul Reha, among many others.
In her address to the delegates, Malala spoke up for children suffering in Iran, Gaza, Afghanistan and challenged world leaders to evolve international law to confront the evolution of injustice. ¡°We must call the regime in Afghanistan by its true name, gender apartheid, and we must explicitly recognize it as a crime under international law.¡±
Hathaway, in her speech, honoured the progress made in the fight towards justice for women and girls, celebrating the feminist movements that have gotten us to this point while recognizing there is much more work to do.
¡°Today, we come together in tribute to the hope and the work and the grit of those who have not yielded to cynicism, who leave the candle of our collective faith in the importance of justice ever-lit.¡±
Watch the recorded event.
- Opening Ceremony: