UNGA declares March 10 International Day of Women Judges on initiative of Qatar

Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared in a resolution adopted by consensus that March 10 of every year will be International Day of Women Judges due to the initiative of the State of Qatar. Before the resolution was adopted, 72 countries joined the sponsorship and adoption of the draft resolution, including a number of Arab countries, namely the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the State of Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania and South Sudan. The initiative of the State of Qatar to present the draft resolution to designate an International Day of Women Judges comes as a result of the second high-level meeting of the Global Judicial Integrity Network of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime during Feb. 25-27, 2020, hosted by the State of Qatar. The meeting launched a pioneering initiative to designate an International Day of Women Judges that is celebrated globally under the UN umbrella and aims to enhance the presence of women in the judicial field in order to strengthen the rule of law. In a statement made by HE the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Ambassador Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, the State of Qatar confirmed, before the draft resolution was adopted, that International Day of Women Judges is an annual occasion to reaffirm the importance of women's participation in public institutions, including the judiciary, and the commitment of the international community that participatory and representative decision-making at all levels requires a balance between the genders.