Ministry of Women will hold National Consultation on access to justice for women

The process will take place between February 16 and 25, 2026, throughout the national territory

Santo Domingo.- The Ministry of Women announces the Great National Consultation on the Legal and Social Condition of Women 2026, a democratic and participatory process that will take place throughout the national territory, with the aim of identifying barriers, advances and challenges in access to justice for all women in the Dominican Republic.

The announcement was made during a meeting led by the Minister of Women, Gloria Reyes, along with the provincial governors, as part of the country's preparations for its participation in the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations (CSW 2026), whose priority theme is to guarantee and strengthen access to justice for all women and girls. During the meeting, the institution presented the methodology of the National Consultation, conceived as a multi-level, intersectoral, and territorial exercise, which will allow gathering inputs directly from the provinces, with the articulation of the governorships, the different powers of the State, and key actors in the justice system.

Minister Reyes highlighted that this Great National Consultation seeks to directly hear women, identify geographical, cultural, and structural barriers that limit their access to justice, make local good practices visible, and generate consensus around the priorities of reform, institutional strengthening, and public policies.

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Likewise, the next steps of the process were socialized, which include the carrying out of provincial consultations, a virtual consultation and a national closing meeting. The results will serve as input for the country position that the Dominican Republic will present before the CSW 2026, at the headquarters of the United Nations, in New York, next March, on the occasion of the commemoration of International Women's Day.

Role of the Governors

During the meeting, it was reaffirmed that governors constitute the direct link between the Executive Branch and territorial needs. Their knowledge of the operability of justice and protection services is fundamental to identify structural barriers that are not always visible in national statistics. The Ministry of Women, as the governing body, recognizes that public policy is inert if it does not have a solid executing arm in the territory. In that sense, Minister Reyes stated that "there is currently an urgent need to strengthen the ties between the governing body and the governorships." The meeting was supported by the United Nations System, including the Resident Coordinator's Office, UNFPA and UNICEF, as well as the British Embassy, and will contribute to strengthening the country's and the Ministry of Women's positioning before CSW 2026, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the National Development Strategy.