Natalia Tsuyama: “Our voice is key to accelerating change, challenging timelines that normalize inequality, and demanding real transformation.”

^{Photo: Courtesy of Natalia Tsuyama}

What are the main recommendations from young people in Latin America today to advance the rights and equality of women and girls, in the context of International Women’s Day 2026?

On International Women’s Day 2026, young people are clearly saying that equality cannot remain a distant promise. For us, rights, justice, and action mean changing the rules of the game that still exclude women and girls in their daily lives.

We demand the elimination of discriminatory laws and practices that control our bodies, our work, and our decisions, as well as real responses to new forms of violence, especially digital violence. We insist that adolescent girls and young women not only be heard, but hold real decision-making power in justice reforms and public policies that directly affect their lives.

We also place economic justice and the right to a dignified life at the center: recognition of unpaid care work, protection of labor rights in feminized sectors, and economic autonomy for young, rural, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant women. For us, there is no justice without effective access to sexual and reproductive health, and no equality without climate justice, because environmental crises continue to affect women and girls most severely.

In the context of CSW70, what are the main obstacles women and girls face in accessing justice, and what changes do young people propose to overcome them?

From my experience and through dialogue with young people across Latin America and the Caribbean, the main obstacle is that justice systems continue to operate against women and girls. Discriminatory laws persist, legal gaps remain regarding digital violence, economic costs are high, territorial barriers are significant, and institutional cultures are marked by sexism and revictimization.

For many girls and young women, even asking for help depends on third-party authorization, sometimes from the aggressor, turning the right to justice into a promise that never materializes.

In response, young people call for urgent and structural changes.

We demand the elimination of all discriminatory laws and the explicit criminalization of digital violence, as well as survivor-centered justice systems that provide free legal assistance, integrated services, and a real presence in local territories.

We advocate for youth co-leadership in justice reforms, economic justice as a condition for reporting violence without fear, and rights education from an early age.

For us, justice cannot wait decades. Either it transforms now, or it continues to fail those who need it most. 

How can young people contribute to preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls in Latin America from their communities and movements? 

We use digital and creative tools to amplify silenced voices, expose violence, and build solidarity across territories. Through campaigns, artivism, and our own narratives, we challenge gender stereotypes and reach people who are often excluded from traditional activism.

At the same time, we work at the grassroots level, in schools and neighborhoods, promoting peer education, creating safe spaces, and engaging men and boys to transform norms that normalize violence.

In our region, this struggle is also territorial and intersectional. Defending land rights, producing our own narratives, and making visible racism and environmental inequalities are central to protecting women’s lives and bodies.

We also engage in political advocacy by producing data, demanding accountability, and pushing for responses to new forms of violence, especially digital violence.

We sustain this work through collective care. There is no possible justice without communities that care for one another. That is why young people transform activism into a daily practice of co-leadership and co-creation, where solutions emerge from those who experience these forms of violence firsthand. 

What is needed for youth recommendations to translate into public policies and concrete state action?

For youth recommendations to become real public policies, States must stop treating us as symbolic guests and begin recognizing us as political actors. Participation only works when there is co-leadership, when young people have formal spaces to co-create policies and make decisions, not merely validate pre-established agendas.

This also requires real resources. Without direct, flexible funding and compensation, youth participation becomes exclusionary and extractive. Not all of us can participate if working for free is the condition. Recognizing our time and expertise is essential to ensuring diverse youth representation.

It is also crucial to remove legal and social barriers that limit participation based on age, identity, or social status, and to guarantee clear accountability mechanisms so that commitments made in spaces such as the CSW do not remain rhetorical. When States adopt a comprehensive approach and trust young people as strategic allies, our recommendations stop being promises and become actions that transform realities. 

From your experience as a young leader, why is it important for youth voices to be part of International Women’s Day and CSW70?

Youth participation in International Women’s Day and CSW70 is essential because we are not speaking about the future; we are speaking about the present. We are living the consequences of inequality today, and we are not willing to accept that justice should take centuries to arrive.

Young people bring to these spaces realities that are often overlooked: the barriers girls and adolescents face in accessing justice, the rapid growth of digital violence without adequate responses, and laws that continue to control our bodies and decisions. Our voice is key to accelerating change, challenging timelines that normalize inequality, and demanding real transformation. 

How do you assess the work of UN Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in what areas is its mandate most visible?

I greatly appreciate the work of UN Women in Latin America and the Caribbean because it brings international commitments to where they truly matter: the daily lives of women and girls. Its mandate becomes visible when it drives concrete changes in contexts marked by historic inequalities and multiple forms of violence, combining policy advocacy, technical support, and cultural transformation.

I particularly highlight its leadership in preventing gender-based violence, including digital violence, as well as its work on economic empowerment and care systems, placing women’s autonomy at the center of development. Its efforts to strengthen political participation and address violence against women in positions of power are also crucial.

Along this path, UN Women has been one of the agencies most present and committed to youth. It has consistently sought to include our voices, support our international advocacy, and ensure that youth recommendations reach the global agenda. Significantly, it is one of the few agencies that actively defends the presence of young people in negotiation and decision-making spaces. This commitment to youth participation strengthens both the legitimacy and the transformative capacity of its work. It demonstrates that gender equality is not possible without an intergenerational perspective and youth leadership.