Balance the scales to ensure fair, inclusive, and accessible justice for every woman and girl
It's the time of year again to celebrate Women and their contributions and achievements. We invite you to join WiAD as we celebrate International Women's Day 2026 together as we discuss how we can 'Balance the Scales' to ensure fair, inclusive, and accessible justice for every woman and girl.
This theme brings attention to the urgent need for a fairer, more inclusive and accessible justice system for women and girls around the world. UN Women chose the theme, in part, because despite decades of progress, there are still many barriers that block women and girls from accessing justice.
While barriers to accessible, inclusive justice systems have been in place for generations, it is possible for them to be dismantled. Come along to hear how three organisations are working to reduce and eliminate violence and exploitation and to provide women and girls with access to justice.
Please join us for a stimulating panel of leading women who will provide insights from their work and experience.
Speakers
Noor Azizah
Noor is an award-winning Rohingya human rights advocate, academic, and educator with over a decade of experience working across refugee-led initiatives, community advocacy, and international policy spaces.
Born in Myanmar’s Arakan State, Noor is a survivor of the ongoing Rohingya genocide. As a child, she and her family were forcibly displaced and endured statelessness, homelessness, hunger, and repeated displacement while fleeing military violence. At the age of eight and a half, she resettled in Sydney, Australia. These lived experiences continue to shape her work and her long-term commitment to advancing dignity, justice, and meaningful participation for displaced communities.
Noor is the Co-Executive Director of the Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network (RMCN), a Rohingya-led, women-led, and refugee-led organisation working across human rights, sexual and gender-based violence, education, narrative change, and translocal solidarity. Her work places particular emphasis on supporting Rohingya women who have survived genocide, trafficking, and systemic violence, and on ensuring that refugee-led leadership informs decision-making at local, national, and international levels.
Alongside her advocacy, Noor is an academic at the University of Sydney and an English as a Second Dialect specialist educator. She holds a Bachelor of Education (Primary & TESOL) and a Master of Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Sydney. Her academic and teaching work focuses on refugee participation, education in displacement, and the role of lived experience in shaping ethical and effective policy.
Noor’s leadership has been recognised through several national awards, including being named Marie Claire Women of the Year – Voice of Now (2025). She has also served as a refugee delegate and expert in United Nations processes, including at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, and is a member of Australia’s inaugural Refugee Advisory Panel. Noor is a regular media contributor, appearing on Al Jazeera, France 24, and SBS News.
Her work is grounded in collaboration, community accountability, and the belief that refugee and multicultural communities must be active partners in shaping the policies that affect their lives.
Debbie Stothard
Coordinator & Founder of ALTSEAN, Debbie is focused on the thematic priorities of business and human rights, atrocity prevention, and women’s leadership.
Debbie’s first public activism was when she was 15 years old. At 17, she became a crime reporter at a national daily in Malaysia, and she hasn’t stopped causing trouble since. She has been engaged in innovative capacity-building programs, public advocacy and a range of “strategic initiatives” around the region and the world, from Australia, Malaysia and Thailand. Her first love is training and mentoring young feminists to cause more trouble than she has.
In 1996, she founded ALTSEAN-Burma. She served as Secretary-General of FIDH - the International Federation for Human Rights (2013-2019). She is the Chair of ESCR-Net (International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), and Board member of the global feminist organisation AWID. She is also Chair of the International Campaign for Rohingya, and Chair of Innovation for Change.
Ms Jules L. Frost
Chief Executive Officer, Hagar International
Ms Jules L. Frost is the Chief Executive Officer of Hagar International, a global organisation working to end human trafficking, slavery, and abuse by supporting survivors, preventing exploitation, and strengthening systems. Since stepping into the CEO role, Jules has led Hagar through strategic renewal, with a strong focus on survivor-centred practice, locally led solutions, and addressing the structural drivers of exploitation affecting women and children.
With more than 25 years’ experience across humanitarian, development, and human rights contexts, Jules is recognised for her leadership in complex environments and her commitment to ethical, power-aware, and inclusive approaches. She is a regular speaker on women’s leadership, protection, and systems change in the aid and development sector.