New Times for Women – A dream comes true

Monday, March 1, on the opening day of the 2010 CSW session, women activists are handing out the brand new Newspaper The New Times for Women to government delegates and NGO representatives as they enter the UN premises and conference rooms. Two smiling and jubilant African women on the front page of this special edition mark the dawn of a new era. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has announced the creation of the new UN women’s rights agency. After many years of persistent lobby and advocacy by women’s rights activists under the leadership of the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign it is time for celebration at the CSW. Surprised responses. “Really!” “Has it come true?” “So the search for a UN Under Secretary-General to head the new women’s agency can start as of today?”
Attentive readers soon sober up. At the bottom of the page they read: “This is news we would like to read. Turn the page to see where we stand now.”
The special New Times for Women edition is launched by the European section of the GEAR campaign in order to call for accelerated action by governments and the UN Secretary General to realise the dream of the new UN women’s agency. This year’s CSW provides an excellent opportunity to announce its creation as it reviews fifteen years of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and its impact towards the full realisation of the Millennium Development Goals.
The press statement released by the European section of Gear speaks of a spoof newspaper promoting the GEAR campaign vision for the new super agency. Daniela Rosche from Oxfam Novib has been one of the driving forces behind the New Times for Women. Read the full paper.

Ireen Dubel
Programme Manager Hivos

Comments

CSW Revitalisation conversations in the region

Photo: Facilitation team (Liliane Nkunzimana, Lopa Banerjee, Nadia van der Linde, Ivy Koek) What do you think about when you hear countries are committed to 'revitalize' the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)? "Oh, is it dying?" is one of the responses I've gotten, as if the CSW is holding on to its last straws at the moment, in desparate need of resuscitation. The challenges ahead for the current multilateral system, as well as for many of our national governments, are huge. In order to give gender equality and the rights of all women and girls a bit more of a boost, UN Women has been encouraging countries to commit to a process to 'revitalize' the CSW. And now that this has indeed been taken on board by governments from around the world in the recent Pact for the Future, the conversation is moving to: So what does that mean? During the NGO Forum in Geneva that took place just prior to the UNECE Beijing+30 Regional Review in October 2024 I co-f...

The CSW68 is a wrap!

Met Nederlands ambassadeur en CSW Facilitator Yoka Brandt op de foto na afloop van de CSW68 “We have reservations on the text. We don’t have instructions to proceed to adoption .” After seven days of negotiations at the UN during this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Nigeria almost blocked the negotiated outcome document from being adopted. Almost, because after some formal and informal interventions in Conference Room 4, the Nigerian delegate, flanked by the Dutch Ambassador Yoka Brandt, added: “I now have instructions to support the adoption.” On the balcony filled with civil society as well as in the plenary room there was a clear sigh of relief followed by enthusiastic applause, hugging and photo taking. We have Agreed Conclusions ! Early negotiations As usual, the CSW negotiations process started early February with a Zero Draft , developed by UN Women and the CSW Bureau. And with input and inspiration taken from the Secretary General Report. For the EU...

CSW68 Youth Dialogue statement by Fenna Timsi

Dutch youth representative Fenna Timsi gives her statement in the CSW68 Youth Dialogue On Thursday afternoon, 14 March 2024, the Dutch youth representative Fenna Timsi gave her statement in the CSW68 Youth Dialogue inside the UN. The reflections from several participants of this year's Youth Dialogue - the second ever as part of the CSW - were that it has much improved compared to last year. Importantly, many more of the people who were given the floor were actually young people themselves. Many of the statements were rich and relevant in content with clear and important messages for the government delegates in the other room in the UN who had started the negotiations for the outcome document. Read Fenna's statement below or see the full Youth Dialogue here (Fenna's statement is at 1:20:10). Dear all, As the Dutch UN Youth Representative, I thank you to speak independently on behalf of young people in the Netherlands, not on behalf of the government. I spoke to many yo...

WO=MEN in New York

Search This Blog