CSW Day 2 – Some formalities that turned out to be quite informal

No civil society access to formal UN sessions

Our evening was totally made yesterday when we managed to get our hands on an access pass for the public tribune of the official UN members states´ session for day 2 of the CSW. Today however, we found ourselves blocked by security guards at the entrance. The UN Security Council had organized an unscheduled meeting in ´our´ room. CSW55 discussions were moved to a room without possibilities for public presence.

The UN Headquarters have been under construction for several years now, which can make space limited and information sharing unorganized. It did make us wonder though, how high the Commission on the Status of Women is ranked on the UN´s priority list. On the other hand, the recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region deserve all the intention of the international community they can get. We aim to give you some more information particularly on the situation of women in the region in the coming days, when we will talk to MENA NGOs.

EU requests civil society for input

This afternoon we participated in the briefing of the Permanent EU mission at the UN. We were pleased to find that, besides informing us on their activities (formal negotiations on the Agreed Conclusions have barely started), the EU delegates were requesting our input and concrete recommendations to improve the draft version of the conclusions.

Our Joint NGO statement was presented by Ines Orobio de Castro from partner organization E-Quality on behalf of Dutch civil society. Many of our recommendations had either already been mentioned and/or were backed up by other civil society representatives. Furthermore, we were quite content to find that the EU mission had already formulated additional paragraphs to the Agreed Conclusions, which address some of our main issues.

Such as regarding the importance of life skills, sexuality and reproductive health education to enable girls and boys to make informed choices; removal of physical barriers in access to education; the importance of (primary) education not only as a goal in itself but as a means for women and girls to get a decent job; and the importance of addressing gender stereotypes and involving boys and men. In the coming days the EU delegates will do their best to bring these issues to the table during the formal negotations on the Agreed Conclusions.

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...

Aandachtspunten voor de CSW delegatie en onze democratie

Hieronder lees je de presentatie met aandachtspunten voor de Nederlandse CSW delegatie gegeven door Britt Myren, Atria, tijdens de CSW69 NGO briefing op de Nederlandse ambassade (Permanente Vertegenwoordiging) in New York. De bijeenkomst werd zeer goed bijgewoond met 40+ deelnemers uit het Nederlands maatschappelijk middenveld - we pasten niet meer aan de tafel en er ontstond een tweede ring - en met een welkomstwoord en dialoog met het hoofd van de delegatie, staatssecretaris Mariëlle Paul. 11 maart 2025 “Let us be clear, gender equality is not just a goal, it is the foundation of a just and sustainable world.” Deze woorden gebruikte de Ambassadeur van Canada en ECOSOC president gisteren bij de opening ceremonie van de CSW, de VN Commissie voor de Status van Vrouwen . Als maatschappelijk middenveld herkennen wij deze boodschap en benadrukken het belang van ons functioneren in een sterke democratie. Dit belang kan niet onderschat worden, net zo min als het belang van de jui...

Access Denied Campaign

Following many concerns and calls for support received from activists who were not able to come to New York, WO=MEN – jointly with members and partners - took the initiative to launch a campaign to call attention to the exclusion of defenders from meaningfully participating in the CSW: ACCESS DENIED! “Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.” - Beijing Platform for Action The ACCESS DENIED campaign seeks to address the stark contrast between Beijing’s call for participation of women back in 1995 already and the reality of exclusion faced by many activists who had wished to be here at this 30 year anniversary of Beijing. Particularly activists from the global South , black and brown women, women with disabilities, youth, trans and gender non-binary people, sex workers and undocumented migrants face exclusion. Denied access due to visa obstacle...

WO=MEN in New York

Search This Blog