The right to participate in the CSW, the Case of Iran

A group of international women's and human rights activists, organizations and networks, including AI, AIDOA and AWID to name a few, joined forces with a group of Women's rights activists from Iran and applied for an oral statement during the General Discussion at CSW 54. The application was turned down. UN Women was requested to explain why: CSW's Bureau decided to refuse allotting speaking time to the alliance because Iran, one of the 45 members of the CSW this year insisted to do. We all thought that freedom of expression was one of the fundamental right, guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but apparently this does not apply to UN premises! In the end the CSW-NGO liason team right allowed one of the sisters to read the statement just after the closing the daily NGO briefing this morning. You can read it through this link.

Also watch the video, ABSENT VOICES, in youtube.

Leontine Bijleveld

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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

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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

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