WO=MEN in New York

The resolution on ‘Protection of the Family’ was NOT adopted at the Human Rights Council on Monday. It was withdrawn by the sponsors. The sponsors framed their withdrawal as postponing consideration to a later stage. It is telling that the fear of introduction of language on the existence of “various forms of the family” into the text during action on the resolution caused this withdrawal/postponment. The language that would have formed the introduced amendment is agreed consensus UN language which has been used again and again. The EU and GRULAC groups and a number of States including Switzerland, the US, Australia and New Zealand stood firm in insisting that this language be included in the text. A number of other States from different regions stood ready to support the introduction previously mentioned. Egypt took the floor to introduce the resolution and announce its withdrawal on behalf of the core group, comprising of Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Mauritani...

One week after the adoption of the agreed conclusions at CSW57, Daniela Rosche from WO=MEN member OxfamNovib shares her views. Read the full article in the Huffingtonpost . Last Friday, governments at the UN adopted an outcome document at the conclusion of the 2 weeks session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 57). Following last year's collapse of the meeting and the huge pressure from conservative forces who tried to derail the process, the adoption of an outcome text condemning violence against women in strong terms is celebrated as a success.  But is it? The concerted attempt at rolling back women's rights, by bringing national level strife on the position of women and abortion, religion, culture and custom into the global arena, is not a new development. The pressure on the CSW meetings and its role in upholding basic rights for women has gradually increased each year since 2009. And this trend has long spilled over to other UN forums s...

Click here for the final version of the agreed conclusions. It still includes the references to those paragraphs that were previously agreed, and the ones that were redrafted by the chair and then agreed to in the final round of statements. = Joni van de Sand =

Press release by the CSW57 Women's Rights Caucus, in which WO=MEN has actively taken part. On Friday March 15 2013, the UN Member States resoundingly committed to ending violence against women and girls, including strong agreements on promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment, and ensuring reproductive rights and access to sexual and reproductive health services. The Agreed Conclusions of the 57 th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women represent another important step forward, building on the global momentum of the past twenty years, which has created a strong framework by which to end all forms of violence against women, young women, and girls. Women’s health and rights organizations congratulated the governments who have defended the human right of women and girls to live free from all forms of violence. We have seen two weeks of intense negotiations, in which culture, tradition, and religion have been used to try to deny women their rights. In ...

Right before 8 ‘o clock this evening New York time, the CSW57 adopted agreed conclusions! Around 6 everyone was still awaiting what the next step would be. The delegations were still negotiating text in the room, and the information coming out was often contradictory. Suddenly a 6 th draft of the text was distributed. The chair had prepared this text, including all the agreed paragraphs, amendments to those that were kept in and not yet agreed upon, and with some paragraphs removed altogether.  Dozens of civil society representatives lined up along the windows of the conference room, to show the delegations our support and send out a message: do not let go of progress made for women’s rights! After about half an hour to read the text, during which everyone quickly scanned through to see what happened to their most crucial issues, the chair decided to ask delegation by delegation whether they could endorse the text or not. We still did not know what would hap...

At 9 this morning there was an ambassadors meeting where a select group of countries came together to discuss the agreements. Though it is encouraging to see such high-level involvement in the CSW, problem with this procedure was that countries as varied as The Netherlands, South Africa and Iran , and the Holy See  (note the subtle difference of comma's placing in this sentence ;) had to come together to discuss strategy. Unfortunately no real solution came out. The   fifth version   of the agreed conclusions was released. It does not really include anything new, just a better overview than the version of the day before. There was a small victory today, when a paragraph to " support and protect those who are committed to eliminating violence against women, including women's human rights defenders" was agreed. We cheered loudly. However, still none of the contested issues has really been discussed, thus they remain open. And it has been confusing to hear how ...

By Loeky Droesen During the CSW this year, the member states of the UN are negotiating to reach Agreed Conclusions on what states/governments should do to end Violence Against Women. And today we find out if they are even able to reach agreement. But unfortunately even if promises and commitments are made at the UN, they are often are not translated in action at the national level. On Thursday the 7 th of March between 14.30 and 16.00, about 60 people squeezed into the Drew room (official capacity 35 seats) at the church center to participate in the workshop: “Making our Domestic Violence laws work in practice. A short survey of the participants showed all the continents of the globe were represented, with the exception of the Pacific, and more than half the participants worked in practice providing services to victims/survivors of Domestic Violence [i] . Most of the participants also did lobby and advocacy at the national level and a slightly lower number at the internation...

[This statement was re-released today and signed by an overwhelming number and diversity of organizations and people from all around the world. Deliberately not naming and shaming any specific countries nor regions, it is directed to those who attempt to re-open established international agreements.  = Joni van de Sand = ] We, the undersigned organisations and individuals across the globe, are again concerned that the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is wavering in its commitment to advance women’s human rights as demonstrated in the constant negotiation of the language in the outcome document. On the occasion of celebrating the International Women’s Day we call on the states to reaffirm its commitment to agreed upon standards in promoting women’s human rights as articulated in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence ag...