WO=MEN in New York

Here you can find the Agreed Conclusions of CSW58! It was the first time governments agreed to a gender stand-alone goal in the Post-2015 agenda, in combination with integration in ALL the other goals: Para 43. "The Commission urges States to build on the lessons from the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals as the new post-2015 development agenda is being shaped. It urges States to tackle critical remaining challenges through a transformative and comprehensive approach and calls for gender equality, the empowerment of women and human rights of women and girls to be reflected as a stand-alone goal and to be integrated through targets and indicators into all goals of any new development framework." Thanks to all for reading this blog, and for your active contributions and sharing it through your own social media. WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform

After two weeks of intense negotiations, the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women ended early this morning with a strong call to prioritize gender equality and the human rights of women in order to achieve sustainable development. The Commission was convened at the UN headquarters in New York to address the challenges and achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in improving the lives of women and girls in developing countries. While the MDGs resulted in a reduction of poverty in some respects, the goals furthest from being achieved are those focused on women and girls—particularly on achieving gender equality and improving maternal health. With the MDGs set to expire in 2015, the Commission's outcome document will help shape priorities for the next global development framework. The Commission specifically called for a stand-alone goal on gender equality, a move that was applauded by women’s rights activists. A stand-alone goal on gender equali...

Its been a really long night, and thinking I probably wouldnt have much energy to write a blog tonight - I decided to keep a twitter-diary. See below!

Yesterday, the Youth Rights Caucus, consisting of young people that actively advocate for sexual rights at the CSW58 - including CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality , presented its oral statement.   “I would like to share the following recommendations from the Youth Rights Caucus at CSW58.  As we begin to define the post-2015 global development framework, it is absolutely critical that we reflect on and learn from the gaps and successes of the Millennium Development Goals. While we have seen progress in the last 15 years through the MDGs, the goals that remain furthest from being achieved are those focused on women and girls. This is due to persistent stigma and discrimination against women of all ages and backgrounds,  inadequate investment in comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services, and a lack of willingness to champion women and girls' sexual and reproductive rights as human rights. We are deeply troubled b...

It is getting later and later here at the UN building. It is a bit after 10 in the evening, and negotiations are expected to take a couple more hours. When will they finish? No one knows yet. At the moment government delegations are going back and forth through the text. Every time a paragraph is discussed a couple of words are shifted around, removed or added - but few paragraphs are agreed and by far the majority are put aside for another moment during the evening. And then the next paragraph is looked at. Und so fort - und so weiter.  The third day of negotiations started this afternoon around 3. Regional strategic sessions, including by EU member states, were going on since early morning. And there are "bilaterals" (meetings between 2 countries from different regions) and cross-regional meetings taking place all day too. Needless to say, everyone is getting a little tired. We as civil society are sticking around, encouraging delegations to keep up the good work, and a...

This morning at the end of this mornings NGO CSW briefing I handed over a letter to the NGO Committee on the Status of Women on behalf of several ECOSOC accredited NGO's to the chair of the Committee, Ms. Soon-Young Yoon. The procedural errors at the NA/European/NIS caucus last week prompted some Dutch NGOs to draft the letter. We think it is very important that participants in the CSW-NGO process are familiar with the written and unwritten procedures with respect to UN in general and the CSW process in particular. It was obvious last week that several are not (yet) and that some took the approach that the (their?) end justifies the means. So we shared our concerns and formulated practical suggestions to overcome the gaps in knowledge: A more extended/accurate description of the caucus process (and the distinction between a caucus and a group) at http://www.ngocsw.org/ng...

On 20 March at the 58th Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Rutgers WPF and the MenCare+ Consortium delivered an oral statement asking for increased attention to involve men in improving the position of women and girls. The statement was presented by  Joni van de Sand from WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform. "The new global Post-2015 Development Agenda aims to improve the position of women and girls. Engaging men as allies in this endeavour has been proven to work around the world. Men have the potential to contribute towards improving gender equality, and many men already do." Around the world men are  doing their share of caregiving  at home, are  speaking out  against gender-based violence  and are  supporting girls’ and women’s empowerment . To break through and change harmful and unhealthy perceptions of what it means to be a man, men and women together are redefining concepts of manhood, relationships, sexuality and ca...

Some great news from last night's negotiations. "Feminist groups" have been recognized in the Agreed Conclusions! "25 bis bis. The Commission acknowledges the major contributions made by civil society, including women’s and community based organizations and feminist groups in placing the interests, needs and visions of women on national, regional and international agendas. AD REF" Not in the least because of the great leadership from the negotiators from South Africa and Egypt! = Joni van de Sand, WO=MEN = 

By Zoe Nussy, Michiel Andeweg, Joni van de Sand, Heather Barclay This is an ABC of words you hear a lot here @ CSW58. Here goes: Abstinence - you'll hear this from the conservative opposition  - they're trying to promote this as the best way to address the HIV epidemic Beijing is a great landmark agreement for women's rights, but a lot has advanced since then. We're working to make sure that our rights are left not in 1995, and that the advances we have made have been recognised. Comprehensive Sexuality Education is the best way to give people the ability to make free and positive decisions about their sexuality. Now we are reminding member states of its importance so they keep it in the final document. Diversity - that is a word that you may not hear here. We are fighting hard to have "women in all their diversity" reflected in the text. And others are fighting to take it out. Elimination of violence and discrimination is central in the CSW negotiations a...

This year, the Commission on the Status of Women focuses on development. When we are genuinely thinking about development, women’s human rights, and equality for all, it’s very important to ask ourselves who benefit from development, and who are being left out. Lesbian, bisexual and transgender women are among the last groups that benefit from development. Access to employment, health care, education and housing are often not guaranteed for women who do not conform to existing ideas of gender and sexuality roles. Discrimination on the work floor can lead to women being fired, not hired for jobs that they are qualified for, or being harassed by co-workers or superiors. Women and girls are bullied in schools, or even kicked out, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Violence and threats against lesbian, bisexual and transgender women have a severe impact on their health and wellbeing. And making sure you have a roof over your head is pretty hard when you don’t have...

Shiwani Neupane (journalist from Nepal) published an article in E-zine Pass Blue, covering the UN , about the Decent Work- Living Wages side event monday last week. E-zine Pass Blue  In the mean time it is clear that there is no language anymore in the draft agreed conclusions on living wages. Whether the representatives of the Dutch and the German governments have taken any efforts to have the issue included is best known to themselves.

At the end of the second day, two confusing sentiments co-exist: There are some who are saying: “The negotiations have always been about looking at the future – now a lot of energy is spent on defending what has been agreed in the past . This is frustrating. This is supposed to be a transformative moment, instead we are barely holding the line.” Then there are others who are saying: “The atmosphere is still very good in the negotiation room. Last year around this time there was already a lot of tension. In fact, it is so calm – it kinda makes you wonder whether something is going on that we do not know about yet, and will be surprised by at the last moment…” So, let’s just have a look at some of the central elements around the negotiations: There is a lot to do about the right to development . The sentiment of “Southern” countries is that “when we have to give something, you also have to give something.” Until the “North” gives in a bit on issues related to the current glo...

Mark-Pieter van den Heuvel attended the CSW for the first week, and being back home there is a question on his mind, which he would like to submit to you: Tick the (Gender) Box: Will the real feminist please stand up? A Feminist is…. (Please tick the box that most applies to your views) (   ) ..a woman who hates all men. (   ) ..a woman who’s okay with accepting and maybe even involving men but who’ll  never admit that in public. (   )..a woman or a man who believes and speaks out openly that all men and women are (created) equal and therefore should be able to enjoy their human rights to the fullest. This man or woman is happy with all people - man, woman and everything in between - willing to join him/her in the endeavour of making gender equality a reality in every society on this earth. Which box will you tick? Please let me know, so I can add you to my list of ‘like mindeds, or make an appointment with you, to grab a c...

Today was a “break-day” as someone from a government delegation mentioned. Unlike announced yesterday, the negotiations did not continue today, but will start again tomorrow (Tuesday 18th) at 1 ‘o clock. They are expected to carry on long into the evening/night, and will continue the next day. Halfway on Thursday the facilitator of the negotiations plans to have the final version ready. Negotiations have been slow “but hardly contentuous” another government delegate said. While the good spirit between delegations is good news, the slowness (which is nothing new in comparison to previous years) means we are all likely to have a couple of long days and nights ahead of us. The 3rd draft of the Agreed Conclusions came in a bit after noon. The text is now 28 pages long and is streamlined – which means repetitions have been grouped together and aligned to comprehensive paragraphs. Only 2 paragraphs are “ADD REF” which means agreed. This implies that a lot of negotiating still needs to...

Margaret de Vos van  Steenwijk van International Network of Liberal Women participated in a march for women's rights during CSW58. Here she shares some of the photos she took and a short anecdote on her experiences (in Dutch): Een 100 tal kleurig uitgedoste vrouwen die zichtbaar uit de hele wereld  komen, verzamelen zich getooid in allerlei hoofddeksels bij First avenue  tegenover het UN gebouw. Daar krijgen zij allen een sjerp uitgereikt waar  men vrij is er zelf een leus op te schrijven. Vandaar zet de groep zich  langzaam in beweging...  De vrouwen die deelnemen aan deze 2014 Celebration March: Global Women for Equality, Development and Peace scanderen wat  ongecoördineerd " Women's rights are human Rights! " En "No more rape". Er  wordt langzaam gelopen en vooraan loopt achter een lang spandoek onder meer  de voorzitter van de NGO CSW/NY, Soon-Young Yoon.  Via Second Avenue komt de  mars tot een eind op de ...

Tomorrow the second week of CSW begins. During the weekend most of us have taken the - much needed - time to relax a bit, catch up informally, and gather strength for the week to come. A new version of the agreed conclusions is expected tomorrow morning at the latest, and will be negotiated the coming days. This new text will include the facilitator's proposals, taking into account all that has been written and said by government delegations during the reading last Thursday and Friday (which ended at 1 'o clock Friday night!). Everyone is awaiting the new text full of aspiration... In a recent interview with AWID ,  activist  Cynthia Rothschild - an active member of the international Women's Rights Caucus in which WO=MEN members also participate - highlights a similar sentiment that was echoed by those who were present at the EU briefing on Tuesday. What it comes down to, and I am using my own wording now, is that civil society calls   on governments to go beyond ...

It is Sunday evening in New York - the first week of CSW has come to a close, and many NGO prepresentatives from around the world have gone back home. Including Mark-Pieter van den Heuvel from WO=MEN member Rutgers WPF, who shares here with us how he looks back now on that first week: I really need to write down my thoughts and reflections, cause I’m afraid I will loose it if I don’t start to download and share it soon. To free some space on my hard drive and to inform you on what’s going on inside of me. The danger of a conference like CSW is in both focussing and in not focussing your attention and time. Let me try to explain. If you DO focus for example on attending side events, but you don’t follow up with advocating key influencers and decision makers, change ain’t gonna happen. On the other hand, if you DO focus on tackling the opposition or your own delegation you might end up frustrated by the dirty politics, the way the UN system works and the seemingly unwillin...

UN Women’s Natalia Zakharova’s opening speech set the stage: Many countries have NAPs, which are not funded. To develop action plans is the first step, but how real is the commitment when an action plan is not resourced? The NAPs 1325 Global Review, coördinated by UN Women together with civil society and financed a.o. by the Dutch government, shows that the issue of financing particularly has been a concern. “Without money it is impossible to implement and generate change on the ground. An allocated budget is a signal of real political commitment. We are still not very succesful to get this done.” Mavic Cabrera-Balleza – International Coördinator for the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP - chair of the event) said that the report of UN Secretary General of 2010 identified two issues: lack of political will and lack of dedicated funding for national level implementation . How to deal with these challenges is the subject of today’s session. Cordaid’s Dewi Suralaga pre...

Elisabeth van der Steenhoven (WO=MEN) interviewde voor Vice Versa minister Liliane Ploumen over haar inzet bij en analyse van de CSW. Lees het volledige artikel op ViceVersaOnline . Twee weken geleden sprak u  met het Vaticaan in Rome:  gaat de Heilige Stoel dit jaar weer tegen de term gender ageren? ‘Nou, er is een nieuwe paus. Hij laat nadrukkelijk een ander geluid horen. Het Vaticaan heeft zich nadrukkelijk gekeerd tegen de wet die homoseksualiteit strafbaar maakt. Dat betekent niet dat het Vaticaan achter homoseksualiteit staat, wel dat geprobeerd wordt uitsluiting en criminalisering te voorkomen. Wat de onderhandelingen betreft: het blijft afwachten of en hoe het nieuwe geluid doorwerkt bij de CSW onderhandelingen. De ervaring bij de CSW leert dat naarmate de tijd vordert alle pijnpunten scherp aan het licht komen.’ U heeft nu met het Vaticaan gesproken, gaat u nog met andere religieuze leiders of stromingen in dialoog over vrouwenrechten en gendergelijkheid ? ...

Today the "informals" start. The coming 2 days government delegations will be locked-up in a room going through the latest draft of the Agreed Conclusions paragraph by paragraph. They started this morning at 10:00, will pause for a break from 13:00-15:00, and expect it to be a long night going through all the 39 pages. The aim is to streamline the text, making it shorter by getting rid of repetitions. More importantly, this is the moment to see what different regions' and states' positions are. For example, the Vatican which last year proposed more amendments than any other member, has so far been silent. Overall what's really at stake this year is not necessarily "gender" (gender equality) but women's human rights . Several countries aim to take language referring to women's human rights out, saying that the MDGs are a "development" agenda and do not deal with "rights". However the international Women's Rights Caucus,...