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CSW66 blog: who listens when we #UNMute?

Sanne on screen in the General Assembly

Last Friday evening, the negotiations of the CSW Agreed Conclusions halted quite early and were only resumed again today in the afternoon. This meant that I had the morning to check out the statements by countries and NGOs in the impressive General Assembly. Sanne Van de Voort was one of just three NGO's present to deliver her statement - on behalf of WECF - in person.

But there were some hurdles to overcome first:

  • No one seemed to know where to get the 'extra' pass needed to access the balcony where the non-Member States delegates are allowed to observe;
  • It was difficult to find someone who could activate the elevator to take me to the 4th floor as my own ground pass was not sufficiently empowered; 
  • When I arrived at the entrance of the General Assembly balcony the door was blocked... by a wood block!
    Blocked door to the General Assembly balcony

Once on the balcony, I had plenty of seats to chose from... It is a sad and frankly completely unacceptable reality to have a UN negotiated process without the hussle and bustle - expert inputs, networking engagements, protests - of NGOs in the building.

Nadia with many empty seats on the observer balcony of the General Assembly

Also in the main hall of the Assembly very few Member States had made the effort to show up. It is great to be one of the lucky few NGOs selected to make a statement, but when no ones comes to listen it doesn't do much to #UNMuteCivilSociety and #UNMuteCSW66. I am happy to add that the Netherlands at least was there to listen. In the photo below, you see Lisanne Post from the delegation with Sanne Van de Voort in the left lower corner.

The UN General Assembly in New York

In her statement, Sanne addressed the lack of meaningful participation of civil society during the CSW.

"I stand in solidarity with those thousands of women (in all their diversity) that cannot be here today to raise their own voices. They cannot be here because of many inequalities: from discriminatory visa restrictions to vaccine inequity to financial restraints to conflicts and war. The absence of civil society experts and activists is unjustifiable and will certainly reduce the outcomes and impact of this CSW66." - Sanne Van de Voort

Sanne delivering her NGO statement at the CSW66

Sanne called for peace, effective and interlinked policies, funding and gender transformative actions. Now!

"Yes, dear Delegates, we are aware this is not a COP. We are not negotiating climate or environmental policies. But at this CSW you do have the opportunity to put gender equality and women’s human rights at the top of your Member-States’ climate and environmental agendas! [...] We can’t go backwards: not on human rights, nor on climate action!" - Sanne

Sanne's statement very much deserves a much larger audience. You can read the full statement and watch the video on WECF's website here.

And while it has been quite depressing and completely unhelpful to have so little civil society around in the UN (in the evening it was just 8 of us in total left on the couches, and that's the max we will likely be the coming days), the one advantage is that there has also been much less opposition around to add stress... Although there are apparently six of these buses currently driving around Manhatten this week with the slogan: "Equality starts - in the womb - CSW66". Sigh.


* Blog post by Nadia van der Linde, Program Manager International Processes at WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform

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