The delegates from Member States went on much longer than planned to negotiate about the final text in the Agreed Conclusions. There was really no way of knowing when they would end. UN Women staff had even shared with us, the 'couch support' (civil society with ECOSOC ground passes) in the UN basement, that there was a trick they could use to continue even after the formal end of the CSW on Friday night 25 March: a clause called 'stop the clock'. Literally, this means that they can formally pretend the clock has stopped at 23:59 hours while simply continue negotiating. It would be documented as having been accomplished on the 25th.
But however long they would continue to negotiate, some of our conclusions, criticism and feedback on the process and (expected) outcome were already crystal clear.
Below the statement that I presented during the press conference.
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| Nadia in the UN basement participating in the WRC press conference |
"I am part of WO=MEN, a network of over 50 diverse organisations and many individuals in the Netherlands united in our fight for a gender just world. And here I am, as just one of very few activists on this panel who is actually in the UN in New York.
This is no surprise as I live in the Global North, with a Global North passport. These inequalities in access are unacceptable.
And no, it is not a step forward when country delegations get to come together to negotiate while civil society is stuck in virtual spaces only. That has increased the inequality - and further unleveled the playing field.
The statements you are hearing form my colleagues in this panel, are the statements that delegates should have been directly confronted with and required to deal with before and during the CSW.
We have seen too little sense of urgency for the priority topic among delegates here at the UN. In the CSW process. And more than anything in the outcomes as it is looking at this moment.
“Out of Sight, Out of Mind” – seems very true in this process.
Member states clearly need us, need civil society, in order to feel the urgency of their work. And they clearly need to be fed with our expertise.
Why did states not include climate, environment and disaster expertise in their delegations?
And why did they not spend the last year building that expertise among their CSW delegates? This lack of expertise in delegations is clearly a huge problem in this CSW.
And why are the climate paragraphs only seriously discussed very late, on the very last day of the CSW?
This CSW is the place to move forward on achieving gender equality and women’s rights. This cannot be achieved when we allow our extractive companies to continue their harmful activities around the world without accountability; when we ignore the loss and damage we cause, when we ignore taking care of our planet.
The time to act is now.
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| Image from the Women's Rights Caucus (WRC) social media campaign during the CSW66 |
We need to address these crises at a global level. Let’s be clear: The Global North clearly is the main culprit of these crises – while the Global South is stuck with the biggest impact. And the impact is gendered. And solutions must be gender-transformative.
At this CSW, the EU and other Global North governments have failed to take responsibility for addressing the climate and environmental crises and effectively working towards gender justice! They have failed women and girls in all their diversity around the world.
Yes, some of them have worked hard to maintain language around WHRDs [women's human rights defenders], to get women journalists included in the end document for the first time, and to protect language on SRHR [sexual and reproductive health and rights], for example.
But when it comes to this year’s priority themes, the EU and other Global North governments really missed the opportunity to strengthen the UNFCCC and the upcoming COP27 by firmly adding concrete ways to link gender and climate action. The EU has purposefully kept spaces separated instead of building bridges. They have refrained from using the CSW to move forward on strengthening gender-transformative climate and environmental commitments in upcoming processes.
· Climate finance is crucial. There are some mechanisms already in place for this but they are still largely gender blind which needs to be addressed. We need commitments to financing loss and damage and we need this with a gender transformative approach.
· We need climate finance to directly support feminist organisations and movements, including environmental and peace organisations. Particular attention and support is needed for those who are structurally excluded and silenced.
· Women and girls in all their diversities – and definitely women and girls also from and in the Global South - must be meaningfully included in decision making processes related to these topics.
· Gender equality, peace and sustainability of our planet are all connected and dependent on each other. We cannot effectively tackle one without tackling the other.
To quote Sanne Van de Voort [full speech here] – the Dutch NGO representative
on the delegation – in the General Assembly earlier this week:
"At this CSW the members states had the opportunity to put gender equality and women’s human rights at the top of all Member-States’ climate and environmental agendas! [...] We simply cannot go backwards: not on human rights, nor on climate and environment action!"
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| Image from the WRC social media campaign |
* blog post by Nadia van der Linde, Program Manager International Processes at WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform
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