Skip to main content

CSW68 Youth Dialogue statement by Fenna Timsi

 

Dutch youth representative Fenna Timsi gives her statement in the CSW68 Youth Dialogue

On Thursday afternoon, 14 March 2024, the Dutch youth representative Fenna Timsi gave her statement in the CSW68 Youth Dialogue inside the UN. The reflections from several participants of this year's Youth Dialogue - the second ever as part of the CSW - were that it has much improved compared to last year. Importantly, many more of the people who were given the floor were actually young people themselves. Many of the statements were rich and relevant in content with clear and important messages for the government delegates in the other room in the UN who had started the negotiations for the outcome document.

Read Fenna's statement below or see the full Youth Dialogue here (Fenna's statement is at 1:20:10).


Dear all, 

As the Dutch UN Youth Representative, I thank you to speak independently on behalf of young people in the Netherlands, not on behalf of the government. I spoke to many young people in the Netherlands voicing their concerns about women’s rights,.  

Recently the Feminist March in the Netherlands, uniting women and girls in their diversity was canceled by the organizers out of fear of violence against palestine supporters. This week in our country the demonstration right, our human right came up for debate. It’s a perfect example that human rights need to be continuously fought for. 

Especially women's rights. There is no country where gender equality has been achieved yet and at the same pace, the gender gap will not be closed until 2154 according to the world economic forum. Progress is slow and sometimes reversed. Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination are tough.  

Different young women voiced their worries to me. A young girl Lisa told me how she had to take up care duties at home because of gender stereotypes, could not invest in herself and landed into poverty.  

Maryam told me how she faced discrimination in our education system due to her last name and later in finding an internship. Rejection after rejection resulted in her falling into poverty.  

These stories show many barriers for young women to stand up and raise their voice.  Structural inequalities we face everyday, in public participation, education and the economy hinder us from fulfilling our right to gender equality. We need to recognize the gendered impacts of economic systems based on infinite growth for which women pay the real price, often undervalued, underpaid or not paid. 

We need a new strategy: centering the worries of young people and departing from our empathy and solidarity. We came up with the idea of an UN generational test, where we assess the intergenerational and gendered impact of policies before implementing, taking into account the needs of future generations, making them more sustainable and inclusive.  

Centering the worries of young people will lead to a world in which all genders dream to live. Instead of not enough safety for demonstrations and shrinking civil society space, there should be more dialogue where we, young people, are equal partners. And beside intergenerational solidarity, we need all genders on board. We are all different and we should celebrate these differences together. Why not march for gender justice that is not decades away, together? 

Thank you 

- Statement by Dutch CSW68 Youth Representative Fenna Timsi during the Youth Dialogue on Thursday 14 March 2024 in New York 

Labels

Labels:
Location: New York City, New York, Verenigde Staten

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aandachtspunten voor de CSW delegatie en onze democratie

Hieronder lees je de presentatie met aandachtspunten voor de Nederlandse CSW delegatie gegeven door Britt Myren, Atria, tijdens de CSW69 NGO briefing op de Nederlandse ambassade (Permanente Vertegenwoordiging) in New York. De bijeenkomst werd zeer goed bijgewoond met 40+ deelnemers uit het Nederlands maatschappelijk middenveld - we pasten niet meer aan de tafel en er ontstond een tweede ring - en met een welkomstwoord en dialoog met het hoofd van de delegatie, staatssecretaris Mariëlle Paul. 11 maart 2025 “Let us be clear, gender equality is not just a goal, it is the foundation of a just and sustainable world.”    Deze woorden gebruikte de Ambassadeur van Canada en ECOSOC president gisteren bij de opening ceremonie van de CSW, de VN Commissie voor de Status van Vrouwen . Als maatschappelijk middenveld herkennen wij deze boodschap en benadrukken het belang van ons functioneren in een sterke democratie. Dit belang kan niet onderschat worden, net zo min als het belang van de jui...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more