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| 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
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