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| (photo from CSW69 closing session) |
**The letter below is a request on behalf of a diverse, international feminist coalition to support the adoption of the United Nations CSW Agreed Conclusions, planned to take place today at 3 pm.
Distinguished delegates,
The Global Trade Union’s Caucus, the Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Caucus, the Women’s Rights Caucus and the Young Feminist Caucus are sending this message of support to the Chair and the CSW70 Bureau.
We represent voices from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Southwest Asia and North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and North America. We thank you, Ambassador Chan Valverde, the co-facilitators and the Bureau for fighting for our rights inside and outside of the negotiation room. We are saddened that what we once called consensus, the rights we have fought for and acquired, are now the subject of last minute amendments and heavy opposition.
This moment is bigger than a negotiation.
Across the world, women, youth, adolescents and girls in all their diversity are facing unprecedented attacks and reversals of their rights, their autonomy, and their participation in public life. Despite these barriers, feminist movements continue to push forward.
The CSW has long been a place where the international community affirmed that gender equality and access to justice for all women and girls are non-negotiable. That commitment has shaped laws, policies, and changed lives for the better worldwide.
Today, that promise for a more equal and just future is on the line.
This is the first time that the CSW has discussed access to justice directly as its own theme.
Adopting Agreed Conclusions on this matter would send a powerful message: Member States reaffirm international rights and standards on women’s and girls’ rights to access justice that reflect their local lived realities and global commitments to gender equality, justice, and dignity. The Agreed Conclusions, as drafted, reflect our lived realities and regardless of the many concessions, as of this morning we have a text where we still see ourselves represented.
Moving forward, including through a vote if necessary, would mean that significant progress made over decades will not be held hostage, and that this Commission remains a space for advancing rights, not retreating from them.
We urge Member States to rise to this moment and to support the Agreed Conclusions as circulated by the Chair last night, and to oppose any attempts to amend them. All women and girls around the world are watching you.
When we fight for women’s rights, we fight for multilateralism, and to leave a stronger international system for those coming after us.
Thank you.
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