WO=MEN in New York

  The voting results on the CSW70 Agreed Conclusions The Women’s Rights Caucus (WRC)—a global intersectional feminist coalition of more than 800 organizations, networks, and individuals convened by Fòs Feminista, Outright International, African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), and Young Feminist Caucus, that advocates for gender equality at the United Nations—welcomes the adoption of the CSW70 Agreed Conclusions under the priority theme: “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and addressing structural barriers.” WO=MEN and several of its members are actively engaged in the WRC.  The close of the seventieth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women marked an unprecedented procedural departure. For the first time in the Commissi...

Photo of the UN in Geneva   Tijdens de NGO briefing voor de 70ste VN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) presenteerden diverse experts hun pitches met aanbevelingen aan de delegatie. De bijeenkomst vond plaats op het ministerie van OCW (onderwijs, cultuur en wetenschap) op 28 januari 2026. Alle 4 de pitches staan hier (in het Nederlands of Engels) op deze CSW blogpagina. De eerste pitch werd gegeven door Linda Mans namens het Netwerk VN-Vrouwenverdrag . Linda is een van de vertegenwoordigers uit het maatschappelijk middenveld in Nederland die de komende week naar Geneve reizen voor de constructieve dialoog van het CEDAW Comite met Nederland. Het belang van CEDAW voor het bereiken van ‘access to justice’  Nederland heeft zich met de ratificatie van het VN-Vrouwenverdrag (CEDAW) verplicht tot het actief bevorderen van gendergelijkheid en het tegengaan van discriminatie van vrouwen. Dit vraagt niet alleen formele naleving, maar samenhangend en effectief beleid dat aansluit b...

Bruna presents her pitch During a lively briefing on 27 January 2025 for NGOs in the Netherlands about the 69th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), experts from diverse backgrounds presented their pitches about key topics of importance for the delegation to keep in mind while engaging in the upcoming CSW negotiations. This fifth pitch was presented by Bruna Martinez on behalf of Young Feminist Europe, a platform of diverse young feminists in Europe who raise awareness on intersectional gender issues. Seven years ago, I moved to the Netherlands from Brazil in pursuit of a graduate education. Despite the challenges of navigating the job market and securing my right to reside, I am fortunate to stand here today as a proud immigrant who has succeeded in society’s terms. However, this is not the reality for most migrant women in Europe. I stand in solidarity with them, amplifying their voices in this space. There are over 42 million migrant women in Europe, many young, racializ...

Lydia Vlagsma presenteert haar pitch   Tijdens een levendige briefing op 27 januari 2025 voor NGO's in Nederland over de 69e VN-Commissie inzake de Status van Vrouwen (CSW), presenteerden diverse experts hun pitches met aanbevelingen aan de delegatie voor de komende CSW-onderhandelingen. Alle 6 de pitches staan hier (in het Nederlands of Engels) op deze CSW blogpagina. De derde pitch werd gegeven door Lydia Vlagsma, beleidsmedewerker onderwijs en VN-verdrag Handicap bij Ieder(in) . Ieder(in) is een koepelorganisatie van patiënten- en gehandicaptenorganisaties die de belangen van zo’n 2 miljoen mensen met een beperking in Nederland vertegenwoordigen. Lydia is zelf het afgelopen jaar actief betrokken geweest bij de eerste evaluatie van Nederland bij het VN-verdrag Handicap in Genève, waar Nederland heel wat huiswerk meekreeg. In september 2024 verschenen de zeer kritische Concluding Observations van het VN-comité Handicap, waaruit blijkt dat de overheid 8 jaar na invoering van he...

Today the "informals" start. The coming 2 days government delegations will be locked-up in a room going through the latest draft of the Agreed Conclusions paragraph by paragraph. They started this morning at 10:00, will pause for a break from 13:00-15:00, and expect it to be a long night going through all the 39 pages. The aim is to streamline the text, making it shorter by getting rid of repetitions. More importantly, this is the moment to see what different regions' and states' positions are. For example, the Vatican which last year proposed more amendments than any other member, has so far been silent. Overall what's really at stake this year is not necessarily "gender" (gender equality) but women's human rights . Several countries aim to take language referring to women's human rights out, saying that the MDGs are a "development" agenda and do not deal with "rights". However the international Women's Rights Caucus,...

CSW58 is about to start: tomorrow! At 10 o’clock the session will be opened. See the schedule of the official programme here . After the CSW58 bureau (this year consisting of Philippines , Sudan, Georgia, El Salvador and Switzerland) drafted the first version of the Agreed Conclusions (the text that will be negotiated) UN member states from around the world had a critical look at it and made their amendments, either suggesting to remove or to add things. This second version was circulated a few weeks ago, and shows some interesting developments. What stands out is that Iran has made many amendments. Already in the 2nd paragraph they suggest not to “reaffirm” but merely “take note” of CEDAW - the most important binding agreement to end discrimination against women existing in the world. They also suggest to to remove “gender equality” several times from the text. Other vocal countries. both making amendments that I would flag as “like” and “don’t like” include Turkey, Russia...

By Loeky Droesen During the CSW this year, the member states of the UN are negotiating to reach Agreed Conclusions on what states/governments should do to end Violence Against Women. And today we find out if they are even able to reach agreement. But unfortunately even if promises and commitments are made at the UN, they are often are not translated in action at the national level. On Thursday the 7 th of March between 14.30 and 16.00, about 60 people squeezed into the Drew room (official capacity 35 seats) at the church center to participate in the workshop: “Making our Domestic Violence laws work in practice. A short survey of the participants showed all the continents of the globe were represented, with the exception of the Pacific, and more than half the participants worked in practice providing services to victims/survivors of Domestic Violence [i] . Most of the participants also did lobby and advocacy at the national level and a slightly lower number at the internation...