WO=MEN in New York

Artwork "Who can I trust with my story?" from ArtVism in Uganda During the 69th CSW, the Our Voices Our Futures (OVOF) consortium organised a creative ARTivism for Change space where bold protest sign-making, intimate film screenings, and thought-provoking feminist dialogues blended together. Over two days, March 12 and 13, 2025, artists, activists, and allies transformed the space into dynamic real-life canvases of empowerment, solidarity, and cultural and political resistance.   In the main space of the Blue Gallery participants engaged with various stations, including Button Making , Journaling with Art , Drawing , and Protest Sign Making . Participants moved between activities, creating powerful messages of resistance and hope. The creativity extended beyond the activities themselves. Access Denied The ACCESS DENIED campaign , initiated by WO=MEN, was set up to be a photo installation. It highlights the deep gap between the inclusive vision set forth at the 1995 Beijing ...

Anila Noor, New Women Connectors, at the CSW in New York The Commission on the Status of Women’s 69th session (CSW69), an influential global gathering on women’s rights, took place in New York between the 10th and 21st of March. This year’s focus at the global gathering is the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action , which is considered as one of the most progressive blueprints for women’s rights advancement. Leading up to this important event, New Women Connectors (NWC) held a webinar titled “We, Displaced Women: Leading the Transformation to Shape Peaceful Green Futures from Gender Justice to Climate Justice” in partnership with WO=MEN, as an effort to gather knowledge on the intersection of gender justice, climate change and displacement. Here, NWC shares some pertinent takeaways from this insightful webinar that was held on the 24th of February. The webinar featured three speakers with expertise across a range of topics, such as climate change, displacement and women-led grass...

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...

Anila Noor sharing her pitch at the CSW69 briefing 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 second pitch was presented by Anila Noor, a refugee activist in the Netherlands and founder of New Women Connectors . New Women Connectors is an organisation committed to amplifying the voices and leadership of migrant and refugee women across Europe and globally.   From Vulnerability to Leadership : Advancing the Rights of Migrant and Refugee Women       The backlash against migrants and women’s rights in Europe is not just alarming—it’s putting displaced women at heightened risk. Gender-based violence (GBV) is a symptom of systemic issues like exclusion, inequality, and the lack of meaningful representati...

Anila Noor at the CSW68 On Tuesday, March 19, 2024, amidst escalating global crises, the United Nations hosted a pivotal discussion on advancing gender equality and women's empowerment within the context of poverty and migration. Organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and co-sponsored by esteemed partners including the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations, and UN Women, the event brought together key stakeholders to address pressing issues facing migrant women worldwide. Critical Question At the heart of the dialogue was a critical question: What systemic inequalities contribute most to migrant women's poverty, and how can organizations collaborate effectively to address them? With a focus on promoting gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches to poverty reduction and migration, participants aimed to chart a course towards greater equity and justice...

Silveria Jacobs opent het officiële side event van Nederland. Foto door Anika Snel. Op dinsdagochtend 12 maart vond het officiële side event van Nederland plaats. Op de 18e verdieping bij de Permanente Vertegenwoordiging kwamen we om 8:00 uur samen om te praten over publieke participatie van vrouwen en meiden in al hun diversiteit. Het evenement werd geleid door Dragana Todorovic, uitvoerend directeur van de EuroCentralAsian Lesbian Community. Aanhoudende discriminatie Het evenement werd geopend door de minister president van Sint Maarten, Silveria Jacobs. Ze benoemt welke vooruitgang er al is geboekt, maar ook de aanhoudende en doordringende discriminatie van vrouwen is, vooral vrouwen van historisch gemarginaliseerde groepen. Jacobs: “Rechtvaardigheid kan niet worden bereikt als delen van de samenleving achterblijven.” Hiervoor is het noodzakelijk om structurele barrières te ontmantelen en negatieve sociale normen en genderstereotypen tegen te gaan, onder andere door gendersensitief ...

On Wednesday March 8, we attended the event on Women, Work, Migration and Technology . At this event, we heard from women migrant workers, labour rights organisers and human rights activists. They addressed some of the harmful effects of technology in the context of labour exploitation and trafficking. The panel provided interesting, but shocking insights into the experiences of women workers in South Asia, the Gulf and North America. The increased use of digital technologies has presented opportunities for women migrant workers. For example, to more easily organise across borders and to campaign for better working conditions. However, these technologies are often designed and controlled by those who benefit from the poor conditions of women migrants in the labour market. Digital technologies: useful in organising and campaigning  We learned that migrant women domestic workers are often trapped in the households of their employer in the Gulf States. This was explained by Vani Saras...

CSW60 is alweer een week aan de gang. Het is voorbij gevlogen. Een week vol mooie statements en pleidooien, maar ook heftige verhalen en uitdagende discussies. Naast contact met de Nederlandse delegatie over de onderhandelingen van de taal over het uitkomstdocument over het thema ‘women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development’, het afstemmen hierover met het Nederlands maatschappelijk middenveld, zijn er ook vele interessante side events. 

The second and last day of the Beijing+20 Regional Review Meeting at UNECE started with the panel-discussion on preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls. This proved to be the most popular item on the 2-day agenda, with lively responses from civil society in the room and a large number of member states waiting to make their statement. The Istanbul Convention was repeatedly brought up by member states as an important way of showing their commitment to elimination of violence against women and domestic violence. Besides progress on this issue there was a generally shared disappointed that this is still an issue that needs to be addressed, 20 years after the Beijing Platform for Action. Also, there was a general note that the increase in legislation in the different member states still lack behind on implementation. The Istanbul Convention is a convention of the Council of Europe establishing a legally binding definition that violence against women is a violation of...