A Crash Course in the UN, Women and NGOs (or Why Civil Society Matters)
by Sallie Chaballier (AAWE Paris)
“AAWE is a member of FAWCO, an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council” - have you ever wondered what that blurb on AAWE publications actually means? In the past six months, I have experienced firsthand how meaningful...
Women's Rights
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Let’s Talk About It and Then Step It Up: UN CSW59 Review
by Ann Marie Morrow, AWC Finland
I remember when I was about 8 years old being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I answered, “A boy!”. Why did I give this answer? I remember thinking that if I could just be a boy, then...
by Ann Marie Morrow, AWC Finland
I remember when I was about 8 years old being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I answered, “A boy!”. Why did I give this answer? I remember thinking that if I could just be a boy, then...
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Elizabeth Abbot describes what she learned:
Notes from CSW59
Finishing the “unfinished business of the 21st century” (Hillary Clinton)
Accountability – we need to hold all levels of government accountable to creating laws and allocating resources to the gender equality and GBV agenda. Example: the Istanbul Convention signed in 2012 for European countries that requires countries to monitor progress and the...
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Colleen Gilbert (AWC Brussels) followed climate change, energy, and mental health issues at CSW59.
Climate Change and Gender Equality
Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and current Director of the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice believes that gender equality and climate justice are the most severe human rights issues of this century. She believes women must be participants and benefactors...
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Erica Higbie, UN Rep in NY and Chair of the Working Group on Girls Advocacy Committee, writes:
March 10
What inspired me
"We can only walk the last mile if we stand by the last girl." Ruchira Gupta on young prostitutes in India
"It is not a problem WHAT to do but HOW to get it done"
"The key now is...
Featured
Reflections on CSW59 by Jane McCall Politi Ph.D., FAWCO UN Rep
Member of the NGO Committee on Migration in NY
March 13, 2015
“Girls lives are wasting away.” Poignant and stirring comment by Memory Bonda, activist for girls in Malawi. The organization she founded, Girls Empowerment Network (GENET) pushed the government to change the child marriage law from 15 to...
Subcategories
Women's Rights (CEDAW)
CEDAW is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly and entered into force in 1981.
What does CEDAW do?
Reduce sex trafficking and domestic violence
Provide access to education and vocational training
Ensure the right to vote
End forced marriage and child marriage and ensure inheritance rights
Help mothers and families by providing access to maternal health careEnsure the right to work and own a business without discrimination
Why has the USA NOT ratified CEDAW?
Almost all countries have ratified CEDAW - 189 out of 195 countries. Only six have not ratified including Sudan, Somalia, Iran, two small Pacific Island nations (Palau and Tonga) and THE UNITED STATES!
FAWCO supports CEDAW and continues to work towards it ratification.
Key Links
UN Women CEDAW Text
UN High Commissioner for recent developments, links to treaty, reports www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx
Amnesty International Fact Sheet on CEDAW www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/cedaw_fact_sheet.pdf
Organization working for US Senate Ratification
http://www.cedaw2015.org/
Commission on the Status of Women
The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), part of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), promotes gender equality and the advancement of women. Its charge is to measure progress towards equality and highlight challenges, set standards and formulate concrete policies to promote equality and women’s empowerment, and encourage mainstreaming of the gender perspective in all UN activities worldwide.
FAWCO is a member of the NGO Committees on the Status of Women (NGO CSWs) in NY, Geneva and Vienna. FAWCO members and UN Representatives regularly attend the annual CSW in New York. You can read blogs by members of FAWCO's delegations to CSW.
FAWCO signs on to Written and Oral Statements submitted to UN Women for consideration by CSW, joining our partner women's NGOs with consultative status to ECOSOC. You can read these statements on the Advocacy page.
| Key Links | |
| UN CSW | http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw |
| NGO CSW New York | www.ngocsw.org |
| NGO CSW Geneva | www.ngocsw-geneva.ch/ |
| NGO CSW Vienna | https://ngocswvienna.org/ |
CSW 62 Blog
The sixty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 12 to 23 March 2018.
Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world are invited to attend the session. FAWCO is sending a delegation of ten members from around the world, and they will be posting on the CSW62 Blog.
See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw62-2018
CSW 61 Blog
The sixty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 13 to 24 March 2017.
Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world are invited to attend the session. FAWCO is sending a delegation of ten members from around the world, and they will be posting on the CSW61 Blog.
See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw61-2017#sthash.5Yges7P1.dpuf
CSW60 Blog
A delegation of 14 FAWCO women joined over 6,000 other NGO representatives for the 60th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) in NY from March 14 - 24, 2016. The Commission was established in 1946 and is "dedicated to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women". The annual sessions provide advocates for human rights for women an opportunity to influence the UN agenda. Around 6,000 delegates from the 45 Member States of the Commission, United Nations entities, and accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended this year's annual session with the priority theme "women's empowerment and its link to sustainable development". The session comprised the official ministerial meetings, more than 200 side events hosted by the Member States and UN entities, and around 450 parallel events organized by NGOs.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched in September 2015, are the top priority at the UN and are to be achieved by the year 2030. Goal 5 is "achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls". The focus of the Goal 5 Targets—e.g., violence against women and girls, trafficking, early marriage, health, discrimination—were reoccurring themes in the events. "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it Up", the theme of 2016 Women's Day, was also in focus.
The opening speech "CSW60 is the First Test of Our Resolve" by UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka gives a perspective on the 2030 Agenda. The concluding commitment of CSW Member States to the implementation of Agenda 2030 is summarized in a press release from the closing day. (Thanks to Carol Strametz of AWC Hamburg for contributing this introduction.)
Blog posts are by UN Liaison Laurie Richardson (AWA Vienna) unless otherwise noted.
CSW 59 Blog
A FAWCO delegation of 17 women attended CSW59 at UN Headquarters in New York from March 9 - 20, 2015. We posted blogs here to report on our experiences and impressions.
Click to download the four-page FAWCO Brochure created especially for CSW59: front and back pages and the inside pages.
CSW 58 Blog
Erica Higbie and My-Linh Kunst blog from the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. It took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 10 to 21 March 2014.CSW 57 Blog
Live reports from Erica Higbie who is attending the UN Commission on the Status of Women at the UN in New York.
Read Final Report on CSW 57 from UN Rep Erica Higbie.
Trafficking
“The trade in and exploitation of human beings through trafficking is one of the gravest violations of human dignity that exist. The purposes of trafficking in persons range from forced and bonded labour to various forms of sexual exploitation, forced marriages, removal of organs and other contemporary practices similar to slavery."
Navi Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights