By Melissa Ruggles, AWC Amsterdam
March 18, 2019
As I type this, I’m looking out over the glimmering East River to the Long Island skyline—a view that begs one to reflect. Laurie Richardson, FAWCO UN Liaison, and I just attended another session at the 63rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) at UN headquarters in New York City. We...
Lopa Banerjee, Chief of the Civil Society Section of UN Women, spoke on March 13 at an NGO Morning Briefing at CSW62. She was eloquent and energetic as usual. She said that "Civil Society Organizations are our existential partners, the constituency for accountability."
If we don’t take actions to empower rural women and girls, they will be left behind. By age 4,
From Christine Humphreys and Karen Boeker who attended a session on HerStory at CSW62
The HerStory Campaign works with grassroots partners in 27 countries to listen to, amplify and champion the voices of girls through innovative after-school programming designed to cultivate modern literacy skills and foster self-advocacy. Check out their InfoCard and video!
By Claire Castellon (daughter of Karen Castellon, AWC Berlin)
Editor's note: Claire is 12 years old and in the 6th grade at Berlin International School. She is a Cadette in Berlin Troop #502 of the USA Girl Scouts Overseas. We are delighted that she was part of the FAWCO delegation at CSW62!
The person I remember the most is Fatima (Shafi),
By Christine Humphrey, AW Surrey
My first experience at the NGO CSW 62 Forum far exceeded my expectations. It was informative, challenging and inspiring. What I enjoyed most is the increased awareness of important issues created through dialogue at various side and parallel events and the common quest for gender equality from all the participating civil society organisations.
Initially, I was...
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/
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/ |
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
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
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.
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.
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.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.
“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