CSW59 – WEEK 1
Hello FAWCO members! My name is Valia Mitsakis and I’m the new FAWCO United Nations Youth Representative. In this blog I’m going to be covering many youth-related meetings and events that were organized by youth organizations across the globe for this year’s Commission on the Status of Women. This means that the past few days I’ve been meeting interesting, passionate, and determined young individuals who are doing everything in their power to change some aspects of our world.
My participation in the CSW started on Saturday, March 8, a day before the CSW Orientation, when I attended the “Young Women and Girls Forum.” The purpose of this Forum was to give young women and girls a place to discuss the issues that are troubling them. Those issues were included in the political declaration that was formed at the end of the day.
Through meaningful conversations both in separate groups and all together, we were able to create a declaration that included circumstances that women are facing such as poverty, conflicts, peace building, violence, etc. We also included the girl child as a separate group that needs our full attention.
Our recommendations were then depicted by two talented artists in works of art that are now being exhibited in the lobby of the General Assembly Hall of the UN.
We then listened to a panel of professionals speaking about the importance of both communication technology and the Internet in raising awareness and influencing policy. The panelists mentioned the “My World Campaign,” the “World We Want” campaign, and other campaigns and initiatives that are giving the opportunity to young people to influence the agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the actions of Civil Society.
Afterwards, we had “Team Building and Strategic Networking.” We divided into groups according to the regions we represented, and talked about the issues of concern of every region.
In the end, a group of artists read a poem they had created, inspired by our ideas.
On Sunday, most members of the FAWCO CSW delegation attended the CSW Orientation and the International Women’s Day March. The truth is that there is only one word that can accurately reflect my impressions of that day; that word is “inspired.” I saw women and men coming together to finally achieve gender equality. The most inspiring part of the day was the words of the Chair of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Mrs. Gertrude Mongella. She mentioned that back in 1995 in Beijing, every person that participated in the conference had homework to do. They had to reflect on everything they had learned and try to bring about real change. So then she told us that we have homework as well. That we have to find something that we think needs fixing and go out there to fix it ourselves. She also told us to stop saying “women have to participate in government or any other profession” or that “women have to work hard to influence change.” She said that we should become those women; we should become those politicians, those scientists and those philanthropists.
Now, as an 18-year-old young woman, I am starting to think about what is my homework, what task I have to complete. So you understand how even the word “inspired” cannot fully describe my feelings on that day.
Next came the parade. Thousands of people, men and women, came together to protest against gender inequality. We all shouted as one voice, and believed as one heart that better days can indeed come. That gender equality will at some point become an issue of the past, and that at some point we will all join hands in an equal and just world.