Reflections on CSW at the UN in March 2016 by Angela Anderson, AWC Shanghai
I left the Interim Meeting in Seeheim on Monday morning and rode to the Frankfurt airport on the shuttle bus with several conference attendees. Region 11 was well represented on the bus (China, India and Australia). Instead of heading back to Shanghai, I took a direct flight to New York City to join the FAWCO group at the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Last year, former AC Shanghai FAWCO Rep Kathleen Kelly joined the FAWCO delegation at the CSW. She wrote an article for our monthly member magazine describing the experience, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. Recently, I was part of the FAWCO Rebranding team, which made me more aware of FAWCO’s four pillars and the work of our UN team. When this year’s announcement from the FAWCO UN team went out, I was more informed and ready to sign up for the opportunity to attend CSW. As an added benefit, my daughter Laurel, a college senior, was also able to register to be a part of the FAWCO delegation. She attended both the CSW Youth Forum and the CSW.
FAWCO UN Liaison Laurie Richardson had organized a breakfast meeting at a restaurant near UN headquarters on Tuesday morning. Most of the attendees from the FAWCO delegation were present, and it was great to see some familiar faces and meet the rest of the FAWCO group. I was able to attend sessions during the first week of the event. Those who attended the Interim Meeting and experienced the whirlwind pace had a similar perspective to our UN experience. Sessions and meetings are scheduled from 8:30 am to early evening each day for two weeks. During any given time slot, several different meetings were scheduled, either at the UN Headquarters or a nearby venue. Sometimes it was difficult to choose which meeting was most interesting or informative. We did get a chance to be tourists when Laurel and I took part of Thursday morning off to see the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
A highlight of the week for me was on Tuesday, March 17th when I was able to attend an event in the Trusteeship Chamber at UN Headquarters. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was a speaker at the event, which focused on the Every Woman, Every Child movement, which he launched in 2010.
Another unexpected opportunity came on Friday, when staff at the US Mission to the UN found a few extra seats and allowed us to attend a session called Women’s Voices from North Korea: Repression and Resilience. Samantha Power, US Rep to the UN and other representatives from Korea, Japan, Australia and the UK had organized a panel of four women from North Korea. The women told stories of imprisonment, torture, famine, abuse, and survival. Those who escape North Korea are vulnerable to being trafficked and are routinely subjected to violence. Each woman mentioned the issues of escaping through China and their fear of authorities who might forcibly return them to North Korea. As a resident of China, I was especially interested to learn more about the human rights and refugee law violations occurring with respect to the treatment of NK refugees.
Each day we attended several sessions on a variety of topics such as Women Empowerment and Sustainable Development, Violence Against Women and Girls, Women in Power and Decision Making, Vulnerability of Widows and Human Trafficking. I took lots of notes and gathered flyers and brochures for future reading. In a session on Gender Expertise, I noted an introduction to the term “inclusion nudges.” Since then, I’ve done additional research and intend to put to the concept use in both ACS board meetings and in the work environment.
Thanks to the FAWCO UN team for the opportunity to attend CSW. I now have a better understanding of their work at UN Headquarters and Missions. They are dedicated volunteers and truly exemplify both interpretations of “inspiring women worldwide.”