by Pam Perraud, FAUSA
The Background and Basics
This year was the largest CSW ever, and it is now the largest women’s international conference by far and the second largest gathering of people at the UN next to the annual UN General Assembly. This year two heads of state, three vice presidents, over 100 ministers and 4,800 representatives of civil society attended in person, with an estimated 5,000 who attended sessions on the theme of poverty eradication online. There were over 270 side events organized by member states and over 760 parallel events (both in-person and virtual) organized by recognized NGOs, including FAWCO).
Impressions
Having attended many previous CSWs, I was struck by the fact that despite a very strong climate of backlash right now against women’s rights and women’s empowerment worldwide, there is still a significant number of women’s organizations from all over the world that are committed to continuing the uphill fight. Many of the sessions proposed meaningful and proven solutions on the topic of poverty reduction, and there were many sessions on difficult issues related to the current situations of women in Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Iran and Afghanistan. Alas, this year there was a lot of difficulty in coming to consensus on the final outcome document of the session, the Agreed Conclusions, and the recommendations were not considered as bold as many participants or member states desired.
I had the great honor to be invited speak at final briefing of the CSW and to attend a briefing session and a special lunch at the US Mission, where I met Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield; Greeta Rao Gupta, Ambassador at Large and Head of the Office of Global Women’s Issues as well as Jennifer Klein, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Gender Policy Council.
