Review of the Beijing Declation and the Plaform for Action

CSW59/Beijing+20 (2015)

The fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York, tentatively scheduled for 9-20 March 2015. Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world attend the session.

The Commission will undertake a review of progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 20 years after its adoption at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. The review (Beijing+20) will also include the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly, the first five-year assessment conducted after the adoption of the Platform for Action, which highlighted further actions and initiatives.
The session will also address current challenges that affect the implementation of the Platform for Action, as well as opportunities for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women in the post-2015 development agenda.

The review will be conducted at national, regional and global levels. States are urged to undertake comprehensive national-level reviews of the progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly. (See guidance note for the preparation of national reviews).
The regional commissions of the United Nations will undertake regional reviews. Both the national and regional review processes will feed into the global review.


- See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw59-2015#sthash.Noq3GrL4.MYgQHuxo.dpuf

NGO Consultation Day registration deadline!

REMINDER!

 

The deadline for Consultation Day is   January 31.

The program includes:

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women

Nicole Ameline

Chair, Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls

Woman of Distinction Awardee

Lina Abou Habib

Executive Director, Collective for Research and Training on Development Action

Magdalena Sepulveda

Special rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and many more distinguished women's rights leaders

For complete draft program (link here to document) 

 

To register for Consultation Day, please follow the steps below:

1. Log into your NGO CSW account here
2. Enter your billing information
3. Register for Consultation Day here

Listing of Offical Documents for CSW

This is a rather long listing, but good to review.

Official Documents

Documentation

Links to documents will be published as they become available.

• E/CN.6/2014/1
  Provisional agenda and annotations
• E/CN.6/2014/1/Add.1
  Proposed organization of work
• E/CN.6/2014/2
  Normative aspects of the work of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Report of the Under-Secretary-General/Executive Director
• E/CN.6/2014/3
  Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls. Report of the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/4
  Progress in mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development, implementation and evaluation of national policies and programmes, with a particular focus on the priority theme. Report of the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/5
  Discussion guide for the high-level round table on the priority theme. Note by the Secretariat
• E/CN.6/2014/6
  The situation of, and assistance to, Palestinian women. Report of the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/7
  Release of women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently imprisoned, in armed conflicts. Report of the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/8 • A/HRC/26/17
  Report of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women on the activities of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women
• E/CN.6/2014/9
  Letter from the President of the Economic and Social Council to the Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women
• E/CN.6/2014/10
  Input to the 2014 ECOSOC high-level segment. Note by the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/11
  Eliminating maternal mortality and morbidity through the empowerment of women. Report of the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/12
  Women, the girl child and HIV and AIDS. Report of the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/13
  Gender equality and the empowerment of women in natural disasters. Report of the Secretary-General
• E/CN.6/2014/14
  Ways and means to further enhance the impact of the work of the Commission on the Status of Women. Report of the Secretary-General

NGO statements

Links to documents will be published as they become available.

• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/1
  Abiodun Adebayo Welfare Foundation
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/2
  ActionAid
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/3
  Al-khoei Foundation
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/4
  Alliance Defense Fund and Mujer Para La Mujer A.C
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/5
  Almanar Voluntary Organization
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/10
  Asia Pacific Women’s Watch
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/11
  Association for Women’s Rights in Development
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/13
  Asylum Access
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/18
  International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/21
  Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/28
  Corporación para la Investigación, el Desarrollo Sostenible y la Promoción Social
• E/CN.6/2014/NGO/31
  Dianova International

- See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw58-2014/official-documents#sthash.G7E8RauZ.dpuf

Latest News from the NGO CSW Committee

Bette Levy, who is on the NGO CSW Committee sent this message with some important news about logistics for the upcoming CSW. Bette is the Representative to the United Nations (New York) for Soroptimist International.

Here's the latest news from today's planning meeting. I have taken the liberty to highlight certain key points.

UN Women:
Eleanor Solo (UN Women) reported that today January 27th was the final day to pre-register NO exceptions this year; if you need to make substitutions the final date to replace names submitted is February 14th.

As of today 5600 individuals have been pre-registered and 820 organizations, they are expecting those numbers to change today since it is the deadline and they are anticipating about 3000 to 4000 individuals to attend this year.

The deadline for submitting Oral Statements is February 19th; she also mentioned that individual organizations will more than likely not be selected and encouraged we develop coalitions & collaborations (they don't have to be large groups but more than one organization regardless of size).

They are expecting many more challenges this year primarily due to the renovations to the GA building and there being no GA lobby for registration. Unlike in past years if someone shows up without their paperwork they will be turned away, they will not have the ability to print or find names in a computer. She stressed that head offices need to make sure each individual you have registered has their own letter. Security will have a very big presence at the gates, entrances and the conference rooms. It is still not clear where the meeting point will be to register or to obtain tickets to side events.

She is asking that we alert our head offices to manage expectations of the people coming to CSW 58... the reality is there is not going to be enough space and not everyone will actually get into conference room 2 for the meetings. Things are not yet solidified but once they are UN Women will reach out to all head offices to give some direct communication. This year they are also, thinking of trying to reach out to individuals as well but it is still each individual's responsibility to have their proper credentials, Identification and to be where they have to be to get registered. She suggests that head offices inform their delegations (individually) to frequently check the UN Women web-site (I also, suggest that you check the NGO CSW/NY web-site).

(http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw58-2014 and http://www.ngocsw.org/about-ngocswny)

What is confirmed is that the actual CSW58 meeting will take place in the new conference building in Conference room 2, most of the side events will take place in that building as well in the lettered rooms but there will be some events in the North Lawn Building. There will be some sort of tickets for everything but there will not be much space at the actual meetings. They are trying to arrange for overflow rooms but not a guarantee this will happen... she highly suggests using the web-casts to follow the meetings.

Interactive panels not very realistic to think NGOs will get to speak during the priority themes.

Here is the link for the official documents for CSW 58, including reports from the Secretary General: http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw58-2014/official-documents available in 6 languages, hoping to get the expert group report translated into french & spanish .
Here is some good news... they believe that there will not be secondary passes this year (NOT CONFIRMED) needed to get between buildings, to the conference rooms and the cafe.. but there will be tickets for side events and everything else.. just not sure if they will be daily or weekly.. Recommends that head offices make sure that their delegations sign up for side events immediately once they are posted, as everything will be FIRST COME FIRST SERVE! Also, they are asking head offices to share with their delegations that once they get into an event they do not need to stay in the room all day, they will have access between buildings. There will be security posted at the door of each event.. Eleanor & Johannes were going to meet with security again this afternoon. Once the details are confirmed they will contact head offices. They asked that head offices register their permanent reps not just their visiting delegations.

NGO CSW/NY:
Deadline for ads has been extended until January 31st, response has been good but I highly recommend buying an ad to support the work of NGO CSW... the ads will be shown on the screen during consultation day during registration and lunch, they will also be shown on the NGO CSW/NY web-site for 6 months, the organization will be listed in the handbook as a sponsor and on the web-site., but on the web-site when you click on the name of the organization the whole ad will open up. You can make changes to ads after the deadline (perhaps a speaker has changed) for an additional fee of $20.00.

Deadlines for Consultation Day & the Reception are also, January 31st... however, they are actually capacity based and once we reach the capacity registration will close... so don't wait until the deadline. We suggest that head offices let their delegations know this. We have a really terrific schedule filled with interesting speakers (of course I'm bias, as I am co-chair of program).. we'll be reviewing historic events for women, kicking off Beijing + 20 and even a panel on sustainable cities & human settlements. You're not going to want to miss this day.

While this listserv is for the EU/NA caucus we have many members from other parts of the world who have asked to join us for the information so the following is for individuals from Europe and North America here are some dates to keep in mind:

Monday, March 10th at 6:30 pm in Conference room 2, Latvia will sponsor the European/North American Regional Side Event. This is an opportunity for NGOs to speak directly with governments about issues that are important to our region... similar regional events will be happening in the other regions as well.
Thursday, March 13th, Friday, March 14th, Monday, March 17th &  (possibly)Tuesday, March 18th there will be EU/NA Caucus meetings at 6:15pm in the church center. I will be co-facilitating the caucus again this year with Pierrette Pape of European Women's Lobby.



 

Report on Sustainable Development Goals, and Women's Human Rights and Gender Equality

UN-NGLS (United Nations Non Government Liaison Service) is delivering a series of policy briefs to the UN General Assembly Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presenting civil society recommendations on the subjects in focus during their sessions.

Civil society networks advocated for a universal, interlinked, multi-sectoral, and holistic approach to the SDGs that upholds the achievement of women's human rights and gender equality as central to the achievement of sustainable development. Contributors issued a resounding call for both a standalone goal on gender equality and women's human rights and the "mainstreaming" of gender equality and women's human rights through comprehensive targets and indicators in the SDGs.

Recognizing that women from socially excluded communities face multiple forms of discrimination, the SDGs must include a strong focus on the achievement of equity and social justice.

The process of developing the post-2015 agenda presents an opportunity to rethink the prevailing development model: several networks emphasized the need for the SDGs to stimulate profound and transformational change to the structures and systems that govern the lives of women and men. Contributors underscored that gender-equitable sustainable development cannot be achieved under the prevailing neo-liberal economic model
Here is the link to the latest Policy Brief on Women's Human Rights and Gender Equality -

http://bit.ly/NGLSgenderequalityOWG

Early and Child Marriage

One of the topics that will be talked about at the CSW will be on the topic of early and child marriage.

Child early or forced marriage4 is a phenomenon that affects both the developed and the developing world. In some countries prevalence is extremely high across the whole population. In others, overall prevalence might be low but early marriage is still widely practiced in particular communities that are marginalized from mainstream society because of race or religion, for example, and as a result the issue may be ignored by governments. Its far-reaching effects go beyond the individual, affecting the entire community, and even national and global development.

Child marriage is a human rights violation, often following from and leading to further human rights violations. We cannot tackle child marriage in isolation - it is inextricably linked to abuses that affect many girls and women throughout their lives.

To read the just released report on Protecting the Girl Child - http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/Protecting_the_Girl_Child.pdf


 

Countries that are members of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (45 Members)

Forty-five Member States of the United Nations serve as members of the Commission at any one time. The Commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 Member States elected by the Economic and Social Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution: Members are elected for a period of four years.

• 13 members from Africa
• 11 from Asia
• 9 from Latin America and Caribbean
• 8 from Western Europe and other States
• 4 from Eastern Europe

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw58/CSW58_Membership.pdf

 

58th SESSION-2014 COUNTRY MEMBERSHIP OF THE UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN (45 Members)

 

Alphabetical list (Term expires at close of session in year:)   1. Argentina 2014 2. Bangladesh 2014 3. Belarus 2017 4. Belgium 2015 5. Brazil 2016 6. Burkina Faso 2017 7. Central African Republic 2014 8. China 2016 9. Comoros 2014 10. Cuba 2016 11. Democratic Republic of the Congo 2015 12. Dominican Republic 2016 13. Ecuador 2017 14. El Salvador 2014 15. Estonia 2015 16. Finland 2016 17. Gambia 2014 18. Georgia 2015 19. Germany 2017 20. Indonesia 2016 21. Iran (Islamic Republic of) 2015 22. Israel 2017 23. Jamaica 2015 24. Japan 2017 25. Lesotho 2017 26. Liberia 2015 27. Libya 2014 28. Malaysia 2014 29. Mongolia 2014 30. Netherlands 2015 31. Niger 2016 32. Pakistan 2017 33. Paraguay 2017 34. Philippines 2014 35. Republic of Korea 2014 36. Russian Federation 2016 37. Spain 2015 38. Sudan 2016 39. Swaziland 2014 40. Switzerland 2017 41. Thailand 2015 42. Uganda 2017 43. United States of America 2016 44. Uruguay 2014 45. Zimbabwe 2015

List by regions:   AFRICAN STATES (13 Members): 1. Burkina Faso 2017 2. Central African Republic 2014 3. Comoros 2014 4. Democratic Republic of the Congo 2015 5. Gambia 2014 6. Lesotho 2017 7. Liberia 2015 8. Libya 2014 9. Niger 2016 10. Sudan 2016 11. Swaziland 2014 12. Uganda 2017 13. Zimbabwe 2015   ASIAN STATES (11 Members): 1. Bangladesh 2014 2. China 2016 3. Indonesia 2016 4. Iran (Islamic Republic of) 2015 5. Japan 2017 6. Malaysia 2014 7. Mongolia 2014 8. Pakistan 2017 9. Philippines 2014 10. Republic of Korea 2014 11. Thailand 2015   EASTERN EUROPEAN STATES (4 Members): 1. Belarus 2017 2. Estonia 2015 3. Georgia 2015 4. Russian Federation 2016   LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN STATES (9 M.): 1. Argentina 2014 2. Brazil 2016 3. Cuba 2016 4. Dominican Republic 2016 5. Ecuador 2017 6. El Salvador 2014 7. Jamaica 2015 8. Paraguay 2017 9. Uruguay 2014   WESTERN EUROPE AND OTHER STATES (8 M.) 1. Belgium 2015 2. Finland 2016 3. Germany 2017 4. Israel 2017 5. Netherlands 2015 6. Switzerland 2017 7. Spain 2015 8. United States of America 2016

Background paper available

Background document to prepare for CSW 58 is now available:

Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Structural and Policy Constraints in Achieving the MDGs for Women and Girls 

UN Women in collaboration with The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Mexico City, Mexico 21-24 October 2013 

The report is available here.