CSW69 Blog Post Ashley Raveche
I was honored to participate as a delegate of UNA-USA at the 69th Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women this March at the U.N. headquarters in New York City. As a human rights advocate, it was a privileged necessity to gather with so many inspiring women and gender policy experts promoting the advancement of women and girls regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin.
U.N. Women serves as the Secretariat of the CSW, convening the intergovernmental body focused on the collective rights and empowerment of women. U.N. Secretariat General Guterres provided opening remarks, championing a Clarion Call in honouring the Pact for the Future’s commitment to integrate women in all aspects of conflict prevention and building sustainable peace. He noted, “the Pact for the Future includes commitments to revitalize the Commission on the Status of Women to promote implementation of the Platform for Action. And our system-wide Gender Equality Acceleration Plan aims to actively advance gender equality – and the human rights of all women and girls – through every aspect of our work.”
CSW-69 marked the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, including an assessment of current challenges, obstacles, and opportunities to recognize the global achievements of gender equality, and address the critical role of mainstreaming the U.N. Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals as a means to accelerate the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The annual conference convenes sessions for the Commission and global stocktake, as well as parallel events featuring government and non-governmental organizations demonstrating the importance of multilateralism. Parallel events addressed the global increases of violence against women and girls, increases in poverty levels, widening economic gaps, impacts of conflicts and crises, including conflict-related sexual violence, elevating indigenous and youth voices, and so much more. Critical sessions of the global stocktake are streamed on U.N. TV and many of the parallel events include virtual components to provide accessibility for those who could not attend in person.
Although this was not my first CSW, having had prior experiences navigating the halls of the U.N. did little to prepare me for how perplexing it was to be turned away from observing high level dialogues due to limits on credentials. Even colleagues who are accredited as full-time representatives of ECOSOC had difficulty participating in certain sessions. And the few youth delegates in attendance gracefully echoed their barriers to participating at the U.N. due to age restrictions. However, these criticisms speak generally to the ongoing U.N. reform dialogues and are nothing new. In fact the Commission does its best to provide daily sessions for NGOs to debrief as well as a longstanding commitment to include more youth in U.N. interventions, “so that we are not just consulted, but equal drivers and equal co-leaders.”
My first impression this year was the absence of meaningful U.S. participation in parallel events. Although the U.S. is not a member state to the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), their past contributions and commitments to eradicating human trafficking, sexual-based violence, cyber-violence and the impacts of AI were no longer provided in the multilateral discussions, and the collective spirit of collaboration was deeply missed. There was also a palatable shift felt by the dramatic change of course in closed door negotiations, with the U.S. joining forces with Russia, Argentina and others to strike language promoting efforts for gender parity in the outcome document Political Declaration on women’s rights.
U.N Women eloquently balanced this shift in their closing remarks highlighting that “the responsibility of implementing the outcomes of this session do not rest on the shoulders of any single party. Rather, it requires the collaboration and joint efforts of all individuals, states, international organisations, civil society organisations, academia, and stakeholders.”
One of my favorite events included a youth led discussion sponsored by Norway called “Challenging Violence Against Women in Religious Minorities”, which included young women sharing their perspectives on religious violence from rural Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Falun Gong communities. One woman panlist shared the harrowing connection between addressing female mutilation by elders with a solution focused on providing economic relief for the elders, rather than cultural education that does not address how the practice remains embedded into the livelihood of the community.
“Driving Actionable Change and Strengthening Solidarity Among Indigenous Women” was another highlight of the first week. The event was sponsored by Canada and Chile, and featured Lisa Hephner, Canada’s Parliamentary Secretary for Women and Gender, and Congresswoman Javier Morales from Chile. This powerful convening of tribal elders reinvigorated my sense of purpose. The storytelling of looking back, to come to the future and seeking the ways of the elders to learn the paths forward were relevant to the intergenerational dialogues. Marissa Moar of Two Spirits shared that she thought she needed to be an exceptional person with an exceptional story in order to be an advocate. Erin Roxburg acknowledged that others seeking to separate you from your strengths, often will tell you that you are too much of something and not enough of another thing, as a way to take away your power. However, true leaders honor the responsibilities for future generations and create space for young women. We were all challenged to observe who was not in the room.
I was overjoyed for my colleagues and their parallel event “How Can the Leadership of Women and Girls Help Save our Cities and Planet” sponsored by Nigeria, NGO CSW/NY, and the Cities for CEDAW History and Futures Project. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Minister of Women’s Affairs for Nigeria and Dr. Soon-Young Yoon, Women Intercultural Network, launched a historic collaboration to implement the first Cities for CEDAW campaign outside of the U.S. Nigeria signed the Global Campaign Agreement joining the Global Cities for CEDAW Coalition to ensure gender outcomes are part of planning and that urban policies address gender disparities in safety, economic opportunities, and climate adaptation.
Perhaps the most memorable moment for me was an opportunity to join Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the U.N. press corp for the inaugural noon briefing of Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Mr. Fletcher noted “this is not a drill.” There are more threats than at any other time in history with last year being the deadliest on record for humanitarian crises. We need fresh ideas for the solutions and more than 300 million in aid and support.
The measured response to questions over U.S. cuts to USAID was met with gratitude over decades of the U.S. as a humanitarian superpower and hope that over time, this sentiment will return, as well as the recognition of an over-reliance on U.S. funding in difficult times and a marked shift by the U.N. to secure other donor-partners to meet and expand commitment levels. The aim is to connect the global needs to donor priorities, improving efficiencies within the U.N. systems to serve the most people humanitarian care. There were several other U.N. press releases celebrating CSW-69 which deserve attention.
Thank you to UNA-USA for this enriching opportunity to attend CSW-69. My hope is that more UNA-USA members are encouraged to participate in the capacity they feel most connected to.
Ashley Raveche is President of the UNA-USA San Francisco chapter and convenor of the Ratify Movement.
