In the early morning of 18th March, the Commission on the Status of Women 67 has adopted by consensus a drafted resolution that will be forwarded to the Economic and Social Council. During 15 days, UN members, Member States, NGOs, delegations from countries, were gathered at the UN Headquarters in NY to discuss on the theme of the CSW: “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. Technologies have revolutionized the way we live and learn, rapidly bringing opportunities and challenges. In this context, a lot of issues emerged for women and girls, such as access to digital tools and training and educational fields.
Informal consultations between Member States, where the agreed conclusions were discussed, finished late in the night. One of the reasons explaining this length was the terms used in the text, which are not a UN consusual vocabulary and sometimes contradict the national legislations, especially “multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination”, “sexual and reproductive health and rights” and “health care services”. A lot of countries have expressed concerns on the vocabulary used in this agreed conclusions, as Oman, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Syrian Arab Republic, Libya, Senegal, Indonesia, Irak, Mali, Ethiopia, and Egypt. We have to note the use of a new method this year, with pre-written paragraphs closed to negotiations. Some of the countries have asked not to take it as a standard for the future.
A wide view of an initial meeting of the sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women. [Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown]
Following the long process of negotiations, the Chair concluded the adoption of the final text, and opened the floor in order for Member States to deliver statements on the text.
Among them the representative of Guatemala appreciated reaching a balance on the agreed conclusions but expressed reservations about terms, conditions, and provisions which contradict the political constitution of the country and internal legal system, including issues related to reproductive rights.
Cameroon, Iran, Soudan and the Holy See have appreciated the paragraph on family friendly policies in order to bridge the gender digital gap.
Also China reminded that there is no clear definition of “human rights defender” and that the “so-called human rights defenders should not be regarded as a group”, this country dissociates from the paragraph entitled « human defenders ».
Among the group of countries, Chile, on behalf of Buenos Aires Group appreciated the good theme but regrets that the document doesn’t reflect progress on women’s rights because the controversies go beyond the work of the Commission. On that point, they recalled that in order to have an agreement, they accepted the deletion of the paragraph mentioning « multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination ».
Guyana on behalf of the Caribbean Group were supportive of the improvement of access to technologies and literacy for women and girls. Don’t have the result desired. They regret the language critical not in the UN vocabulary. They regretted not knowing what the final text will look like because of the confused material process.
Then Australia on behalf of the Mountains Group, including Australia, Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland was disappointed that the terms “technologies facilitating gender based violence” was a matter of debate and found a backwardness in the absence of reference to sexual orientation and identity.
During the closing of the sixty-seventh session of the Commission. [Photo: UN Photo/Manuel Elías]
During the full length of the Commission a lot of side-events took place on topics related to the theme of the Commission. One of them was organized by the Permanent Mission of Egypt, UNFPA and UNICEF, where two best practices to help girls to be an individual skilled person were presented. IFFD also has the opportunity to participate in an event organized by the Permanent Mission of Hungary on Childcare and Parenting Support for Women Empowerment. On this occasion, we were able to present the Civil Society Declaration promoting family policies with HARO/FEFAF organizations.
We also attended an event organized by UN Habitat and the PM of Guatemala with the theme “smart cities with and for women and girls: creating innovative and inclusive cities that leave no one behind”. IFFD has the opportunity to meet Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif of Malaysia, Executive Director of UN Habitat and to present her the Venice Declaration.
At the end of the closing session of the CSW67, the Chair opened the CSW68 and congratulated the Philippines for its election to the Chairmanship for the next CSW.
