At the start of the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women Margaret de Vos and Lysbeth van Valkenburg were present at the start. The priority theme of this year’s CSW was “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”. It gave all speakers the opportunity of again stressing the fact that finance is an important issue especially for women to strengthen their position and give women possibilities to earn their own money.

The executive director at the UN, Sima Bahous started the morning with the following observations:

“We are here today because we, collectively, know that the backlash against gender equality is on the rise. Long-established, universal human rights and women’s rights frameworks are being challenged. National and multilateral policy discussions are marred by paralysing polarization. Hard-won gender equality gains are at risk and already being reversed. And advocates of equality face escalating hostilities, compromising their abilities to effect change. This is happening against a backdrop of cascading crises, from a planet on fire, to the wars and violence in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, Haiti, and many other places in the world.

On March the 22nd World Waterday the UN Water releases a press report

One of the important highlights subject is:
Girls and women are the first victims of a lack of water

The first impact is the deterioration of living conditions, leading to heightened food insecurity and health risks. Water scarcity also has consequences on social development, particularly for girls and women. In many rural areas, they are the primary water collectors, spending up to several hours a day on this task. Reduced access to water supply exacerbates this burden, which undermines women’s education, economic participation and safety. This may also contribute to the higher secondary school dropout rate among girls compared to boys.

Also “Having to have sex in exchange for drinking water”. It happens, and it’s unacceptable! In a debate a Member of the Parliament in The Netherlands (ms Stieneke van der Graaf) stood up for the women and girls who are faced with sextortion due to water scarcity. A motion to ensure access to safe water for women and girls was adopted with broad support from the House of Representatives on July 5, 2023.

This year a few organizations in the Netherlands wants to collect at least 80,000 signatures and present them to the United Nations Special Rapporteur so that governments are held accountable for this human rights violation and to ban sextortion. This is an important next step in the fight against sex for water!

#WorldWaterDay

Read the full press release: https://unes.co/lt3ogj

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/water-crises-threaten-world-peace-report

Refugee Women in the Tindouf Camps

The International Network of Liberal Women – INLW is alarmed by the vulnerability of refugee women in the Tindouf camps,

Concerned by the very high tension in the Tindouf camps and the outbreak of an unprecedented cycle of sit-ins and demonstrations within the camps,

Alarmed by the violence suffered by women refugees in the camps by the militias, considering the seriousness of the conditions in which women live in conflict zones, particularly in the Tindouf camps.

We support the efforts of the United Nations to implement Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security.

We call on States to consider the normalization of gender-based violence and the worsening of human
trafficking which has serious repercussions on women
and girls.

We condemn the instrumentalization of women and the use of sexual violence as weapons of war used to implement political agendas and exercise power on the ground.

We condemn the involvement of civilian women in armed combat operations, under duress.

We call for the release of women sequestered in Tindouf camps against their will.

We call for action to remove the injustice and unfairness suffered by women detained in the Tindouf camps, allowing international organizations defending women’s rights to look closely at this situation, and to be able to organize hearings for victims of violence and rape, in order to prosecute criminals responsible for raping women, torturing them, and insulting their dignity.

We encourage all initiatives to support women’s freedom and the protection of their fundamental rights and freedoms.

The 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) was held from March 6-17 at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. We hereby give you some parts of the speeches that were given at the opening session and also at the International Women’s Day. Also some of the conclusions at the end of CSW from Ms. Amina J. Mohammed.

There was a warm welcome of secretary-general Gutierrez at the opening of CSW “Today, women make up under a third of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and maths. When women are under-represented in developing new technologies, discrimination may be baked in from the start.”

“Women and girls are leading efforts to make science and technology accessible, inclusive, and safe. Women and girls will not be silenced. Their demands for their rights and freedoms echo around the globe. The Commission on the Status of Women is a dynamo and catalyst for the transformation we need. Together, let’s push back against misogyny and forward for women, girls and our world.”
— António Gutierrez.

The 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) was held from March 6-17 at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. This meeting was the long-awaited face-to-face global women’s summit that had been postponed for three years due to COVID-19 prevention measures. This year’s CSW67 registered a large number of participants, with over 7,000 attendees, including four heads of state and government, 116 ministers, 205 offsite events held by the United Nations, and approximately 700 non-governmental organizations participating in parallel forums.

Although the United Nations is not friendly to Taiwan due to pressure from China, Taiwanese women’s rights groups and non-profit organizations that support gender equality and women’s empowerment have not passively resisted but have courageously taken action and actively participated in the conference as NGOs. In total, Taiwanese NGOs organized 17 physical meetings and 15 online meetings. About 60 representatives from Taiwan traveled to attend the physical meetings of CSW67 in New York.

Especially with the support of the Women’s Empowerment and Development Foundation, along with the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in New York, during the CSW67 summit, Taiwan not only showcased its many years of efforts in gender equality and the impressive achievements of women’s participation in public affairs but also highlighted the contributions and achievements of Taiwanese women in the field of technology through two large-scale events hosted by TECO in New York: “Taiwan Night – Celebrating Women in Tech” and “Taiwan Main Stage”. These events echoed this year’s CSW67 theme – “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” – emphasizing the importance of gender equality in the digital, innovative, and technological era.