On the Agenda at the CSW

The Commission on the Status of Women (27 February – 10 March), celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, will address the issues of women in decision-making, a main focus for WEDO, and creating an enabling environment for achieving gender equality.  The CSW will also examine a multi-year programme of work to select annual themes and revise its working methods, and consider a proposal for the appointment of a special rapporteur on national laws that discriminate against women.  

Check the DAW website for other CSW updates and the official program.

View the schedule of side events.

WEDO and partners respond to the program of work proposals

WEDO has responded to the proposals for a multi-year program of work of the Commission on the Status of Women.  The proposed 2007-2011 work program is a multi-year program that revises working methods and defines the Beijing Platform-related thematic areas on which the Commission will focus.  Along with Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), International Confederation of Free and Trade Union-UN Office, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), WEDO has requested further elaboration in specific areas and proposed ten recommendations for the multi-year program proposal including more civil society involvement.

In a statement, WEDO and partners voice support for the proposed three-year cycle per theme; endorse emphasis on implementation rather than on “agreed conclusions”; acknowledge the importance of securing funds; call for the systematic integration of NGOs into expert groups and panels and high level roundtables.  Women’s groups also support realistic timeframes, involving regional commissions, and ensuring that the Beijing Platform for Action remains the normative framework for work on women and gender within the UN system.  

Read the full text of recommendations made by WEDO and partners.

A special rapporteur on laws that discriminate against women?

The CSW will also look at the feasibility of appointing a special rapporteur on national laws that discriminate against women.  The appointment was pushed last year by Equality Now and other NGOs, and endorsed by Kofi Annan in a 2005 report.  The need for this SR was made clear by WEDO’s latest global monitoring report, Beijing Betrayed, as it reported stories from hundreds of women documenting the discriminatory laws and practices that afflict women worldwide.

Special rapporteurs have historically been an effective mechanism for other UN bodies and the creation of a SR that reports annually to the Commission on the Status of Women would make possible a more consistent dialogue on women’s issues and discriminatory laws, bring women’s voices and experiences to the forefront of the debate, and actively push for positive transformation of harmful laws and practices that continue to haunt women worldwide.

Beijing Betrayed (WEDO 2005)

Read Equality Now report, Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing + 10 Review Process (Equality Now 2004)

Secretary General’s report