Last month, March 9-20th, thousands of participants gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to participate in the 59th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Participants varied from representatives of Member States, UN entities, and NGOs from around the world. But before going into depth about what happened behind the scenes this year at the CSW, here are three things that you need to know about the Commission on the Status of Women.
- What is the Commission on the Status of Women?
The Commission on the Status of women is “the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women”, according to the UN Women’s website. The CSW met for the first time in 1947, just two years after the United Nations was founded in 1995, demonstrating the United Nation’s commitment to including the Status of Women in human rights on a global scale.
One of the CSW’s main goals is in “documenting the reality of women’s lives around the world”, and why do they do this? Originally, the CSW set out to define the legal rights of women on a global scale, but in order to back up their legal claims, they needed hard-supported facts and documentation. Thus, the CSW has been involved in extensive research documenting the political and legal reality of women across the globe.
Additionally, the CSW serves as a forum where NGOs can voice their own experiences in the human rights movement. The varying panels at the CSW serve as a means for NGOs and individuals to contribute their varying perspectives by facilitating dialogue on various topics surrounding the feminist movement. The information discussed in these panels is then passed on to the CSW board for review, ultimately contributing to the drafting of international conventions on women’s rights on topics covering issues ranging from the disproportional effects economic disparity has on women to women’s rights in marriage.
Ultimately, the CSW shapes global standards on varying conventions (an agreement between countries covering particular matters, especially one less formal than a treaty) surrounding women’s rights, and most importantly shaping the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
- Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
In 1995, the Commission gathered in Beijing, China for the Fourth World Conference on Women. It was at this formative conference that the Commission adopted the Beijing Declaration for Action. An entire blog post could (and should) be devoted to the Beijing Declaration for Action, so here I will simply give an overview. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is essentially an “agenda of women’s empowerment”, set as a means to promote equality between men and women, while outlying strategies and plans of action for the advancement of women in the human rights movement. The Beijing Declaration for Action operates under the assumption that it is not enough to have good intentions, there must be clear strategies, actions and goals set in place.
The Commission on the Status of Women is centered on monitoring the fulfillment of the outlines made in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Commission also monitors and reviews the emerging issues surrounding the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and can make adjustments accordingly.
- Significance of Hashtags
If you’ve been following any of the social media surrounding the CSW, you may have noticed their hashtags surrounding the event. Hashtags can be extremely useful for finding relevant sources and agencies covering the material you’re looking for, but they can also be confusing if you don’t know what to look for. Here are several key hashtags from the CSW explained in non-techy lingo.
#CSW59 – This stands for the 59th annual Commission on the Status of Women
#Beijing20 – This stands for the 20th Anniversary from the Beijing Declaration of Action, which is relevant since it’s what we discuss much of the time at the CSW.
#iycun – This is a hashtag created by our very own International Youth Coalition! This stands for the International Youth Coalition at the United Nations (un)!
Now you know!
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