The political declaration adopted on March 9th at the Commission on the Status of Women is a disappointment at this historic time of recalling the great achievements of the Beijing Conference and reviewing progress 20 years later.  To access the 3 page declaration Click here 

The declaration was negotiated prior to the beginning of the Commission.  It is disappointing to see that there are no recommendations for going forward.  What should have been the highest point of the commission is in fact the lowest point.  The declaration is a ‘bland reaffirmation of existing commitments that fails to match the level of ambition in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and in fact threatens a major step backward.’

The Women’s Major Group had worked on their version of a declaration and I attach it here in three languages.  We, Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd – New York/Global, Ethiopia, Colombia and Latin America and Caribbean endorsed the statement.

We joined with hundreds of groups demanding …

• Unequivocal commitments towards fully realizing gender equality, the human right and empowerment of women and girls.
• Accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
• Universal ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
• Recognition the critical and unequivocal role women’s organizations, feminist organizations and women human rights defenders have played in pushing for gender equality, the human rights and empowerment of women and girls.
• An enabling environment and resources
• Recognition and commitment to address the emerging challenges that are setting back the forward movement towards equality
• Accountability for governments – addressing the structural causes of gender inequality, ensuring an enabling economic environment for woman’s rights and gender equality
• Affirming the strong linkages between Beijing, Post 2015 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Reaffirmation of the links between the human rights of women and girls and development.

Anything less that the above would be political failure, at a time when significantly more effort is needed to achieve the goals of fully realizing gender equality, the human rights and empowerment of all women and girls everywhere.

Full Statement  English  French  Spanish