FAWCO's mission is to empower women and girls worldwide. Through our global programs, we raise awareness, promote action, advocate for policies, and support projects that contribute to achieving gender equality. FAWCO UN Reps are active in the NGO Committees on the Status of Women in New York, Geneva and Vienna, and we send delegations to the Commission on the Status of Women in New York each year.
The Convention on the End all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
In October 2022, FAWCO hosted FAWCO for CEDAW, an online panel discussion. You can watch a recording of the event here.
Beijing+25 and Generation Equality
To learn more about FAWCO's engagement in Beijing+25 events, check out our CSW blogs.
In 1995, 30,000 activists from around the world, including seven members of FAWCO, went to Beijing to attend the Fourth World Women’s Conference, one of the largest gatherings to promote women’s rights ever. The Beijing Platform for Action remains the standard international statement of commitments to women's rights, along with CEDAW (the Convention to End all Forms of Discrimination Against Women). In 2020, 25 years later, we are experiencing increasing violence and roll-backs on women’s rights by misogynist populist governments in many countries. Twenty-five years after the promise of Beijing, we will still not have achieved equality. Also in 2020, when we reach the five-year anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG#5 on Gender Equality, we reaffirm the commitments made in Beijing. Gender Equality is critical to the full realization of all of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A key priority for UN Women and global women's organizations throughout the Beijing+25 processes is the involvement of young women and men -- the new generation of gender equality activists.
Beijing+25 Events
The Civil Society Forum (October 28, Geneva) convened 500 women, including a delegation of eight FAWCO members, to prepare recommendations for the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regional Review meeting on Beijing+25. The Forum assembled and synthesized feminist priorities from Europea, North America, Caucasus and Central Asia. The Beijing+25 UNECE Regional Review Meeting (October 29-30, Geneva) for Beijing+25 was an intergovernmental meeting of UN Member States to review progress by governments on the Beijing commitments. Other civil society and governmental regional review meetings were held in all regions of the world leading up to 2020.
The theme of the 64th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW64, March 9-20, 2020) was intended to be a global review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Beijing+25 review would have included an assessment of current challenges affecting the implementation of the Beijing Platform and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic that gripped our world in early 2020, CSW64 and the NGO CSW Forum were cancelled. CSW65 in March 2021 will re-convene the review of Beijing+25.
Generation Equality Forums (Mexico May 7-8, 2020 and France July 7-10, 2020) were planned to bring together key priorities and recommendations from women's organizations around the world to be presented to the UN Member States at the UN General Assembly in September 2020. Again, due to COVID-19, the Generation Equality Forums were postponed until early 2021.
UN Sustainable Development Goal #5: Gender Equality
FAWCO supports the mission, programs and campaigns of UN Women, the United Nations entity for women's empowerment and gender equality.
We advocate for and work on projects to promote the achievement of SDG #5.
UN Commission on the Status of Women
FAWCO sends a delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at UN Headquarters in New York every year. Learn more about FAWCO’s involvement in CSW and the NGO Forum, and see blogs by UN Reps and delegation members. You can read the CSW Written Statements endorsed by FAWCO and submitted to UN Women on the Advocacy page.
FAWCO members interested in joining FAWCO's delegation to CSW, contact .
Global Gender Equality Report
According to the World Economic Forum's 2018 report, "Gender parity is fundamental to whether and how economies and societies thrive. Ensuring the full development and appropriate deployment of half of the world’s total talent pool has a vast bearing on the growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of economies and businesses worldwide."
Gender Equality Events
A sampling of recent events FAWCO co-sponsored with partner organizations, members of the NGO Committees on the Status of Women and other NGO committees:
In June 2017 in Geneva, UN Rep Paula Daeppen and several members of AWC Zurich attended an NGO Forum on Women's Economic Empowerment.
International Day of the Girl Flashmob Dance - Geneva
UN Rep Stacy Lara was one of the organizers of a flashmob dance on the Place des Nations in Geneva on October 11, when NGO CSW Geneva celebrated the fifth anniversary of the International Day of the Girl in 2016. Sponsored by the US Mission to the UN in Geneva, United Nations Office of Geneva and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, this spirited event was an invitation to all to commit to investing in girls in order to achieve SDG # 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Watch a video of the event.
Women's Economic Empowerment Forum - Geneva
UN Rep Anne Riz, Treasurer of NGO CSW Geneva, was involved in the organization of an NGO CSW Geneva forum entitled "Women's Economic Empowerment in a Sustainable Perspective." The one-day program of four panel-discussions brought together experts from UN Women and other UN agencies, NGOs, government and academia to focus on the areas of government procurement, equal pay for equal work, women in decision-making positions and unpaid care work. The panelists presented, discussed and shared best practices with about 200 participants. The forum report is available on the NGO CSW Geneva Website.
