The 57th UN CSW officially begins tomorrow in New York City with 6,000 delegates from 800 organizations expected to attend. CSW stands for the Commission on the Status of Women and it takes place every year during the first 2 weeks of March at the United Nations.
Ministers and officials meet to discuss policies with input from Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) from around the world. There will be over 400 meetings and events focused on this year’s theme: The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.
It is traditional for the NGO Committee on the Status of Women to convene a Consultation Day on the Sunday before the CSW. Today that event took place at the Armenian Convention Center in NY, where world leaders and experts on violence against women and girls spoke to a standing-room-only crowd.
Speakers included: Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, Bineta Diop and Tawakkol Karman, both Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, Secretary General of the World YMCA, Lakshmi Puri, UN Women, and Bandana Rana, a leader of the women’s movement in Nepal, and at least 20 other respected activists and specialists in this field. Their topics included; Trafficking of Women and Girls, The Role of Men in Stopping the Violence, Best Practices to Stop Violence against Women and Girls, and Social Media is Part of the Solution.
Stay tuned for daily highlights and updates from CSW57 ……
By Erica Higbie, FAWCO Representative to the United Nations