Grassroots women’s voices must be at the centre of all multilateral processes in order to fully achieve women’s human rights and gender equality

Joint Cross-regional Civil Society Statement on CSW Methods of Work (MoW)

The Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 2013/18 of 24 July 2013, decided that the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) should review the functioning of its methods of work, adopted by the Council in its resolution 2006/9 of 25 July 2006 and confirmed in its resolution 2009/15 of 28 July 2009 and 2015/6 of 31 July 2015, with a view to further enhance the impact of the work of the Commission for the full realisation of “Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, one of the primary mandates of the Commission.

Women, girls, adolescents, youth, community, human rights, and feminist organisations and activists play a critical role in driving change and ensuring accountability for gender equality and the full realisation of women’s, girls, and gender diverse people’s human rights. This role should be recognised, promoted, and safeguarded by fully integrating it into all aspects of the CSW.

Women’s rights and feminist organisations and activists have consistently raised the need for more inclusive, effective, and accessible engagement with the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the Beijing Declaration review, monitoring and implementation processes. We have also raised concerns that these efforts, including regional preparatory processes prior to the CSW and during the negotiation processes at the CSW, have remained inconsistent over the years. Further, in the context of COVID-19 crisis, the participation of civil society organisations and grassroots women from the Global South at the CSW has been severely restricted.

Given the impacts from COVID-19, travel restrictions, current push back on women’s rights in the Asia and Pacific and Africa regions, and the hybrid environment in which we find ourselves, we recognise the need for stronger, more robust preparatory and post CSW engagement at the regional level through the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UN ESCAP) and UN Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA) processes to strengthen the position of women and gender equality in the these regions and to implement progress achieved through CSW Outcomes Declarations. As the Bureau deliberates on the Methods of Work of the Commission, we urge them to chart a new course and ways of working that would enable inclusiveness, accessibility, effectiveness, and accountability. We urge them to consult civil society meaningfully and equitably during the Methods of Work deliberation process and to ensure that their participation in Commission’s work is promoted and safeguarded. We call on bureau members and all member states to:

Ensure preparatory processes are held prior to CSW at the regional and sub-regional levels regularly. Information about the schedule of these sessions and calls for participation should be developed in consultation with CSOs and disseminated in a timely manner to allow adequate time for civil society groups to prepare for their participation. Interactive dialogues or thematic roundtable discussions among member states and civil society should be integrated in these preparatory processes.
Ensure that representatives of global, regional, national organisations and community organisations, feminist groups and movements working on women and girl’s and non-binary people’s human rights, and intersecting issues should be invited to meaningfully participate in expert panels and interactive dialogues at CSW.
Ensure engagement of civil society and member states during the plenary processes takes place on an “equal participation” basis. Alternate government and civil society speakers in plenary and panel sessions to allow for an exchange of diverse views and to foster democratic opportunities for interaction and meaningful engagement and debate.
Ensure civil society is included in the bureau for their meaningful engagement in all aspects of CSW’s work, mirroring the precedents set by the High-level Political Forum (HLPF).
Ensure inclusion of civil society representatives in the official delegations of member states at the CSW. Member states should also create spaces for consultation and dialogue with women’s rights organisations at the national level before and after the CSW sessions.
Mandate UN ESCAP (and regional commissions in other regions including UN ECA) to convene follow up regional and sub-regional level processes to ensure continued interaction, engagement with, and accountability for the CSW processes.

This statement is a compilation of discussions and recommendations from 11 regional, sub-regional and national civil society organisations from Asia and the Pacific and Africa regions. These recommendations were presented by the participants of a cross-regional CSW65 civil society reflection meeting convened by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) and the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) on 22-23 November 2021.

Details of statement signatories are provided below: