icjw at the 56th csw in new york

The UN Commission on the Status of Women held its annual deliberations in NY from February 27 to March 9, 2012. Government officials, representatives of the United Nations, and rural women convened at the UN Headquarters in New York for the 56^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56). The focus of this year’s session was on improving the situation of rural women and the elimination of hunger and poverty, as well as current challenges to development. 

 
Over 2,000 NGO civil society delegates were in town to attend official UN, member state and NGO events, to network, and to advocate before government representatives on women’s empowerment issues for the CSW Outcome Document on rural women. ICJW’s UN team in NY was joined by several of our ICJW colleagues from across the US and from abroad including a group of NCJW/USA participants who were part of our delegation. 

 
The NGO Committee on the Status of Women, New York hosted 11 days of activities for NGOs as part of their NGO CSW Forum. The kickoff began on February 26 with the annual Consultation Day.   Over 1,000 global NGO delegates gathered to attend orientation sessions on the coming CSW priority issues; hear from important speakers including Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women and Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; listen to two exciting panels on regional perspectives and issues facing rural woman; engage in training and, of course, spend some quality bonding time. 

As Communications Secretary of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, I helped to organize the NGO Consultation Day in advance of CSW56. 1000 attendees were addressed by 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee from Liberia, who is pictured here with members of the NGO CSW Executive Committee, including me(Madeleine, 4th from the left).  

 
Twenty five hundred copies of the free, very professional and useful NGO CSW Forum Handbook were grabbed up and included two ICJW full page ads. ICJW is represented in NGO/ CSW/NY’s top leadership, and was also there on the Planning Committee for CSW56 and on the Handbook editorial board.

The opening CSW ceremonial event was held on February 27th in the General Assembly Hall.  President Sharon Gustafson was in attendance. At noon, eleven of the 14 ICJW delegates gathered for a lovely luncheon at a local restaurant to discuss coverage for the 2-week session. It was a wonderful occasion to connect, reminisce and discuss issues. After lunch and for the next 10 days, NGO representatives selected UN official events, government sessions or NGO parallel events to attend on any and all topics related to the themes of CSW56. There were hundreds of choices to cover.

Our busy days and nights included the following activities: 

On February 28^th, the Israeli government held an excellent session with Italy and Senegal entitled "Rural Women: From Vulnerability to Sustainability". It brought attention to the challenges faced by rural women, highlighting capacity building programs that promote their empowerment and economic development. Many ICJW delegates attended this event and were thrilled with the outstanding opportunity it presented for Israel to shine!

The official NGO CSW Forum Reception was held that evening. It was sold out months before and was an excellent time to network with women from all over the globe who were encouraged to come in national dress. The costumes were a colorful joy to behold, hors d’oeuvres were in abundance and wine was flowing. All 400 guests seemed to be having a lovely evening. I was honored to have been the co-chair of this event.

(l-r): Marge Weiser, ICJW Vice-Chair of Financial Development; Sharon Gustafson, ICJW President; Nancy Kaufman, CEO of NCJW-USA; Joan Goldberg, ICJW Representative UN-NYC; Madeleine Brecher, ICJW Representative UN-NYC; Judy Mintz, ICJW Representative UN-NYC

ICJW’s event co-sponsored with Anglican Women’s Empowerment entitled EMPOWERED: Rural Women ‘Shout Out’ was held on Thursday, March 1st. Click here to read Judy's report on this event.

Early morning briefings for NGOs were held daily with updates from the official UN CSW Bureau, UN Women and of course NGO CSW. Then of course there were updates by member state delegates, civil society caucuses and a new innovation this year, conversation circles addressing specific topics, i.e. trafficking, climate change, etc. 

 
On Thursday March 8th, in celebration of International Women’s Day, the NGO CSW Forum held a march entitled GLOBAL WOMEN FOR EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE. It was a glorious warm, sunny day in NY as over 500 women walked together to pay tribute…well, to ourselves. We marched, we chanted and we sang a song about how “we’re gonna keep on moving forward!!!”  Each marcher was given a sash and had the option of selecting her or his own “priority cause” for women which they inscribed on their sash. I wrote JAIL TRAFFICKERS! We were accompanied by a grouof drummers and marchers were also encouraged to bring pots, pans or anything to make noise in the drum circle.
          

               
ICJW women at the Celebration March: Judy Mintz (2nd on the right), Madeleine Brecher (4th on the right) and Fran Butensky (5th on the right) 

And so the two exhausting weeks came to a close. Our ICJW team was well-organized, covered many sessions and we are now awaiting word on the Outcome Document, otherwise known as Agreed Conclusions. These are still being negotiated by the UN Commission on the Status of Women, chaired by Marjon Kamara, the committed and dynamic Ambassador from Liberia. It was a pleasure to see a woman as chair. The buzz among the delegates was that this was the very best CSW in a long time and, in addition to all the hard work, everyone seemed to have a fabulous time!!!