A blog by Kay Richmond
“This has been the opening day of CSW63, a busy one as usual. I attended the opening session, chaired by the Ambassador of Ireland. A minute’s silence was observed for the 21 UN personnel who perished in the Ethiopian air crash.
Photo: Geraldine Byrne Nason, Chair of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women and Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations, addresses the Commission. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
The meeting was chaired by Geraldine Byrne Nason, Chair of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women and Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations, who underlined the importance of women’s resilience if we are to achieve implementation of the SDGs. We were addressed by a number of heads of UN departments but the main ones were from the Secretary General, Presidents of the Security Council and the General Assembly as well as of UN Women.
These were followed by two impressive Civil Society Representatives, Mary Fatiya (South Sudan) and Muniba Mazari (Pakistan) who both addressed the Commission. Mary Fatvia shared the African perspective; the lack of access to affordable healthcare and other facilities, taken for granted by so many elsewhere. Muniba Mazari (pictured), refused to be labelled disabled and stated that from her viewpoint it is the environment which is disabled!
The Chair of CEDAW, Ms. Hilary Gbedemah, said that the convention has been ratified by 189 of the 193 member states but implementation remains inadequate. The Special Rapporteur on VAW underlined the need for all states to take action.
Photo: Presentation of the report of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) by Ms. Hilary Gbedemah, Chair of CEDAW Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
Overall the speakers were concerned that there is evidence of ‘push back’ so we need to be both vigilant and active to ensure that this does not happen and that progress is made in achieving women’s equality.
The afternoon roundtable enabled governments to state what they have achieved and what they hope to achieve. The variety ranged from Bangladesh to Finland with all claiming progress. I leave you to research who has made progress but the overriding message from the day, for me, is that although much has been achieved there is much still to do.
There are several important anniversaries in 2020 – the UN, CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, and UN Women. All opportunities for us the press the issues about which we are concerned and to make progress in achieving the SDGs by 2030.
I look forward to working with everyone to ensure that our children and our grandchildren have a very bright and equal future”.
Lead image: During the opening of CSW63 Secretary-General António Guterres calls for a moment of silence for the lives lost in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 on 9 March 2019, including many UN staff members.
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
Thank you so much Kay Richmond for giving us a rundown on the day’s activities. I hope you’ll keep your blog going. From Fay Cori, SI Cardigan & District, Wales South Region.