As the 58^th session of CSW enters its final day, Soroptimist
International has expressed grave concern about the attempts by some
governments to backtrack on existing agreements on women’s human rights.

“We are asking all Soroptimists in Member States to contact
their Government to encourage them to stay strong on agreed language”, explains
SI Assistant Programme Director Caroline Leach, leading the second week
Soroptimist delegation in New York.

“At CSW58 progress on
discussion of the Agreed Conclusions is being achieved slowly. Our Member State
delegations and their negotiators are working hard, for long hours, and we
thank them for that.”

Soroptimist
International clubs and unions are urged to contact their Governments as a
matter of urgency, particularly through social media channels such as Twitter, with
the following message:

“Soroptimist International urges all Member States to strongly
endorse previous UN agreements and especially the Agreed Conclusions of CSW57. Soroptimist International calls on all Member States to accept the support of
the facilitator and move towards Agreed Conclusions for CSW58 as quickly as
possible.”

Soroptimist delegates have been lobbying Governments in New
York and SI has been supporting the lobbying by AWID (Association of Women in
Development) on Twitter.  

Pat Black, SIGBI Federation Past President, reported in her blog
from CSW:

“A
strong UN Women team present at the briefing this morning, which means they
have some strong messages to deliver. Deputy Secretary General of UN Women,
Lakshmi Puri, and Director for Civil Society Lopa Bhannerjee are both making
their time available to update us. They are very positive about the
negotiations and feel that a successful outcome will be achieved.”

“However,
concern is expressed about the statements by some Member States that contradict
previous agreements and which indicate that some of the text incorporated into
the Agreed Conclusions for CSW57 is not acceptable for CSW58. This is not
within the normal protocols and NGOs are urged to lobby their delegations to
prevent any backward movement in the discussions.”

Read more updates from CSW58