Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) and the Office of the Special Envoy of the African Union Commission Chairperson on Women, Peace and Security, organised two high-level side events during the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59) at the UN Headquarters in New York. These events were aimed at identifying concerns and priorities towards the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda, and the empowerment of young women and girls to enable them to achieve the concrete targets set by development frameworks such as the Beijing+20 review, the African Union Agenda 2063 and the post-2015 agenda.
This document summarises the proceedings of these events, beginning with a High Level Dialogue entitled, “Toward a continental results framework on women, peace and security”. At the meeting, African women and advocates articulated concerns and priorities, and shared best practice and lessons learned. Ms. Bineta Diop delivered the Keynote speech, and highlighted the plight of women in camps in the countries she visited during solidarity missions in her role as Special Envoy. By the end of the meeting, speakers reviewed the progress made in the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in Africa, and assessed existing gaps and challenges to effective implementation.
The second event was a panel on the topic of ensuring the emerging leadership of Africa’s young women and girls towards 2063. Harriette Williams Bright, Acting Executive Director of FAS, moderated the panel, and reiterated in her opening statement Agenda 2063’s specific reference to supporting young people as drivers of Africa’s renaissance. Speakers outlined specific ways in which key means of implementation, including financing, capacity building, and technology and trade, could be directed towards young African women and girls to enable them to achieve the concrete targets of these development frameworks.
Additionally, FAS also chaired the CSW/NGO briefing with the African Women’s Caucus, which reiterated the importance of the participation of civil society organisations in shaping the current global policy framework on women’s empowerment and gender equality.
[adapted from source]