In protest over what was seen as a weak and bland affirmation of existing commitments in the drafted Political Declaration of the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59), over 950 civil society organisations from all over the world put their names to demands for a stronger final declaration.
The signed statement was released in the days prior to the CSW59 negotiations, and sought to highlight that though much had been achieved in the advancement of women’s and girl’s human rights, those gains are under serious threat, including from economic inequality, climate change and ocean acidification, and rising, violent fundamentalisms. What is needed, the statement urges, is renewed commitment, heightened ambition, real resources, and accountability. Instead, the Political Declaration is viewed as failing the level of ambition seen in Beijing and threatens a major step backward.
The collective demands for inclusion in the Political Declaration include the need to:
- Express unequivocal commitments toward fully realising gender equality, human rights, and empowerment of women and girls
- Commit to accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and other declarations and CSW Agreed Conclusions
- Commit to universal ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
- Recognise the role women’s organisations, feminist organisations and women human rights defenders have played in pushing for gender equality, human rights, and empowerment of women and girls
- Commit to providing an enabling environment and resources to allow women’s and feminist organisations and women human rights defenders to be able to work free from violence
- Recognise and commit to address the emerging challenges that are setting back the fight for equality and the realisation of the human rights of all women and girls
- Ensure real accountability for governments
- Affirm the strong linkages between Beijing, Post-2015 and the Sustainable Development Goals
- Recognise the links between the human rights of women and girls and development