GFDD Attends Closing Ceremony of CSW59 Confirming Brazil as Next Chair of CSW60

Following two weeks of negotiations and deliberations on the topic of gender equality (March 9-20, 2015), GFDD attended the closing ceremony of the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women which came to a head before a packed auditorium at UN Headquarters in New York. The session chaired by H.E. Kanda Vajrabhaya, former Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security of The Kingdom of Thailand, led to the adoption of the draft
report of the Commission on its fifty-ninth session (E/CN.6/2015/L.4) and the election by acclamation of H.E. Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, as the Chair of the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The two week conference broke several records, be it for general participation levels (8,600 civil society activists signed up to attend this year’s CSW) or for attracting the
largest gathering of private sector representatives at the Commission.

GFDD (GFDD) and its sister organization in the Dominican Republic, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode) also held their own event speaking to the issue of violence against women in the Dominican Republic. The event which was hosted at the UN on March 18 in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, included a presentation
of a research study by the Dominican Political Observatory (OPD by its Spanish acronym) of Funglode. The Permanent Mission of Peru to the UN, one of the other main speakers at the event showcased policies in its own country that seek to eliminate violence against women.  More information about the outcomes of GFDD’s side event is available here in the press release dated March
18.

The abundance of high level speakers was another striking aspect of the 59th session, which helped to highlight the importance of women in the Post 2015 development agenda, due for adoption later this year. Hillary Rodham Clinton for example, delivered the keynote address at the UN Global Compact’s  Women Empowerment Principles 2015 side event. She stressed that
“Women and men who understand that gender equality is not just morally right, but is the smart thing to do are growing in numbers”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was also a strong presence throughout the conference, as he sought to stress the importance of involving all relevant stakeholders in attaining the objective of gender equality. Indeed, the Secretary-General noted: “Now it is clear that achieving gender equality will require the
concerted efforts of all actors”.

About the Women’s Empowerment Principles
The Women’s Empowerment Principles – Equality Means Business is a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact. The Principles outline seven steps for business on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. The Principles highlight that empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all
sectors and throughout all levels of economic activity is essential to build strong economies; establish more stable and just societies; achieve internationally agreed goals for development, sustainability, and human rights; improve quality of life for women, men, families and communities; and propel business’ operations and goals. Learn more at www.weprinciples.org http://www.weprinciples.org.

Related Links:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw59-2015
http://www.opd.org.do/
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015
http://www.weprinciples.org