Thank you to all who applied and shared this opportunity with your networks. The 64th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was reduced to a one-day event only open to New York-based organizations because of the outbreak of COVID-19 but VOW still endeavored to give access to important meetings and information to Canadian women. Despite the pandemic setback, we were able to have informative meetings with the World Federalist Movement- Institute for Global Policy, the Quaker United Nations Office and the United Nations Undersecretary General of Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu.
Applications to be a part of the delegation to the 65th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women will open January 1st, 2021 if global health conditions allow.
About this year’s Commission on the Status of Women
In 2020, the global community will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). A five-year milestone will be reached towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 2020 is therefore a pivotal year for the accelerated realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, everywhere.
The main focus of the session will be on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly. The review will include an assessment of current challenges that affect the implementation of the Platform for Action and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and its contribution towards the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
For more information, please follow this link https://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw64-2020
For a snapshot on women’s progress since the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995, take a look at this UN infographic
VOW and the UN
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) was founded in 1960 as a feminist group committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Over the years, VOW has undertaken many initiatives in the pursuit of peace moving from an initial emphasis on nuclear disarmament to the abolition of war and the promotion of non- violent means of conflict resolution and social justice in a sustainable world.
VOW is one of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) cited by UNESCO’s standing committee in the working group report entitled “The Contribution of Women to the Culture of Peace”. An accredited NGO to the United Nations, affiliated to the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), VOW was the Canadian lead group for peace at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
Members have been active in follow-up activities, including writing the chapter, “Women and Peace” in Take Action for Equality, Development and Peace. We have been attending the Commission on the Status of Women for decades and were part of the international lobby which succeeded in the adoption in 2000 of the landmark Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. It reaffirms the important role of women in conflict prevention, management, conflict resolution and sustainable peace. Governments are obliged to implement this with plans of action. Only about 73 of 193 have. Canada is among them.