Health Care

Briefing by the Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women on the preparations for Session 64

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https://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw64-2020

In light of the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the Commission on the Status of Women(CSW) will be shortened to one day.

Despite the fact that all speakers expressed disappointment about reducing the length of CSW64, they agreed that we cannot let COVID-19 spread.

CSW decided that only one day meeting will be held, and all side events will be cancelled. The 11-day meeting, the largest single gathering of women delegates from 193 countries, is significantly scaled down.

In 2020, it is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). 2020 is therefore a pivotal year for the accelerated realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

So CSW was planned to take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 9 to 20 March 2020. Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world were invited to attend the session. About 12,000 people were supposed to attend.

More than 550 feminist organizations worldwide submitted a letter to UN Women calling for the postponement of CSW. But it was not accepted.

International Women’s health Coalition (IWHC) President Françoise Girard expressed concern “The global feminist movement has been clear that a one-day, New York-based diplomat only session on March 9 would be inadequate and would shut the voices of women’s groups out of the world’s largest annual meeting on gender equality.”

Meeting: Commission on the Status of Women

Date/Location: March 2nd, 2020; 10:00-13:00; Conference Room 2

Speakers:H.E. Mr. Mher Margaryan (Armenia), Chair (Eastern European States Group)

Ms. Zahraa Nassrullah (Iraq), Vice-Chair designate (Asia-Pacific States Group)

Ms. Jo Feldman (Australia), Vice-Chair (Western European and other States Group)

Ms. Ahlem Sara Charikhi (Algeria), Vice-Chair designate (African States Group)

Ms. Devita Abraham (Trinidad and Tobago), Vice-Chair designate (Latin American and Caribbean States Group)

Written By: WIT Representative Sehee OH

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Conference 63: Overview

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Image result for csw 63

Throughout the 63rd conference of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), all meetings revolved around improving and developing social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality, and the empowerment of all females. Meetings ranged from being entitled “Steer Any Diplomatic Conversation by Asking the Right Questions” hosted by UNITAR and Columbia Law to typical plenary GA meetings to plan and discuss logistics of new ideas and vote on final statements.

Floating around from meeting to meeting, a point that was frequently brought up and emphasized was the importance of maintaining culture while developing female personal character. Instead of changing culture and straying further away from these roots, we should be working with and integrating new aspects into it. This is just a baby step in removing the gender gap and equalizing the gender lifestyle. Specifically with Afghan women, the role of the female is heavily depended on to take care of the household as well as the children while the males are unavailable to do so. Even young females are expected to help their mother, as only around 26% of females are in school. Discussion on closing the gender gap was productive, not through increasing attendance in school buildings, but increasing the accessibility of these educational means. Providing a simple laptop will allow for a greater entry into the world of computer science coding, which is something these females can do at home while taking care of their duties.

Meeting: Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Conference 63

Date/Location: 13 March 2019, UN Headquarters

Written By: WIT Representative Jessica Shi

9th session of the OEWGA Side Event: National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) and Human Rights of Older Persons

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In view of this week’s 9th session of the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, the National Human Rights Instruments (NHRI) have submitted written submissions and oral statements, in response to the two focus areas of “autonomy and independence” and “long-term care and palliative care”. Following up UN recommendations, this side event addressed the main cross-regional concerns in regards to the rights of older persons.

Hearing briefings from the Philippines, Croatia, Africa and Latin America, this side event first identified that long-term measures on long-term and palliative care for older persons are not adequate across countries. During the event, representatives lobbied on long-term health care measures, particularly age ceilings of paid health insurance services and universal health care systems.

In addition, the event underscored the problem of inconsistencies with the definitions of autonomy and independence for older persons. In fact, they are often misinterpreted as decision-making processes and lack legally binding powers across countries. Member states are called upon to come up with consistent, legally binding international instruments to offer clarity on parameters of protection of older persons.

Older persons are the driving forces of our economic development and shall not be left as marginalised social groups. They should not be mistreated with social injustice or infringements on human rights. Integrated human rights-based approaches should be well incorporated with government institutions to safeguard the rights of older persons.

Date/Location:
Monday 23rd July 2018; 16:30 to 18:00; Conference Room E, United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY

Speaker(s):
Mr. Lee Sung-ho, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea and Chairperson of the GANHRI Working Group on Ageing
Ms. Lora Vidović, Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia
Ms. Karen Gomez-Dumpit, Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines
Ms. Florence Simbiri Jaoko, Special Envoy, GANHRI
Ms. Liz Vela, Expert, Defensoía del Pueblo del Perú
Professor Andrew Byrnes, International Legal Advisor

Written by: WIT Representative LAU Chun Ki