EI and other GUFs' delegations begin their work at the 60th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women
The full labour delegation present in New York, USA, is made up of an unprecedented 150 women union leaders from 34 countries.
The Education International (EI) delegation to the 60th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) has joined the other Global Union Federations (GUFs) delegations for the first week of the Commission’s deliberations (March 14th-18th).
The EI delegation got to work already on Sunday 13th, in conversation with Nora Fyles, Head of Secretariat of the UN Girl’s Education Initiative (UNGEI). Fyles gave a short presentation on ‘Policy Advocacy: UNGEI Speaking Out for Girls’ Education’, which was followed by a conversation with the EI delegates about their respective unions’ advocacy around girls’ education, and other gender and education issues.
Later in the day, EI delegates joined the full labour delegation for a briefing session, in which seasoned and new delegates alike were given information about the first week of CSW60, and the events planned by the GUFs, the ILO and key allies among the thousands of women’s rights organisations that are currently in New York for CSW60.
The CSW60 priority theme is Women’s Empowerment and its Link to Sustainable Development; and the review theme is The Elimination and Prevention of all Forms of Violence against Women and Girls(the Agreed Conclusions from CSW57). The priority theme is auspicious because CSW60 is the first major UN event to take place since the 2030 agenda for sustainable development was agreed, and the new sustainable development goals(SDGs) were adopted in September 2015. CSW60, therefore, presents a unique opportunity to bring the gender and education community for dialogue around the interlinkages between SDG 4 on education, and SDG 5 on gender equality.
On Wednesday March 16th, together with the Mission of Norway to the UN and UNGEI, EI will jointly host a side event entitled ‘Financing for Education: A Key to Empowering Women and Girls’. The EI President, Susan Hopgood, will speak on the panel, as will Ms Tone Skogen, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway, Ms Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF, Ms Meighan Stone, President, Malala Fund and Mr Justin van Fleet, Director, International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. The event will be moderated by Mr Yannick Glemarec, Deputy Executive Director Policy & Programmes, UN Women, and introductory remarks will be offered by Ms Alice Albright, CEO, Global Partnership for Education.
Read the joint official GUF CSW60 statement, and keep up to date with what the labour delegates are up to here.
Follow the GUF delegation at the UNCSW on Twitter: https://twitter.com/unioncsw
