All activities will be virtual for CSW65, but Equality Now will be just as present as ever.
The 65th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) at the United Nations will take place between 15 – 26 March, 2021. Usually, CSW sees Equality Now staff and our partners converging on the UN Headquarters in New York for two weeks of learning, networking, and holding governments to account on women’s and girls’ rights. This year, we’ll still be doing just as many activities, but everything will be virtual. So “where” exactly can you find us at CSW65?
Events with Equality Now Speakers
Equality in Family Law: Committing to Reform
Date: Tuesday, 23 March, 2021
Time: 10:00 New York | 14:00 London | 17:00 Nairobi
Description:
Women’s rights groups, progressive religious leaders, and academics are working together to make the case for the possibility of reform towards equality and justice in family law. New voices have emerged at the national and global levels to challenge the ways governments and leaders use religion, culture, and tradition to justify discrimination against women and resist demands for law reform.
The Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law, of which Equality Now is a founding Coordination Committee member, supports gender equality and families in all their diverse forms. The vision and goal of the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law is equality for all in matters relating to the family, regardless of religion, culture, or tradition. Following the launch of the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law in 2020, the Campaign’s Coordination Committee is organizing this official CSW high-level side event.
The event will open with brief introductory remarks by Global Campaign and Government Co-sponsors, followed by a high-level, talk-show style panel of speakers, including government ministers, a religious judge, and high-level UN officials. The event will reflect the urgent need for States to recommit to repealing or amending all discriminatory family laws whether codified, religious, or customary, and will highlight concrete commitments to be announced at this event and recent progress in the reform of discriminatory family laws.
Addressing Online Sexual Exploitation & Abuse: A Call for International Standards
Date: Wednesday, 24 March, 2021
Time: 10:00 New York | 14:00 London | 17:00 Nairobi
Description:
Ending online sexual exploitation and abuse is one of the most urgent issues of our time. Yet key challenges remain. Today, the scope and scale of internet and digital connectivity and increasingly affordable access to camera-ready technology, coupled with gendered notions of male entitlement and the intensification of misogyny online, is enabling online sexual harms to occur at unprecedented levels across the world. Equality Now’s legal research confirmed that international and national legal instruments have simply not kept pace.
The prosecution of online sexual exploitation and abuse and in particular removal of online sexual exploitation and abuse from online platforms often comes into tension with digital rights, particularly, freedom of expression and privacy. International standards providing for online sexual exploitation and abuse will not only address the gendered and multi-jurisdictional nature of online sexual exploitation and abuse but will provide certainty when balancing digital rights and online sexual violence and abuse.
Hear from Equality Now and Governments, International Bodies, Civil Society, and Tech speaking to the gendered, technological, and legal aspects of online sexual exploitation and abuse, their perspectives on the key findings and recommendations from Equality Now’s upcoming report, and the efficacy of adopting international standards.
Coalition Events
Global Platform for Action to End FGM/C – “Partnerships to Accelerate Global Action to End FGM/C by 2030”
Date: Wednesday, 24 March, 2021
Time: 10:00 New York | 14:00 London | 17:00 Nairobi
Description:
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is global, but so is the movement to end it. Join activists, survivors, and other experts brought together by the Global Platform to End FGM/C and learn about the different roles everyone can play in bringing an end to FGM/C, and why global action is needed.
The Global Platform to End FGM/C fosters collaboration among grassroots groups, civil society organizations, survivors, and activists around the world to accelerate action to end female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) by 2030, in keeping with Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 (eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation). More than 900 organizations and individuals around the world have endorsed the Global Call to Action as of February 2021.
We recommend registering well in advance, as it can take up to 48 hours to confirm.
NOTE: If there is an event you want to attend but can’t, we recommend registering anyway so you can be sure to get any recording or follow-up materials related to it.