 Welcome to Cooper Union. Today we're covering women's rights or human rights, CSW's annual global gathering for gender justice. And we just recently concluded the 65th session of the Commission on Status of Women with the theme women's full and effective participation in decision making and public life in the empowerment of women and girls. We are very fortunate to be here with three amazing advocates who are very active in New York and around the world to ensure gender is a global issue and to make sure that the world is a better place. I'd like to thank you so much for coming and Hori, could you share with us a little bit about some of the accomplishments of the most recent CSW and what has been accomplished. Thank you for having us Joshua. It's always good to see you and it's too bad that it's on little screens this year, but this is exactly what we accomplished this year. We actually pulled off one of our largest gatherings ever during a pandemic, completely 100% virtual. So NGEO CSW, which is NGO Committee on Status of Women is tasked to bring women and girls voices to the United Nations once a year during the Commission on the Status of Women. So the Commission is a set of member state bureau members who meet for two weeks and bring the gender equality topic, whatever priority theme they have chosen to the United Nations. And NGEO CSW's task is to bring the voices to the member states. So this year, because of the pandemic, we decided to go 100% virtual and we started actually planning six months ago and reached out to our global sisters. And believe it or not, we were able to gather 25,000 advocates on a virtual platform to really convey what they wanted from member states. Now, do we get what we want is a different topic. But for now, I can tell you that we are very proud what we've been able to achieve. We had about 700 events, what we call parallel events, meaning we discussed the topics amongst civil society and high level members. And we bring the results of that to member states, which Susan, my past chair, will tell you more about. So perhaps I can pass it on to Susan now, how we bring the advocacy to member states. Well, where to start, I do want to emphasize the 27,000. And because the 20, really 27,000, 26,000 participants, and it wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for COVID, I swear, because it was called off last year, and we were determined that it would happen. But the excitement was that this year it was global. New York has run everything and taken responsibility for everything. And this time, we thought it'll be much stronger if it's global. So all the work we did in terms of our advocacy research to prepare for the negotiated document and do our own recommendations, took part with seven sister NGO CSWs, meeting it, well in New York it was like seven in the morning, it wasn't so bad. In Australia it was maybe midnight. But we had it, it was terrific. We had people from Lebanon, from Ghana, from Argentina, from the Caribbean, where else? Oh, Vienna and the Geneva and New York, and I probably left someone out. But it was so exciting learning from them. We also had young people on it, on the meetings. We would meet every two weeks. We started in October, if you can believe this, we got to know each other. And we worked on the priority theme that Josh already said, which is the participation of women in public life, but also in the violence against women in public life. And so we took the UN women concept note, the six areas, and we looked at it in terms of the situation, facts and data, but regionally. And so what Africa was saying was different from Lebanon, which was different from Geneva. We looked at precedents in human rights, being the Beijing platform for action, CEDAW, all kinds of things, because we're always told you must argue from precedent. We looked at good practices, what has been accomplished that we might be able to spread, you know, that we learn from a certain country and what they've done, and why can't we do it here. And then recommendations, what is needed. And when I speak next time, I'll talk about the United States and the briefing, and how happy we are that we once again have an ambassador that makes sense. Susan, that's a really great point. I remember being there two years ago in the negotiations where they would come out of the room, and you'd get the text, and then everybody would go, and then recommit, though, and put more paragraphs, more language, and try to get the right text back in. And of course, we could see, even at the recent Universal Periodic Review when they did a Geneva Declaration, the U.S. had been heading in the wrong direction on women's rights. So it is good to have the 65th session. It's great that at this principle global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicates promotion of gender equality and empower women that you could say we've turned in that direction. And, Saphira, can you share with us a bit from your perspective what it was like to participate and some of the gains in that document that you'd like to share with us? Yeah, thank you so much. And yeah, as you were saying, the focus of the commission, I mean, really is to document the reality of women's lives throughout the world and shape these global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. And so I just wanted to touch a little bit on kind of the role of young people. So I'm currently serving as co-chair of the Youth Leaders and Young Professionals program of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women. And something that was really unique about this particular commission with the virtual kind of platform was that many, many more young people had access for the first time to be able to participate. And so in terms of being able to contribute to this outcome document, we were able to work with Susan and a small team of young people that were really trying to pull together the lived experiences of young people on the ground. And I think part of this, of course, young people bringing this diversity of perspective to these international negotiations, but also in many ways, when it comes to gender equality, young people are really at the forefront of some of these social spaces where shifts around gender equality need to take place. So for example, in the realm of technology, online with social media, you've got young people working in schools or youth clubs where really early social understandings of gender equality and stereotyping takes place that people then carry with them for the rest of their lives. So they're playing some really essential roles and sharing some really essential perspectives to that conversation. And being able to share this enthusiasm and humility and this willingness to learn, but as well as really leading certain communities and rallying people around social change and leading that change. So we were able to send out a survey and really kind of collect much of this experience and what young people are spearheading at the grassroots level, at the national level, regional, international levels, really active, outstanding young people doing some really fantastic things. And then to be able to feed that into the document and some of that negotiations, which we were able to during the CSW and part of the NGO forum was to set up these informal spaces where civil society could meet with member states and consult with them about certain aspects of the document, language, certain points of contention that could really be shared and negotiated throughout those two weeks. So it was really wonderful to have this opportunity really for the first time for young people to be incorporated in the commission in this way. Thank you so much, Safira. And we know the CSW is really instrumental in promoting women's rights, documenting the reality of women's lives throughout the world and shaping global standards on gender equality and empowerment. And Hori, you were talking earlier about really coming up with some of those promising practices that are taking place around the planet. Could you maybe share where some of those stories from women coming forward of what has worked and how that thing could be either scaled up and we could all be solutionaries regarding the important issue on women's rights? Yes, actually, that's such a good point to really unpack even more so this year, right? Because we know that locally women have found solutions just out of necessity. I mean, when you think about what women have achieved even in this pandemic, right? How they have risen up and taken care of not only what they usually take care of, and then on top of that what they have to do. And again, it's something that we know instinctively what is necessary for our family, for our community, and then it's really important to keep bringing that up and bringing it to the international level. And what happened was that because of, just like Susan said, because of the virtual capacity, we were able to connect locally and nationally throughout our consultancy while we were doing advocacy. But also at the same time, because we did not have access to member states, because usually on a normal year, we would have meetings with member states, but everybody was working from home. And many member states members were not even in their offices or even in New York City. So we kind of activated our local activists to work from the national level for the first time, instead of just the global level. And it actually was something really important because we've always said global is local and local is global. But this year, actually, we were forced to use that in our leading up to CSW. Because it's unfortunate that, you know, yes, we had a consensus, the outcome document was at least, there was a consensus, but it wasn't strong enough. We're still not very happy how member states are behaving around gender equality. The language that they're using is not strong enough. And there's pushback from certain governments and United States was one of them actually even last year. And I'll let Susan tell you more about that. But it's really important to notice how we can't just take member states for what they're coming up with on the document for their word value, right? We need to bring that into implementation and accountability. And that only happens at the local and national level. So there's this back and forth and give and take. But I do want to pick up one more thing that Safira said, which we're so excited and you probably know this because you've been there, the meetings at the Vienna cafe. So we were not able to meet with them in their missions ahead of time to advocate. We were not able to meet with them in the lobbies or the corridors of the UN. So NGEO CSW actually created this space. We called it the virtual Vienna cafe and invited member states to speak to us. And I'm so happy to say at least six member states showed up. And of course they were the progressive member states, right? Canada, Chile, Costa Rica. I mean, it was wonderful to have that interaction. And they listened to us. But also their hands are tied. They were like, yes, but Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, they're pushing back on language that we want to be more progressive in. Susan, perhaps you can join in and talk a little bit about how proud we are of US this year, finally. There's so much I want to say. As you've been talking, I've been jotting down things. We are going to take the advocacy research group. We'll take a very close look at the agree conclusions and then take a look at our recommendations and then see how much it is just, they wanted to get it done. And so they all gave in too much. But we'll be doing that the second week in April. And when Josh asked, well, what changes have happened? Well, one change, I think, there are more women in government now. And I saw that. And the latest, what is it called, into parliamentary union, one of the IPU report, did talk about how there's more women participation. And we had some of the women in the advocacy group talking about it in Ghana. And it was quite exciting. The United States has gone down to 67 in women's participation. She's pretty shocking. However, the IPU did say the violence against women parliamentarians has grown a lot. And so we did do, we did a session on violence against women parliamentarians. We actually had a parliamentarian from South Sudan. And she said it wasn't too bad there. I mean, men were a little sexist, but at least they weren't violent. But as we had Canada, Armenia, Philippines, and it was quite exciting and an amazing audience talking. And of course, I tried to get AOC, but I tried hard. But I think she was just too bruised and too confused. And I think maybe next year we can get her. But now like the third thing, what did you want me to talk about? Oh, you want to talk about the ambassador? Well, it took a long time for her to get, you know, we spent a lot of the build up before she got confirmed. But she's excellent. She has a state, been in the State Department a lot. She's African American. She's just decent and reaches out to NGOs. So that I like a lot. And so she had a briefing with about a hundred of us. And all of the people, there were all kinds of people, Courtney, who was one of the head negotiators was there. And we could put in all kinds of not that things got in necessarily, but we gave all kinds of language and there was quite a range. And for once, it wasn't all the NGOs that are on the right. It was progressive NGOs. And they seem so happy and so supportive. And so we will start meeting with them soon. And I look forward to that. There's something called the US caucus. And they have a meeting, a group that has to do with advocacy. And Erica, the co-chair of the advocacy research with me is on that committee. And I hope to get on it soon so that we can start meeting with the US mission soon. Because so much in the UN is done through relationships. I mean, and this year, it was so hard to have relationships. But I do appreciate your story about creating the Virtual Vienna Café. For the UPR of the United States, we created a virtual serpentine sessions. And we even put a picture of Mont Blanc as like the backdrop where we do like, bonjour, welcome. So it's so good to see the ingenuity of international NGOs coming together to, as you said, really build that relationship. And I know, Susan, you didn't get AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but you did have the vice president Kamala Harris. Maybe you could share if you thought that was exciting. And also another exciting aspect is really when we look at COVID, it was the young female leaders. So people have said the future is female and looking at New Zealand, Aotearoa, looking at the Scandinavian countries, those young female leaders, prime ministers, is that inspiring to you? And how can you see that trend coming with more young women coming into a really take on what UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said is the unfinished human right struggle of this century? Yeah, this is great. And I think just to touch on this, the overall feel of the commission this year had definitely had a very distinctive tone where maybe it was COVID, maybe it was just the virtual style of engaging, but definitely a high level. Like, there are many, of course, every year, many government delegations and ministers who do come to the commission, but really at the higher level this year was very noticeable. And to have Kamala Harris speak, the vice president of a nation to come, she's the highest level representative of the US government, at least, to speak. So it was a really historic moment for the US to have Kamala Harris address the commission. But then also I feel to have exactly this example of young female leaders around the world who have really been very thoughtful and have been able to lead their nations in ways that have been really economically smart, stable, and you can see the trends. And I think this was a real theme over the course of the commissioners we've been looking at these qualities of leadership, where it's, of course, this representation and it is very inspiring to see kind of young women in these roles. But then also focusing on the qualities and what is distinct about the character, the qualities, the way that they govern, the ways that they're thinking about these issues and really having the well-being of the whole of the population at heart. I think that was very much a theme or ideas that emerged from what was contributed. And I think also what was distinct for me about a lot of the discussion and contributions during the CSW was this real sense of solidarity and a lot of discussion around how to build back better after COVID. Much acknowledgement that as we've seen during COVID, women really rise to these standards of leadership and where we've seen it, they've really shined. But that also that women and girls especially are carrying so much of the burden and are suffering so much because of the implications of COVID. So that really felt like a theme that shone through and to feel this really strong sense of solidarity on the part of the international community of how we're going to do this together was very inspiring. And what of course for human rights defenders there's no rest. Already you're very much involved with the next step called Generation Equality Forum and we know that Mexico and France are hosting this UN forum to accelerate the agenda laid out 26 years ago at the Beijing Women's Conference. Can you maybe share a bit about what's going on right now virtually in Mexico and then when that will then be followed up in France and some of the next steps of what we can imagine with international advocacy? Corey? Absolutely. So I mean it actually also ties into what I was saying earlier because no matter how hard we push as civil society, member states are still pushing back and not delivering implementation of the documents that they're agreeing upon. So UN women decided that what I would call is like a parallel campaign to CSW. It is very similar. It is based on the Beijing Platform for Action which is what CSW studies and looks into every year. But this Generation Equality Forum is meant to bring the radical progressive governments and activists and to come up with a blueprint to show solid results, what I call implementation within five years. So pick out five action coalitions and Women, Peace and Security is the six compact and then to bring the strong players kind of into the team and see how we can show the rest of UN how we can accomplish things instead of just talk. So of course NGOC is supportive of that too. We are the convener of that whole movement and we are all as activists invited into that space and you're right. We're meeting as we speak right now. The Mexico Forum ends tomorrow afternoon and it's supposed to come up with some really strong recommendations from also countries, progressive countries and then we're going to bring that into Paris for commitments. So the recommendations come out of Mexico and then we meet again virtually in Paris in June and then at that point member states will make solid commitments with how to achieve their recommendations in five years. So similar to the SDGs as well but it's mostly for obviously gender equality. Yeah and it reminds me I know when they with the forum will culminate in Paris on July 2nd after that three-day meeting and virtually unfortunately especially as we see the numbers in Paris and our heart goes out to the French with the COVID situation. Maybe we can also address Susan as you brought up the sustainable development goal number five but also how it's mainstreamed across all of them and you briefly mentioned CEDAW. I know Rhymes with He-Ha and most people in the US aren't sure what that is but convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women that's a pretty dynamic body with 22 of the 23 being women in that leadership role. How do you think through the high-level political forum and maybe through CEDAW some of the important work that you started at the CSW will carry on? That's a good question. Certainly I do want to report that there are 50 cities in the United States that have passed CEDAW ordinances and to me that's terrific because it's a knowledge and a commitment to human rights. Now about the other question I don't know I don't know. Vandana Rana who was vice chair of CEDAW is one of our co-chairs of NGEO CSW Asia Pacific and so I keep in touch with her but COVID has slowed them down a bit I think. They do have things they work on but we've been trying to get them to work on some other things that we're slowly trying like the the plight of widows and this whole dossier for CEDAW and whatever globally but no CEDAW and because it's also it's what do you call it it's a negotiated document that's binding that CEDAW is very useful and everyone should know CEDAW and read it and be able to quote it when it's necessary. Yes no it inspired us in Hawaii we just concluded our 21st annual women's rights or human rights gender justice summit that we created on Maui 21 years ago and also our 16th annual human rights day at the state legislature and we always do that around women's day because it's very important to you know when the legislature is in session and we as Hawaii the state of Hawaii has also adopted CEDAW and so did Honolulu as a city so we definitely think that's very valuable and important and we see a lot of that action going out with human rights cities uh in our final moments we'll have a press release could you send us that press release and we'll smear it about the world and and and joining that that would be wonderful we could give you great publicity and hope it would encourage others sure no and we just all right we just had a hearing yesterday on localizing UPR implementation as well so we're doing our best to bring the global to the ground and the international to our islands and our final moment Sophia would you like to have any words about the future of women's rights and aspects that we can all concentrate on together as we coordinate through civil society and with champion countries to make the world a better place yeah of course it's um there's a lot happening and really everything that has been described with the commission on the status of women and the generation equality forum it's all about movement building it's we're all in this together whether it's translating the principle of gender equality in our own personal lives or whether it's kind of joining some of these more formal spaces so I guess my final words would be get involved so there are so many many ways different channels whether it's through NGOCSW or much of the civil society platforms that will continue throughout the rest of the year with the generation equality forum please look into it reach out and there are structures and very warm civil society members like some of these who are on the call who is a wonderful chair and Susan as well who are just ready to support and encourage that engagement so yes thank you so much I know it is exciting to see what else is coming next I am so glad to hear the generation equality forum it is very active and how it will end in July but it's also exciting to see what else is coming up I know the UN permanent forum on indigenous issues will begin in April and that's a very important time as many women leaders have emerged through that space that also engage with CSW so it's a chance to reinforce those recommendations that were adopted and then the one last thing I'd like to thank all of you for really committing to that process that we know it's grueling we know it all begins much earlier than just the two-week process that we see and when would you say people start getting involved with the CSW for the next process and then we'll close there when do you think people begin to get involved if they wanted to start to contact you Hori? Well we actually the executive committee meets over the summer and we have our retreat to make our plans but I would say September yeah our first meeting is the third Thursday of the month and but we send out information regularly so please sign up to our email list it's very easy on our website ngsw.org sign up for the young leaders youth youth leaders and young professionals that's also on our website and as far as generation equality it's really easy to google and then find a website they have a public conversation site that anybody can engage and add opinions on it so that they feel engaged so a lot of this and they're all available on our website too so I guess the hub is ngsw.org perfect and that's excellent that we all know we can get it involved around the U.N. General Assembly and then to be involved and see the results in March afterwards so thank you all so much for making time and thank you so much for making time and thank you for also uh