By: Ngozi Nwosu-Juba May 8, 2019 0353pm
In
my view the Commission on the Status of Women is the biggest meeting that takes
place yearly at the United Nations. (According
to the NGOCSW 63 2019 Guidebook, nearly 5,000 Civil society members and more
than 1,500 government delegates attend the UN commission on the Status of Women
every year)This therefore provides a great opportunity to deliberate and
push the agenda for the realization of the rights of women and girls.
At
the CSW event civil society groups come together to network, share views and
finds partners whose work inspire theirs. It is usually a period of renewed
commitment and re-invigoration and a reminder about the work that needs to be
done at country levels. It was good to see CSO delegates mingling with
government delegates and negotiating possible partnerships. Papers were
presented, comments were made and solutions proffered, everyone seemed to be
experts in their own field. Vision Spring Vision spring initiatives and its partners (Kids and teens Resource Center, His Marvelous Grace Support Foundation and Gender Mobile) seized the
opportunity to demand acceleration and implementation of the rights of women
and girls. Listening to the presentations, it was worrisome and of concern to
note that violence against women and girl is still on the rise!
The
priority theme of CSW 63 was social protection systems, access to public
services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment
of women and girls. According to the UN Women, social protection is a set of
minimum guarantees, including basic income security for children, working-age
adults, older people and people with disabilities, as well as essential health
care for all. It was good to hear about
efforts being made by various countries towards advancing the rights of women
and girls.However there remains a huge gap between words and actions; a gap from
what has been achieved and what needs to be achieved. Challenges such as climate change, insecurity
and insurgencies which affect women and girls disproportionately still exist;
the uphill battle for reproductive rights, poor and inadequate funding for
health has not been won; genital mutilation, early and forced marriages, VVF
and all forms of sexual violence remain unresolved. Women bodies have not
seized to battle grounds in battle and conflict areas!
Some
of the presentation noted the impact of climate change which is devastating and
affects livelihoods and inadvertently present challenges to women’s social service
access, compromises availability of safe drinking water, sanitation especially
in rural areas. Nigerian women farmers and fishers have suffered immensely due
to oil spillages in riverine areas.On
health, Nigeria is committed to the Universal Health Coverage which was
negotiated and now a part of Sustainable Goal 3:7 and 8on
achieving universal health coverage including financial risk protection, access
to quality essential health care services and access to safe effective quality
and affordable essential medicines and vaccines. If we are to achieve the
commitment of leaving no one behind, women groups and other partners must
continue to push the push back!
AS
advocates we must demand the strengthening of accountability frameworks, we
must insist on renewed commitment to adequate budgetary allocation which is critical
for implementation of agenda 2030 and increased support from international
community. We must move from rhetoric to real action. We must care for
survivors of gender based violence improve women’s participation in politics,
women with disabilities and other marginalized groups require support and
security throughout their lives. There must be deliberate action to develop
statistics on violence and stereotypes and use this information to challenge
the status quo. Government and private sector MUST see civil society groups as
partners in progress. Attention must be paid to the concluding remarks of CSW
63. Vision Spring Initiatives with its partners are currently reviewing the
Concluding remarks towards partnering with strategic stakeholders.
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