Advocacy & Lobbying

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) will organise a live discussion on the Media coverage of women in politics and its impact on democracy on 10 April from 5 to 6.30 pm at the Residence Palace, rue de la loi 155, Brussels. 

These discussions follow the closure of one of the IFJ's landmark project "Rewriting the story: Gender, Media and Politics"  which addressed barriers to the fair representation and portrayal of women and men in political life. Working with frontline journalists, news media managers, journalism universities and journalists’ unions and associations, the project provided extensive research, developed specialised training modules for journalists and media newsrooms, trained over 300 journalists across Europe and beyond and ran an innovative Peer-to Peer programme, working with newsroom managers, producers, journalists and journalists’ unions to produce and adopt protocols, guidelines, agreements and initiate a mindset shift towards gender equality in editorial decisions and newsroom organisation and working conditions.

The panel discussions on 10 April will bring together:

Lina Galvez, MEP, chair of the FEMM group in the European Parliament

Sabinet Panet, Editor-in-chief of axelle magazine, Belgium

Shada Islam, Founder of New Horizons Project, independent commentator and analyst on EU affairs

Discussions will be moderated by Pamela Morinière, Gender expert, Head of Communications at the IFJ.

To register, click here.

Event published by the International Federation of Journalist

In a world of rising inequalities and immense challenges, 25 years of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, established through United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, along with the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 present a significant opportunity to reflect on the progress women have made in shaping our societies. They also remind us that gender equality requires systemic change, and institutions must lead the way to renew our commitment to investing in women and girls, driving efforts toward inclusive economic growth, protecting our planet, reducing dependency, and fostering peace and stability.

Over 600 million women and girls live in proximity to armed conflict, with conflict-related sexual violence increasing by 50 per cent in 2024 alone. Despite their vital knowledge and expertise, women are often excluded from decision-making in peace and security efforts; however, sustainable peace is only attainable when women have a voice and a seat at the table. 

Women at the Heart of Preventing Violent Extremism in the Gulf of Guinea
Peripheral areas and borderlands, often characterised by socio-economic marginalisation and limited welfare services, are increasingly susceptible to the spread of extremist ideologies and narratives. The Journey to Extremism: Pathways to Recruitment and Disengagement report highlights the evolving gender dimensions of violent extremism. 

Across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo, women are demonstrating the transformative power of their leadership. With the surge and expansion of violent extremism and transnational crime increasingly threatening the stability of the Gulf of Guinea and Sahel regions, women are stepping forward to breaking the cycles of violence and taking the lead as custodians of peace.

Read here the full article published by UNDP on 4 April 2025.

The Beijing Declaration in 1995 recognized that gender equality is essential to democracy. Yet, 30 years later, progress remains uneven and at risk, with backlash against gender equality and democratic values threatening hard-won gains. Drawing on the Global State of Democracy Indices, produced by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), this technical paper explores advances, setbacks and gaps in gender equality and women’s political participation since 1995. As threats to gender equality and democracy grow, the 2025 Political Declaration of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) must reaffirm that women’s equal participation in decision making is fundamental to democracy—and that both gender equality and democracy must be protected (UN Economic and Social Council 2025).

In 2025 the world marks 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which established a landmark agenda for women’s empowerment. Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of International IDEA—the only intergovernmental organization with the sole mandate to strengthen democracy—this milestone reaffirms the 1995 declaration that women’s equal participation in decision making, alongside equal rights, opportunities and access to resources, is essential for democracy, peace and human rights, ensuring a just society that protects the interests of all. The importance of gender equality was also reaffirmed by all UN member states in the 2030 Agenda, in particular through Sustainable Development Goal 5 and its targets 5.1. and 5.5, which emphasize the elimination of all forms of discrimination and the promotion of women’s political participation as key targets for achieving inclusive and sustainable development.

Read here the full report published by International IDEA on 31 March 2025.

New York, New York

March 10, 2025

AS PREPARED

The United States thanks the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and co-facilitators Cabo Verde and Costa Rica, as well as all participating delegations and civil society partners, for their efforts in developing the Political Declaration.

While we are not a CSW member this year, we engaged in negotiations because the United States strongly supports protecting women and girls, defending their rights, and promoting their empowerment.

We are pleased the Declaration focuses on respecting, protecting, and promoting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all women and girls. In signing Executive Orders to defend Americans from unhealthy and extremist gender ideology, President Trump has made clear his Administration “will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.”

We also appreciate that the text addresses the need to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls. The Administration of President Trump has committed to protecting women by, among other things, curbing mass migration and securing borders.  Violence against women and girls is rampant on migratory routes. Further, as we have seen in many tragic cases in the United States, women and girls are victimized by foreign criminals operating individually or in gangs. We must work against the open-borders ideology that tolerate such assaults on the rights of women.

However, several aspects of the text make it impossible for the United States to support the Declaration. These include, but are not limited to:

Language to Protect Women and Girls

It is the policy of the United States to use clear and accurate language that recognizes women are biologically female and men are biologically male. It is important to acknowledge the biological reality of sex to support the needs and perspectives of women and girls. We are disappointed the Political Declaration did not focus on the needs and perspectives of women and girls through precise terminology.

The United States supports the elimination of discrimination on the basis of all protected classes, including race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, national origin, and genetic information. We note the United States is not a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and interpret references to CEDAW as relevant to States Parties and the implementation of their obligations. The United States emphasizes that non-binding declarations such as this Political Declaration do not change the current state of conventional or customary international law or imply that States must join or implement obligations under international instruments to which they are not a party.

Freedom of Opinion and Expression

With regard to paragraph 15(j), we note that in recent years governments have censored speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech. Under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation,” governments infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of Americans. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.

Right to Development

We regret the Political Declaration includes language on the purported “right to development,” as this term does not have an internationally agreed meaning. We cannot accept references to this as a “right.”

The 2030 Agenda

Another concern we have about this resolution is its reaffirmation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although framed in neutral language, the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs advance a program of soft global governance that is inconsistent with U.S. sovereignty and adverse to the rights and interests of Americans.

In the last U.S. election, the mandate from the American people was clear: the government of the United States must refocus on the interests of Americans. We must care first and foremost for our own – that is our moral and civic duty. President Trump also set a clear and overdue course correction on “gender” and climate ideology, which pervade the SDGs.

Put simply, globalist endeavors like the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs lost at the ballot box. Therefore, the United States rejects and denounces the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, and we will no longer reaffirm them as a matter of course.

Equal Pay for Equal Work

The United States understands the intention of the inclusion of “equal pay for work of equal value” to promote pay equality between men and women, and accepts the formulation on that basis.  The United States works to achieve pay equality by observing the principle of “equal pay for equal work.”

Temporary Special Measures

With respect to so-called “temporary special measures,” and other measures intended to achieve parity for women and girls, the United States opposes the use of quotas, targets, or goals for participation based on sex. It is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. Every citizen, including women and girls, should have an equal right and opportunities, without discrimination, to take part in the conduct of public affairs.

Climate Change

The United States does not support the inclusion of references to climate change in this declaration.

Original post available here.

A summary

The African Union strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) 2018-2028 which was launched during the AU Summit February 2019 is based on an inclusive and multisectoral approach and builds on the lessons learned from the 2009 gender policy. It is transformational in that its outcomes aim to mitigate, if not eliminate the major constraints hindering gender equality and women’s empowerment, so that women and girls may participate fully in economic activities, political affairs and social endeavours.

The GEWE Strategy is a framework document to strengthen women’s agency in Africa and ensure that women’s voices are amplified and their concerns are fully addressed through, among others, effective implementation of legislation and proper financing of gender equality work. It is a guiding document on the implementation of the AU’s GEWE commitments and is to be used to design transformational programmes that bring results for African women and girls on the continent and in the diaspora.

The strategy has four pillars and each pillar outlines outcomes and proposed activities that should be implemented in furtherance of that specific pillar.

• Pillar 1 focuses on maximising opportunities, outcomes and e-tech dividends. It recognises, amongst others, that for women to be economically empowered, and to be able to effectively contribute to sustainable development, they must have access to quality education and control over productive resources. The GEWE strategy proposes to mount a continental campaign to declare “illiteracy a harmful traditional practice and make “out of school” a punishable offence; and to advocate for and lobby e-Tech firms and financial institutions to fund start-ups and innovation hubs which promote gendered solutions and increase women and girls’ equal and effective participation in the technology space.

• Pillar 2 focuses on dignity, security, and resilience and recognises that the rights of women and girls to dignity, security and bodily and psychological integrity are often compromised when women are subjected to violence and violations, which often times happen in the context of violence against women and harmful traditional practices such as early-child marriage and female genital mutilation. The GEWE Strategy proposes to implement AU guidelines on Ending Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) and fund national projects to penalise VAWG.

• Pillar 3 highlights the need for effective laws, policies and institutions. Whereas Africa has made progress in progressive laws and policies and institutions to promote and protect women’s rights, there is still a huge deficit when it comes to effective implementation and gender machineries remain among the weakest public institutions at a time when they are needed the most to push the gender agenda forward. The GEWE Strategy proposes to design and implement a new initiative called “All for Maputo Protocol Programme”, which will support the full and universal ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol.

• Pillar 4 focuses on leadership, voice and visibility. This pillar recognises that for women to have a voice, they need to be equally represented in all areas of decision-making and be able to participate with impact, through the removal of all forms of barriers. The strategy proposes to integrate gender in the rewriting of the African narrative. The former AUC Chairperson, H.E Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, once said, “If we don’t put women in history books, they get edited out of history”. WGDD has also prioritised knowledge development and management and will be publishing a number of products: among others, A State of Women’s Rights report in Africa, A Historic African women’s booklet documenting the stories of the African women who gallantly fought in African liberation struggles.

Reah here the full article published by the African Union on 19 March 2025.

Image by African Union