Document Library

Statement to the Anglican Consultative Council from the Anglican Communion delegation to the 61st Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, March 2017

The sixty-first session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW61) addressed a critical theme –the empowerment of women in the changing world of work – at a critical moment in world affairs. This is a time to come together, and that is precisely what we did at the UNCSW61.

Over the weeks of July 20-24 and July 27-31, member states, major groups, and other civil society stakeholders participated in negotiations and arrived at a consensus with respect to the language and content of the post- 2015 development agenda and its sustainable development goals (SDG’s), which act as the driving force of the document. 

The focus of this year's 59th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59) was a 20-year anniversary review of the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, unanimously adopted by 189 countries at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women as an agenda for women’s empowerment and a global policy document on gender equality.

Main Focus:

• The indigenous peoples in Bangladesh and the Philippines (both dealing with land disputes)

The 13th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will be held at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York from May 12th-23rd, 2014. The special theme is “Principles of good governance consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous  Peoples: articles3 to 6 and 46 (3)”.

The many aboriginal women in Canada who have gone missing or been murdered has gained  public interest and concern over the last several years. 

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is a yearly event to help promote and endorse the rights enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.

The fifty-seventh session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was devoted to “ending violence against women.”

Anglican women have engaged with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) since 1985 when the Anglican Consultative Council was first granted official non-governmental status with ECOSOC, the UN Economic and Social Council.