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– Looking back at CSW 67: At the UN and around the world, feminist foreign policy must step up to combat the backlash.

April 7, 2023
News, Human Rights, Gender, Uncategorized, Advocacy

Equipop participated in the 67th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which concluded with the adoption of a text on a new topic: women's rights and digital technology. However, the negotiations resulted in concessions to anti-rights movements, which were particularly active this year.

“Patriarchy is fighting back, but we are fighting back too.” With these words, Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, opened the 67th edition of the “Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the main intergovernmental body responsible for assessing and accelerating progress on gender equality. This strong statement set the tone for the intergovernmental negotiations, which took place from March 6 to 17. The negotiations concluded with the adoption of a text on a topic that had never been addressed before: digital technology and gender equality (full title of the session: "Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls"). However, the fact that the negotiations resulted in a text was far from a foregone conclusion. This shows that it is not impossible to mobilize the international community around gender equality issues. This is a positive point, considering that we are in a context where feminist movements and their allies must put all their efforts into a single goal: not to back down.

Digital technology, a new theme at the CSW

The theme of this 67th edition was all the more important given that digital technology is not immune to patriarchal codes and logic—quite the contrary. Digital spaces perpetuate a continuum of gender-based and sexual violence and oppressive relationships, which discourages women from getting involved. The various inequalities in access to technology are also accentuated by sexist biases reproduced by artificial intelligence (AI). The novelty of this theme presented a challenge for the negotiating teams, particularly with regard to the introduction of new terminology. At the end of two weeks of negotiations, the UN member states adopted "agreed conclusions," which include important points such as the common desire to promote women's rights in technology, the importance of digital technology in improving access to sexual and reproductive health services, and the need to adopt public policies aimed at eliminating violence in these spaces.

Women's and LGBTI+ rights: geopolitical issues

Equipop publication: Women's rights: combating the backlash

However, the adoption of these conclusions came at the cost of several concessions, which greatly limit their ambition and scope. As always, coalitions of conservative states undermined the negotiations by attempting to reverse language that has long been used in UN texts. As is often the case, states replayed a number of geopolitical power struggles at the CSW at the expense of the rights of women and LGBTI+ people. Several countries, including Guatemala, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, and Iran, took positions or organized side events aimed at watering down the content of the negotiations. References to "reproductive rights" or the intersectional nature of discrimination against women and LGBTI+ people were strongly contested. Proposals relating to the importance of technology in accessing comprehensive sexuality education were rejected. Similarly, language that could have strengthened the protection of LGBTI+ rights was rejected, including very vague terminology such as "women and girls in all their diversity." The African group, represented by Cameroon, expressed particularly strong opposition to these various points. In general, the anti-rights movements were highly coordinated: this reality, a concrete manifestation of the "backlash" (see in this regard the report written by Equipop and the Jean-Jaurès Foundation), was very much on the minds of all activists, making transnational feminist solidarity all the more important.

Strengthening transnational feminist solidarity

In the face of attacks on the rights of women and LGBTI+ people, it is more essential than ever to take action, strengthen transnational feminist solidarity, and fight together. It is the pooling of actions at the local, national, and international levels, and the feminist solidarity that is woven across these different levels, that make it possible to advance women's rights. The CSW provided Equipop with an opportunity to meet partners and forge new links with activists from around the world. Through various events organized by the permanent missions to the UN of the Netherlands and Germany, Equipop was able to discuss issues related to the construction of a feminist digital space. Equipop exchanged views with international feminist networks such as AWID and feminist funds working in emergency contexts such as the Urgent Action Fund. Several partners of Women7, of which Equipop is a member as part of its mobilization around the G7, were met. Equipop participated in the launch of the "Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative," of which we are members. This unique platform will enable the creation of progressive alliances in favor of gender equality. France, which is a member, will have to invest heavily in it. Because all feminist movements are linked and because it is a fundamental right, Equipop has also defended the inclusion of the right to abortion in the French Constitution, alongside its partners.

Developing feminist foreign policies in Europe and around the world

Equipop Publication: Adopting Feminist Foreign Policies to Address Global Challenges in the 21st Century

In a context of declining fundamental rights, from the United States to Uganda and Poland, it is crucial to implement ambitious feminist foreign policies, developed in collaboration with associations and activists, with the deliberate aim of transforming power relations. This is the message Equipop conveyed during its meetings with several political leaders, notably France's permanent mission to the UN, with which it hopes to continue strategic discussions ahead of other UN deadlines. Equipop also met with a delegation of MEPs who are members of the FEMM Committee (European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality), coordinated by Robert Biedron. The mobilization of progressive parliamentarians is necessary in order to push the EU to speak out strongly in intergovernmental processes and to strengthen European dynamics around feminist foreign policies. The concept of feminist foreign policy offers enormous potential for change at the national, European, and global levels, particularly at a time when we need leadership from states. These policies must not be status quo policies: in addition to countering anti-choice rhetoric, we must now seek new victories and advance other feminist narratives. Feminist foreign policies must be at the forefront wherever backlash occurs, and reverse the trend. To achieve this, collaboration with feminist activists and movements is essential: they must be involved in discussions and preparations for intergovernmental processes well in advance, as true strategic partners. Their participation in UN processes must be supported politically and financially. Once again this year, many activists had to give up coming to New York because of the costs involved and visa refusals. Like the Women's Rights Caucus, Equipop calls on all stakeholders, and in particular the host country, the United States, to address this issue adequately for all events related to gender equality organized at the United Nations headquarters. Finally, for these policies to be credible internationally, they must be rigorously monitored. This is the purpose of the launch of the “Feminist accountability framework” of the Generation Equality Forum. As the 22 feminist experts leading this initiative say, “we are now demanding, not recommending.” France, co-organizer of the FGE, will have to set an example in this exercise of accountability.

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