March 10, 2025, I had the opportunity to attend the 69th session on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) in New York under the support of the WRC Caucus, which Women for a Change is a member.
Unlike past CSWs, the 2025 CSW69 didn’t have negotiations during the two weeks of sessions, which ran from March 10 to 21, 2025. Rather the first day of the CSW69 was marked with the adoption of a political declaration by member states, renewing their commitments to the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Actions(BpfA) – a landmark instrument for the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights.
2025 poses significant milestones for women’s rights, leaderships and organizing globally and locally: it marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, 25th anniversary of UNSCR1325, 15th anniversary of UN Women, 10th anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals and above all, an elective year for the Republic of Cameroon.
While this year might seem like a commemorative year and ideally this should call for celebration, unfortunately this is not the case. In Cameroon and across the globe, the first quarter into 2025 has been marked with a global rise of authoritarianism and anti-gender push, coupled with the re-elections of the 47th President of the United States of America, known for his fascists, racists and anti-gender narratives. Coming from a country / continent where the women and young people often get secluded from crucial meetings happening in countries like the US – due to obvious reasons such as visa bans/biases, racism and systemic inequalities, CSW69 was no exemption as we once again witnessed rampant visa denial to delegates invited for CSW69.
And because distance is never a barrier for us at Women for a Change, we decided to organize watch parties to stream-live to our Cameroonian audiences some of the sessions which we co-organized. These include but not limited to sessions such as; Africa Women’s Caucus (March 10th, Church Center Chapel), Virtual Press Conference (March 11th), GEDA side event on advancing data for synergies between Gender, Climate and Environment, the Feminist Action for Climate Justice Action Coalition (FACJ) parallel event with Commitments Makers on assessing linkages and mapping opportunities for the post-Beijing 30. The FACJ session also culminated with the launch of the updated Feminist Action for Climate Action Stories of Change book (March 13th). In addition to co-organizing some of these events, we also spoke at different events including co-drafting of statements alongside WRC, FoS Alliance, Femnet, GenEgaliteECCAS, NGO CSW Africa as well as inputting into recommendations for the revitalization of CSW.
