The 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) will take place from March 10 to 21, 2025. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
During #CSW69, check back here for the events that the International Peace Institute (IPI) is hosting, as well as relevant recommended reading for each event.
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To view the calendar of #CSW69 side events, click here>>
Wednesday March 12th, 1:00-4:00pm EDT
“Past Reflections and Future Visioning on the 25th Anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda”
In October 2025, the UN community will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which marked the official start of the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda. This year will also mark 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+30). These landmark anniversaries represent not only a time to celebrate the achievements of the agenda but also an opportunity to generate plans around advancing the WPS agenda and determining areas of future action. At the same time, recent elections around the world have evidenced a growing right-wing tide that includes the rollback of women’s rights. This requires policymakers to urgently uphold the principles of the WPS agenda in the face of gender backlash.
In the leadup to the 25th anniversary, the International Peace Institute (IPI), in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, and Women in International Security (WIIS), will convene key stakeholders in a closed-door interactive workshop to engage in future visioning around the WPS agenda. This convening during CSW69 will focus on connecting with community at a time when the principles of the WPS agenda feel under attack. The workshop will focus on connecting academics and civil society with member states and other UN actors to understand how different communities working on WPS see the future of the agenda. The interactive workshop will encourage leaders on WPS and decision makers to step outside their own sectors and build new partnerships and creative strategies for advancing gender equality.
This is a closed-door event. If you are interested in participating, please contact Phoebe Donnelly ([email protected]).
Recommended Reading:
- “The Highs and Lows of Women, Peace and Security in 2024, and Looking Ahead to 2025,” by Olivia Parsons, Phoebe Donnelly, and Evyn Papworth on IPI’s Global Observatory
- “Focus on 2020: Opportunities for the Twentieth Anniversary of Resolution 1325,” by Sarah Taylor and Gretchen Baldwin
Tuesday, March 18th, 1:00-3:00pm EDT
“Operationalizing Feminist Foreign Policy: Strategizing Civil Society Priorities”
In the last decade, the advent of feminist foreign policy (FFP) has illustrated how member states have taken different approaches to designing gender-responsive policies. However, there is often limited understanding of what implementation looks like in practice within different contexts. For instance, Latin America’s regional focus on care work as a key tenet of FFP (emphasized by Mexico, Chile, and Colombia) is unique and works to better link domestic and foreign policy initiatives. In Africa, where grassroots feminist organizing has long shaped discourses on gender justice, economic transformation, and decolonization, the African Feminist Charter on Feminist Principles and the Maputo Protocol provide frameworks that align with the core values of FFP and should be considered in shaping policy commitments.
During the second week of CSW69, IPI, in partnership with Cordaid, the Just Future Alliance, Women’s International Peace Centre, the Broker, and the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law, will convene an in-person closed-door roundtable on “Operationalizing Feminist Foreign Policy: Strategizing Civil Society Priorities.” This event aims to better understand the tangible implementation of FFP with a focus on sharing the priorities expressed from feminist civil society and women’s rights activists with member states. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss applying FFP across different contexts. This event will also platform civil society participants to share their perspectives and priorities on FFP in advance of the fourth annual Ministerial Conference that will be held in Paris later this year.
This is a closed-door event. If you are interested in participating, please contact Phoebe Donnelly ([email protected]).
Recommended Reading:
- “Advancing Feminist Foreign Policy in the Multilateral System: Key Debates and Challenges,” by Evyn Papworth
- “What Can We Say about the Emerging Feminist Foreign Policies in Latin America?” by Daniela Sepúlveda Soto and Evyn Papworth on IPI’s Global Observatory
- “Spreading Feminist Foreign Policy: Interview with Margot Wallström,” by Jill Stoddard and Eimer Curtin on IPI’s Global Observatory
- “Mexico’s Feminist Foreign Policy: In Search of Accountability and Participation,” by Daniela Philipson García on IPI’s Global Observatory
- “What Can Feminist Foreign Policy Learn from Postcolonial Feminism?” by Neha Tetali on IPI’s Global Observatory
Thursday March 20th, 1:00-2:45pm EDT
“Trafficking in Persons, WPS, and Peacebuilding”
Despite a recognition of the links between trafficking in persons and conflict, there has been limited attention paid to trafficking in persons in the reporting on and monitoring of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). To date, the resolutions adopted on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) have focused primarily on sexual violence in conflict. Trafficking in persons is recognized as a form of sexual violence in conflict; however, it is critical now that we now effectively implement all pillars of the WPS agenda, in particular, by ensuring the participation and leadership of those most affected by conflict-related trafficking in persons, in the design and implementation of peacebuilding measures, and in the recovery programs that ensure economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights.
In the 2024 Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, the Special Rapporteur identifies an opportunity to better incorporate considerations around trafficking in persons into National Action Plans on WPS. There is an opportunity during CSW69 to highlight the issue of trafficking in persons and its links to the WPS agenda. In advance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of both the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and the Trafficking in Persons Protocol (the Palermo Protocol), there is an opportunity to focus on strengthening both policies through better-integrating considerations on trafficking in persons into the WPS. Read more >>
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Recommended Reading:
- “A/79/161: Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally – Trafficking in persons and gender and peace and security,” by Siobhán Mullally
- “Human trafficking and the women, peace and security agenda,” by Christine Chinkin
- “Human Trafficking, Human Rights and Women, Peace and Security: The Sound of Silence,” by Gema Fernández Rodríguez de Liévana and Christine Chinkin in New Directions in Women, Peace and Security, Soumita Basu, Paul Kirby, and Laura Shepherd (2021)
- “Forced Marriage by Non-state Armed Groups: Frequency, Forms, and Impact,” by Phoebe Donnelly and Emily Meyers
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