National Women’s Education Center of Japan

The 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from March 14 to 24, 2016. Two members of NWEC staff, one from the Office of Research and International Affairs, the other from the Program Division, participated as members of the Japanese government delegation. Held with “Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development” as its priority theme, the session comprised statements by country representatives, UN entities and NGOs; voluntary presentations; ministerial-level round tables; and interactive dialogue panel discussions among experts.

This year’s session provided a forum for discussion from various perspectives on how gender issues in each field can be mainstreamed in the process of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formulated to succeed the Millennium Development Goals, the deadline for which was 2015.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoji Muto chaired the ministerial round table on behalf of the Japanese government, and participated in a discussion among country representatives about the women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development and this year’s CSW review theme: The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. In Japan’s country statement presented on March 15, he also stressed Japan’s intention to fulfil its role as a member of international society and contribute toward realizing the 2030 Agenda.

Numerous events are held alongside the plenary CSW sessions. Three NGOs and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, with the cooperation of the governments of Denmark and Germany, and CEDAW (Commission on the Eradication of Discrimination against Women), held a side event on March 18. Themed “Towards eradication of the gender gap in economic fields,” the event proved a great success and attracted nearly 100 participants despite being held on a Friday night.

On March 22, Japan partnered with UN Women to organize another side event themed “Building Resilience in Fragility - Women’s Empowerment in Action” where presentations about initiatives being taken to support women entrepreneurs in Lebanon were interspersed with video clips filmed there. Many of the more than 70 participants fielded questions and opinions at the event, which was held in the presence of H. E. Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Hiroko Hashimoto, Representative of Japan, and H.E. Mr. Hiroshi Minami, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, indicating the high level of interest in the issue.

Parallel events organized by NGOs were also held at venues such as the Church Center for the UN. Proposals for a systematic training program and funding thereof were presented at a session organized by black American women on the training of trainers for HIV/AIDS education.

Discussions were held over consecutive days in the latter half of CSW60 toward reaching “agreed conclusions.” Participants devoted time to engage in earnest discussion based on the conditions prevalent in and capacity of each country. One of the main points of discussion related to how we should interpret “health” and “family.” After discussing women’s gender, reproductive rights, and the diversity of families, CSW60 ended at midnight on March 24 with the adoption of the agreed conclusions.

The UN Women website below contains documents and videos pertaining to CSW60 and its agreed conclusions (available in English and other official languages of the UN):