In the last 24 hours of CSW a key focus for Government delegations has been finalising resolutions that capture the main issues and commits governments to action following the session.  As the outcomes document was largely pre-negotiated this year, there has been an enhanced focus on the resolutions this year, as a tangible outcome of the meeting of the world on the status of women.

The YWCA has been active in aiming to influence the language of the resolutions.  In particular, we have highlighted the importance of recognising the specific issues facing young women, and advocating for young women to be involved in decision making, program development and evaluation processes.  We have spent particular time on resolutions that address the issues of HIV Aids and Maternal Mortality.

Now however, it is the job of Governments to finalise language of the resolutions.  Working groups have been working hard and long to find consensus.  A key strategy to assist this process has been identifying text within other UN outcomes document which has previously been agreed.  This assists participants to build consensus around actions to commit to as a collective.  While most of the negotiating sessions have been closed, we have had the chance to observe some of these conversations and it is very insightful to gain a picture of the particular perspectives that are brought to the table.  A key challenge that needs to be addressed is how different cultural norms are brought together through this process.

In our last update, there was still some work to do, and we will not know until today in the main session how successful participants have been in negotiating outcomes.  We hope however for women across the world that the participants will be able to overcome the challenges, and deliver on commiting to real action that improves the lives of women and girls everywhere.