The United States was isolated in its opposition to the adoption of “agreed conclusions” at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on Tuesday, recording the only “no” vote at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday.

There were 37 votes in favour and six abstentions from Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, and Saudi Arabia. The CSW is made up of 45 elected members.

“Prior to the adoption, the representative of the United States [Dan Negrea] first proposed that its consideration be deferred, then that the text be withdrawn and then proposed eight amendments to the text,” according to a UN media release.

The US sought the removal of “controversial social issues” from the document, Devex reports. US objections included “ambiguous language promoting gender ideology”, “vague, unqualified commitments to sexual and reproductive health that can be interpreted as implying abortion rights”, and “censorship language on regulating artificial intelligence”, according to the UN media release.  

Earlier, Nigeria and Egypt called for more time to reach consensus – the usual route for UN decision-making and the only route the CSW has taken in 70 years. Pakistan later proposed voting separately on each of the US’s eight amendments.

However, CSW chair Maritza Chan Valverde from Costa Rica said that “every effort has been made to listen to delegations and to reflect the diversity of views expressed”.  

“We are convinced that the text represents the most balanced outcome achievable at this stage,” Valverde said, adding that her Bureau has decided to put the text to a vote.

Measures to address gender-based violence

The CSW, which was established in 1946, is the main global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality, and the rights and the empowerment of women. 

The theme of this year’s CSW is “ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls” by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, as well as structural barriers to justice

The agreed conclusions “seek to create justice systems that work for everyone equally”, according to Valverde.

The proposals focus strongly on justice for survivors of gender-based violence, including integrating gender-responsive access to justice across sectors, formally recognising community justice actors, and introducing new language on digital justice and AI governance aimed at protecting women and girls.  

The text also strengthens standardised systems for gender-based violence data and promotes a whole-of-society approach that recognises civil society’s role.

Valverde stressed that hard-won progress on gender equality must not be reversed.  “We owe it to the trailblazers who charted the path for us, and to those who shall follow in our footsteps.  To our mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and sisters,” she said.

‘Epstein criminal enterprise’

President of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock told the opening of CSW that the backlash against women’s rights “feels as though we are forced to fight the same old battles again and again, battles from 80 years ago”.

Baerbock, a former German foreign minister, pointed out that she is only the fifth woman to be President of the General Assembly and that, in 80 years, a woman has never been Secretary-General. 

“If we do not address the fact that three-quarters of parliamentarians worldwide are men, and 103 countries have never had a female Head of State, then we will hardly deliver on justice.

“Women’s rights are nothing new,” she added. “They have been embedded in the DNA of this institution from the very beginning.”

“We will not stop fighting for equal representation and women’s rights… until the women of Afghanistan are free and girls worldwide are not being forced anymore to marry before they finish school; until we see justice for survivors of sexual abuse, whether it occurs at home or as part of an exploitive global sexual network as exposed in the Epstein files; where women are equally paid and represented, whether in newsrooms, in boardrooms, in governments and yes, at the helm of this institution, our United Nations,” said Baerbock.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, also referred to Jeffrey Epstein, remarking that “the partial release of the information on the atrocities committed by the Epstein criminal enterprise… have been committed across the globe for decades, while flaunting nauseating levels of impunity.”

Deeply contested

“The decision to break consensus and proceed to a vote underscores how deeply contested commitments to gender equality, human rights and access to justice remain in this current geopolitical moment,” Maitree Muzumdar, co-convenor of the Young Feminists’ Caucus, told a media briefing on Tuesday.

“The negotiations revealed resistance by powerful states and mobilised anti-gender, anti-rights actors.”

Muzumdar, who is based in India. also criticised member states for approaching access to justice as a “technical issue rather than a political issue, focusing on procedural reforms without addressing the structural conditions that produce injustice.”

The negotiations revealed resistance by powerful states and mobilised anti-gender, anti-rights actors, 

Argentinian activist Josefina Sabate, also co-convenor of the Young Feminists’ Caucus, paid tribute to the CSW’s chair’s ability to ensure that a document was adopted.

Sabate said there has been a “real pushback in terms of gender equality policies” in Latin America following the election of conservatives in Argentina and now Chile.