The 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place from 11 to 22 March 2024. Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world were invited to contribute to the session.
Priority theme: Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective;
Review theme: Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-eighth session);
References to Indigenous Women in CSW68 Official Documents
E/CN.6/2024/L.3
Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective - Agreed Conclusions
7. The Commission further recalls the Declaration on the Right to Development, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 21 and the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.
37. The Commission emphasizes the importance of the empowerment and capacity-building of Indigenous women and girls and of allocating resources that target their well-being, in particular in the areas of poverty eradication, quality and inclusive education, health-care services, information and communications technologies, infrastructure and public services, as well as financial services, employment and decent work for women and access to economic resources, including land and natural resources. It further stresses the importance of promoting awareness and understanding of their rights and ensuring the full, equal and meaningful participation of Indigenous women and, as appropriate, girls in developing policies and programmes, as well as in the economy and the transmission of traditional, scientific and technical knowledge, languages and spiritual and religious traditions and practices, and decision-making processes at all levels and in all areas, including through digital technologies, as well as productive employment and decent work for Indigenous women. It further acknowledges that the inherent diversity of these communities, as well as their challenges, demand special attention.
50. The Commission welcomes the major contributions of civil society organizations, especially women’s, young women’s, girls’, youth-led, grass-roots and community-based organizations, rural, indigenous and feminist groups, women human rights defenders, women journalists and media professionals and trade unions in promoting and protecting the human rights of all women and girls, placing their interests, needs and visions on local, national, regional and international agendas and in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of measures to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective. It expresses concern that such civil society organizations face many challenges and barriers to full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership, including diminishing funding, as well as violence, harassment and reprisals directed at, and threats to the physical security of, their members.
Integrate a gender perspective into financing for development commitments
(g) Examine the impact of poverty, including extreme poverty and multidimensional poverty, on different groups of women and girls, including those facing various forms of discrimination, such as those living in poverty and experiencing food insecurity and water scarcity, women who are unemployed or with low incomes, women and girls who lack access to formal education, women and girls living in rural, remote or maritime areas, women and girls who are refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced, stateless and migrants, women and girls of African descent, women and girls belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, women and girls with disabilities, Indigenous women and girls, and older women;
(j) Urgently address the challenges posed by the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and disasters caused by natural or man-made hazards, sea level rise, coastal erosion and ocean acidification that disproportionately affect women and girls, particularly those living in poverty, owing to gender inequality and the dependence of many women on natural resources for their livelihoods, including by strengthening the full, equal and meaningful participation, representation and leadership of women at all levels of decision-making in climate and environmental action, including in science, technology, research and development, and by promoting the integration of a gender perspective into environmental and climate change policies, including in developing and implementing national policies and plans related to the United Nations environmental conventions, as appropriate, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction; strengthen, protect, safeguard and preserve local, Indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices in different sectors; and improve climate resilience and expand all women’s and girls’ access to education, adequate livelihood opportunities, health-care facilities and infrastructure, and other basic services, especially in disaster, relief and humanitarian situations;
(k) Provide national gender equality mechanisms and entities responsible for climate change, environmental and disaster risk management and reduction policies, among others, with adequate human and financial resources to ensure that a gender perspective is integrated into the design, implementation and evaluation of relevant policies, programmes and projects; facilitate adequate and simplified access to financing for, and build the capacities of, women’s, grass-roots women’s and youth organizations and Indigenous women leading local adaptation and mitigation efforts, including through the transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms; and promote the provision of quality public goods and services that benefit women and girls experiencing poverty;
(gg) Promote, respect, protect and fulfil the right to quality education for all women and girls throughout their life course and at all levels, especially for those who have been left furthest behind, in particular for girls living in poverty, including by protecting and investing in public education systems, and infrastructure, including access to electricity, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, including menstrual hygiene, as well as by eliminating barriers and discriminatory laws and practices using innovative approaches that tackle the root causes of gender inequality; provide universal access to safe, inclusive, equal and non-discriminatory quality education; create conditions for gender-sensitive, safe and inclusive digital learning environments, and foster, as appropriate, intercultural and multilingual education for all and recognize traditional and ancestral knowledge for Indigenous women and girls; strengthen efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence and harassment against all women and girls, including adolescent girls, on the way to and from and at school and other educational institutions, and eliminate negative social norms and gender stereotypes in education systems;
(uu) Respect, protect and fulfil the rights of all Indigenous women and girls by addressing the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and barriers they face, including eliminating and preventing all forms of violence and poverty, food insecurity, water scarcity, degradation of natural habitats and land degradation, forced displacement, limited access to information and communications technologies, infrastructure, financial services and education, and ensuring their access to health care, public services, the Internet and digital services, quality and inclusive education, and Indigenous women’s employment, decent work and economic resources, including land and natural resources, and promoting their full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership in the economy, and in decision-making processes at all levels and in all areas, taking into account the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples and their ancestral knowledge and practices, and recognizing their cultural, social, economic and political contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental action and disaster resilience and the preservation, revitalization and promotion of their languages, as well as the transmission of their traditional, scientific and technical knowledge;
(xx) Take measures to adopt or develop legislation and policies that provide women living in rural, remote and maritime areas with access to land and support women’s cooperatives and agricultural programmes, including for subsistence agriculture and fisheries; strengthen access to safe drinking water and sanitation and safe cooking and heating practices to improve their health and nutrition; strengthen efforts to empower them as important actors in achieving food security and improved nutrition, fulfilling the right to food, and support their full, equal and meaningful participation in all areas of economic activity, including commercial and artisanal fisheries and aquaculture; promote decent working conditions and personal safety, facilitating sustainable access to and use of critical rural infrastructure, land, water and natural resources, and local, regional and global markets, and valuing traditional and ancestral knowledge and contributions of women living in rural, remote and maritime areas, including, inter alia, Indigenous women and women of African descent, to the conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial and marine biodiversity, for present and future generations;
E/CN.6/2024/2
Report of the Under-Secretary-General/Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
63. In the area of climate action and environmental protection, in Kyrgyzstan, UN-Women partnered with the World Food Programme to enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of rural communities through the promotion of participatory gender- and nutrition-sensitive climate change adaptation measures to reduce vulnerabilities to climate change. In Honduras, UN-Women accompanied the work of the Gender Commission of the National Congress in the formulation and discussion of the Law for the Protection of Women in Situations of Natural Disasters and Emergencies. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, UN-Women contributed to the national commitment of the Plurinational Authority of Mother Earth to include indigenous women in environment and climate change decision-making. In Albania, the Entity supported the development of a call to action manifesto on gender, youth and climate change that includes recommendations to promote gender-responsive solutions to climate change. In the United Republic of Tanzania, the Entity provided support for gender-sensitive policies and strategies for climate responsive governance, including development of a blue economy gender strategy and action plan for an inclusive blue economy in 2022 and the implementation of the Lima work programme on gender. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia, UN-Women developed a methodology and a study on climate finance tracking and gender-responsive budgeting. At the regional level, in Latin America, the Entity concentrated efforts on promoting the rights of women environmental and human rights defenders. As a follow-up and implementation of the Escazú Agreement, the Entity launched, together with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, a regional campaign entitled “Despertemos humanidad”. In addition, the Entity co-organized with ECLAC, UNEP, UNDP, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Bank, the first women’s environmental and human rights defenders’ preparatory process in September 2023 in Panama.
E/CN.6/2024/3
Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective - Report of the Secretary-General
13. In 2023, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted decision 24/CP.27, in which the Parties and relevant public and private entities were encouraged to “strengthen the genderresponsiveness of climate finance with a view to further building the capacity of women … and in order to facilitate simplified access to climate finance for grassroots women’s organizations as well as for Indigenous Peoples, especially women, and local communities”.
69. To achieve sustainable economies, measures must be taken to ensure that women benefit from the transformation of work. This includes training women for new jobs while also recognizing the traditional and local knowledge of Indigenous women, which already plays a key role in strengthening climate action. That approach supports moves towards a more equitable, inclusive world of work.
E/CN.6/2024/4
Review of the implementation of the agreed conclusions of the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women - Report of the Secretary-General
49. Member States with the capacity to do so are investing in social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure. Annual social protection spending in Albania since 2019 has hovered just under 10 per cent of GDP. In 2021, Argentina established a Care Infrastructure Fund with 8.5 per cent of the annual national budget. The 2023 AUD 14.6 billion cost-of-living package in Australia seeks to increase social assistance benefits to students and job-seekers, including those over 55 years old, and in its May 2022–2023 budget the country announced an AUD 19.4 million investment in the Community Child Care Fund to support services in disadvantaged, regional, remote and Indigenous communities and the professional development of early childhood education and care workers. In 2021, Canada invested CAD 30 million over five years to build a nationwide early learning and childcare system, including in Indigenous areas, which will allow mothers to enter, remain in and re-enter the job market and provide jobs for workers in the sector, most of whom are women. Canada launched the Feminist Response and Recovery Fund in 2022, supporting 237 projects with CAD 100 million to tackle systemic barriers facing marginalized and underrepresented women. The 2022 State Aid Scheme in Cyprus provided €15.3 million in grants to local authorities and non-governmental organizations for 290 social care programmes for children, the elderly and persons living with disabilities. Slovenia co-financed 181 social assistance programmes with €21.7 million in 2022.
55. Australia established the Gender Data Steering Group in 2022 to maximize government data as evidence for gender equality policy, and the Gender Data Asset Register to catalogue gender-disaggregated data across the federal government. The Canadian Disaggregated Data Action Plan (2019) aims at providing detailed statistical information on diverse population groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples, racialized populations and people living with disabilities, to inform public policies through an intersectional lens. Luxembourg established a gender equality observatory in 2020 and will finalize monitoring indicators for each focus area – domestic violence, employment, decision-making, work-life balance, education, income and health – by the end of 2023.
A/HRC/56/21–E/CN.6/2024/8
Report of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women on the activities of the United Nations trust fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women - Note by the Secretary-General
14. Further, the trust fund’s work remains guided by the principle of leaving no one behind, which is implemented through an intentional and proactive intersectional approach, with nearly 80 per cent of the portfolio working to reach those most likely to be left behind, including women and girls living with disabilities, women and girl refugees and internally displaced persons, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, Indigenous women and other marginalized women and girls. As the trust fund grantees work in increasingly complex environments, this dedication remains vital for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the goals contained in the trust fund’s strategic plan for 2021–2025.
20. In Africa, eight organizations were awarded grants for projects aimed at providing support to women and girls in the context of protracted crises, including conflict settings, as well as focusing on reaching those most likely to be left behind. In South Sudan, Women for Women International, a women’s rights organization, will work to prevent violence against women and girls, including refugees and internally displaced women, in conflict- and war-affected counties through transforming community behaviours, practices and attitudes. In Nigeria, a project to be implemented by the Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative will provide comprehensive specialist support to women and girls at risk of violence, including Indigenous women and girls and refugee or internally displaced women, in the context of the protracted conflict in Kaduna State.
24. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the trust fund awarded four new grants to improve access to specialist services for women and girls with disabilities and to foster women’s rights for those experiencing intersecting forms of discrimination, among other strategies. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, a project implemented by the Centro de Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer Aymara is aimed at fostering women’s rights to empower and protect Indigenous women and girls in seven municipalities of La Paz through strategies such as training women and girl leaders on prevention and referral mechanisms. In Brazil, the Coletivo de Mulheres Negras Maria-Maria will work to promote the human rights of, and end violence against, women and girls of African descent by strengthening specialist support services for survivors of violence and those at particular risk, including lesbian, bisexual and transgender women; Indigenous women; and women human rights defenders.
32. While the COVID-19 emergency has ended globally, the consequences of confinement continue to cast a long shadow, in particular as regards gender-based violence. For example, in Mexico, Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia is working to address an increase in sexual violence and teenage pregnancies sparked by the pandemic. Using a comprehensive community-based approach, the grantee is working to prevent and address sexual violence against girls and young women aged 10–19 years in the States of Hidalgo, México, Puebla and Tlaxcala, where the prevalence rates of violence against women and girls and of human trafficking for sexual exploitation are high. In 2023, through the dissemination of radio and online messages, the project reached 9,890 women and girls, including 730 Indigenous women and girls, including in remote communities. In total, the project has provided comprehensive guidance, including legal orientation and psychological first aid, to survivors in 799 cases of sexual and gender-based violence.
35. The Women’s Justice Initiative (Iniciativa de los Derechos de la Mujer) in Guatemala, currently implementing a trust fund grant, is educating Maya Kaqchikel women in 24 Indigenous rural communities about their legal rights and providing them with the knowledge and confidence to access those rights. In 2023, at least 243 women graduated from a three-month women’s rights training programme focusing on legal literacy. At the end of the training, 97 per cent of participants reported increased knowledge of legal rights vis-à-vis violence against women, an increase from 40 per cent at the start of the project. In addition, the grantee organization delivered capacity-building workshops to police officers focused on improving service providers’ understanding of the needs of survivors of violence and reducing the revictimization of survivors who seek support from public institutions; 13 police officers attended two training sessions in 2023. To address the challenges women face when reporting violence, the Women’s Justice Initiative trained municipal service providers and police and provided 190 women, including 152 survivors of violence, with legal services and supported 96 women to secure their legal right to receive child support.
41. A project implemented by the Organization for Community Development in India provided services, including medical treatment, counselling and/or legal assistance, to 539 survivors of violence who are part of the Mukkuvar Indigenous marine fisher community in Tamil Nadu State. This geographically and culturally isolated Indigenous community has seen an increase in violence against women following measures introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those who received services were at least 115 women survivors of violence who are small entrepreneurs working as fish vendors. In 2023, the grantee organization also provided 250 survivors of violence with access to skills-building initiatives to support their business ventures and enhance their economic independence. Skills training included fish processing, the making of fish chutney powder and fish pickles, seashell handicrafts and tailoring. In total, through monitoring approaches with community organizations, the project is providing services and monitoring to a total of 1,518 survivors to prevent further violence.
43. The Centro Yanapasiñani Bolivia para el Desarrollo de la Mujer y la Familia is implementing a project to address violence against women and girls in Coro, a small rural Indigenous Aymara community in Pacajes Province, La Paz Department, in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. In 2023, the project raised the awareness of 1,011 women leaders and community members on women’s rights, preventing violence against women and girls and referral mechanisms, including Indigenous justice procedures. It launched the first municipal network of community promoters for the fight against violence in the presence of local authorities. This network of 38 specially trained women volunteers provided support, referral and counselling services to 155 women survivors of violence in communities targeted by the project, with 90 per cent reporting having received satisfactory, prompt and timely assistance.
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