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Protecting women’s rights at the UN CSW

Posted by Jenni James on 31 March 2026

Mandy Marshall, co-founder of Restored and Director for Gender Justice at the Anglican Alliance, shares what took place and gives ideas for how we can all play a part in responding.

What happened at the UN CSW70?

This year’s CSW theme was ‘Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers.’ A bit of a mouthful, but a theme you’d hope that all nation states would agree is a worthwhile aim. But, in the lead up to the CSW, it was made known that it would not be easy to gain consensus on the Agreed Conclusions, which is the outcome document of each CSW, agreed upon by the 45 member states .

What usually takes place?

Before each CSW, government delegations negotiate on a draft Agreed Conclusions document. In the past, this has then been directly negotiated with nation states at the CSW itself: trading on words, red lines, and compromise happens in real time. Often there’s a two week period where NGOs and faith organisations can read draft versions and lobby their own delegation for inclusion in the final document.

This year, the consensus amongst member states was that the Agreed Conclusions were ready on the first day. Then, for the first time in the 70 year history of the UN CSW and at the insistence of the USA, the Agreed Conclusions were put to a vote. The USA delegation felt that their concerns around language were not heard or taken on board sufficiently enough. It was cause for concern amongst other member nations and consulting NGOs and faith groups, as it seemed that the USA wanted to remove or weaken established language on gender equality and gender based violence. 

What were the USA asking for?

The USA had laid out a number of requirements for change – ‘red lines’ from their perspective. They included changing language on gender, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, intersectionality, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The USA wanted each objection to be voted on individually, but a motion from the Netherlands meant they were all voted on at once. This meant that several nations that wanted to back some of the changes ended up not voting to support them: the USA’s proposed changes were not voted in.  When it came to finalising the Agreed Conclusions, the USA was the only nation to vote against them, and six abstained, meaning that the Agreed Conclusions were accepted without the changes that the USA had requested. 

Not content with this, the USA later filed a resolution to ask for their original changes to be included in the Agreed Conclusions. This was to be debated on the final day of the CSW; there was much concern and discussion about these changes and how many Member States on the CSW would vote with them. 

How did other nations respond?

On the day of the vote, the UK tabled an amendment to the resolution that gave a glimmer of hope. But before this could be debated, the EU, represented by Belgium, asked for a ‘No Action’ motion, quoting a rare procedural rule in the governance documents of the CSW. If accepted, this motion would put an end to the USA’s resolution in its entirety. It was put to a vote and passed – the USA resolution didn’t proceed. 

But it wasn’t by any means a definitive vote. Of the 45 nation states, 23 voted in favour, 3 against, and 17 abstained. This doesn’t bode well for future CSW’s where long-accepted language around gender equality and gender based violence will likely come under attack again. Many campaigners and NGOs, including Restored, are concerned that this marks the start of a regression on hard fought for women’s rights across the world. 

What can we do about it?

It requires all of us to lobby our own governments to implement the Agreed Conclusions and fully fund work to achieve gender equality, without redirecting funding from existing projects. It means we need to write to our government representatives to keep the language on the Beijing Platform for Action agreed in 1995, and push forward on women’s rights and funding areas where the SDG5 on Gender Equality still falls short. It means we need to be ready to not only pray, but to act, to be present at the CSW (either in person or online) to make sure our voices are heard. 

This CSW was different to previous ones I have attended in person. There were far fewer women present, fewer people of colour, less diversity all round. It was concerning. Women stayed away due to the visa restrictions that were put in place, the concerns around safety and security in the USA and the cost of staying in New York. We need women in all their diversity present to ensure that their voices are heard and listened to in the highest place. Diversity is a precious gift and one that we need to treasure. Don’t wait until the next CSW to raise your concerns, do it now.