International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG), a UN-accredited NGO, led by Chairwoman Hyun Sook Yoon, participated in the 68th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) that took place last month at the UN Headquarters in New York.
There, IWPG met with Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire and discussed specific peace partnership points at the working-level.
On March 13, IWPG met with the Minister of Gender and Cultural Affairs of Uganda to draw a 5-year roadmap and discuss specific logistics and plans. The Minister of Uganda promised to cooperate by actively incorporating IWPG’s peace projects into its national plans.
On the 18th, IWPG held a workshop with the working-level officials of the Ministry of Women, Family, and Children of Côte d’Ivoire, including the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Minster, to establish a national action plan. With Côte d’Ivoire, IWPG also established a 5-year national roadmap and discussed specific cooperation avenues. Côte d’Ivoire also agreed to reflect IWPG’s peace initiatives in their national plans.
Sudan promised to cooperate with IWPG for next year’s CSW. IWPG met with the chief secretary and promoted the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), urging the minister and UN Mission support this declaration so that it can be passed in the UN as an international law.
Furthermore, IWPG visited 88 UN Permanent Missions and met with 123 high-level officials including ministers, ambassadors, and third committee members. Through this, IWPG was able to promote its peace initiatives, including DPCW, the International Loving-Peace Art Competition, and Peace Lecturer Training Education (PLTE).
IWPG also held an NGO Parallel Event on March 18 at Church Center UN, located in front of the UN Headquarters, under the theme ‘Solidarity of Women: Mitigating Gender Inequality through Peace’. This event was an opportunity to contemplate the correlation between peace and gender equality and what important role female solidarity can play in achieving this.
IWPG has been hosting an NGO Parallel Event at the UN CSW for three consecutive years, establishing it as a truly international women’s organisation.
IWPG considers the solidarity of women worldwide a crucial element to achieving gender equality and will continue to work to reach sustainable peace and security and expand the participation of women in peace processes. IWPG Secretary General Na Hyung Jun, the leader of this year’s delegation, said: “IWPG will continue to establish itself as an international organisation for peace by acting upon its commitments with national government and NGOs.
CSW is a functional committee under the UN ECOSOC (Economic and Social Committee), gathering national governments and relevant international/non-governmental organisations and institutions every year to share policies on women empowerment and protection of women’s rights and find effective ways to implement gender equality measures.
The theme of this year’s 68th event was ‘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’.
