A Joint response from trade unions, and feminist, womxn’s rights and social justice organisations to the CSW63 Agreed Conclusions 

The 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women saw vibrant participation of civil society, people’s movements, trade unions, collectives of informal sector workers, sex workers’ movements, feminists and womxn’s organisations, many demanding universal social protection, gender responsive public services and infrastructure that is publicly funded, delivered and managed.

We laud the Commission achieving significant gains during its 63rd session March 8-22, 2019. We believe, however, that governments failed once again to show leadership and make commitments to center gender equality and womxn’s economic and social rights and pursue systemic changes required to deal with intersecting crises. Moreover, we are deeply disappointed that governments did not uphold the universality of human rights and specifically recognise multiple and intersecting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, expression and sex characteristics. 

In particular,

• Governments grappled with the immensely important intersections of social protection, public services, and infrastructure as key to gender equality and the promotion of rights and empowerment of womxn and girls.
• We are concerned about the multiple explicit references to the private sector andthe superficial call for the evaluation of the costs and benefits of private sectorparticipation in social protection, public services and infrastructure. This flies inthe face of existing evidence showing the disastrous and disproportionate impactof privatised services on womxn, girls and young people, and how Public-PrivatePartnerships (PPPs) are proven to be inefficient, more costly on the public purse,and unaffordable.
• Although the Agreed Conclusions (AC) have called upon international financial institutions to support Member States in their efforts to enhance social protection systems, public services and infrastructure, it does little to counter their harmful role of loan conditionalities and policy advice. These institutions have been deliberate and instrumental in rolling back social protection, disinvestment in public services as well as curtailing states’ power in developing public policy and expanding fiscal space to fund redistributive policies. 

Read the full statement in pdf here. 

Signatories:

ActionAid

APWLD - Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development

APMDD - Asian Peoples` Movement on Debt and Development

GAATW - Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women

Public Services International

World March of Women - Kenya