Day 3 - UK Mission to the UN.

So exciting that it needed its own separate post!

'The Commission recognises that women's equal labour market participation, economic independence and access to economic resources are prerequisites for sustainable and inclusive economic growth, prosperity, competitiveness and the well being of our societies and furthermore recognises the need to make full use of all human resources.'

Just one of the declarations we heard from Aaron Holts - Senior policy advisor to the United Nations, and EU negotiation team member. The UK mission to the UN was deeply insightful. We truly felt part of the negotiations taking place inside the UN as we were given unfiltered accounts of the discussions taking place between governments and organisations surrounding the agreed conclusion document.

In a room full of experts, including Baroness Fiona Hodgson, Baroness Hillary Armstrong, Helen Meden bond - Government and equalities office, and Hillary Spencer who leads the Government and equalities office, we had full access to all of the information we could want or need regarding CSW61. The UK Mission to the UN provided the perfect opportunity to learn more about how the agreed conclusion is reached, the importance of language within the text, and a platform to ask questions to the experts involved.

What I enjoyed about the UK Mission was the honesty of the staff involved in negotiations. They highlighted both the positives and negatives they have experienced in their negotiations with other countries, and advised us on what we could do to help them progress. By offering low level support and dialogue with the countries challenging the negotiation process, we can help to address the weaker areas in the text.

Arron Holts stated "The first report was particularly disappointing and the UK were not okay with some of the statements in the first draft, but we have been working tirelessly to ensure that our views are in the document and a more natural language is used." He continued to describe how the UK team have participated in 30 hour long negotiations, lasting until early hours in the morning to ensure that the issues we highlight, are included in the text. The weakest areas in the text so far are the lack of mentioning of civil society and its importance in shaping negotiations. The context on violence against women is lacking and must be further highlighted before an agreement can be made. A sticking point seems to be the definition of family in regards to women's economic empowerment.

We never really focus on the role of family. In fact, personally I have never intrinsically linked the two. Family, and women's economic empowerment. Yet many countries feel that a distinct definition of the word must be created in order for women's economic empowerment to take place. The role of women in families is important, the role that women play as mothers is vital. However, promoting the role of motherhood must be evenhanded and the plethora of options available to women should be made clear. Yet, family and the dialogue surrounding it is "like a cold war on terminology" and something we, as delegates of NCW, must address on a lower level, through discussions with other delegates at CSW61.

It was surprising to hear that Aaron felt that UN women weren't doing enough at CSW61 this year. He claimed "The focus is on pushing UN women to recognise the importance of CSW and the Human Rights Agenda as it seems they aren't currently 100% behind it, and negotiations are increasingly difficult, especially with Russia's unique views on domestic violence and legislation surrounding it."

We are very fortunate that the UK is a member of CSW, and will continue to be until 2020, meaning that theoretically we should have power in negotiations. What's important going forward is that we step away from the silent approach previously taken by the USA and the UK, and speak up about the issues we want to see on the agreed document.

Monica Tolman - NCW member and leader of the European branch of ICW emphasised the critical importance of reproductive rights, and how contraception has changed the lives of women across the world. Not to mention sexual rights which should be wholly relevant and highlighted on the agreed document.

Girl Guides talked of the importance of youth participation in the agreed document, there must be increased youth participation within negotiations, in order to ensure that we get more than a brief mention in the text.

I could type for hours about the things we learnt at the U.K mission, we learnt so much within such a short space of time, and have come to properly understand the workings of CSW and the hard work going on behind the scenes to implement change for women.

Politics is ever changing, and with constant negotiations, so is the agreed document. We look forward to the UK Mission to the UN on Thursday evening, where we will hopefully be updated on the progress made!