Iranian Circle of WIN Delegation to the UN CSW 60

Written by Elahe Amani, ICWIN Steering Committee Member, Chair WIN Global Council

Since 1995 I have been attending the UN women conferences and CSW sessions.  This year, the 60^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, I had the pleasure to attend the session along with a delegation of seven amazing Iranian American women from ICWIN.

The Seven members of the newly formed Iranian Circle of Women Intercultural Network, Afsaneh Akhajavi, Soudabeh Farokhnia, Nazanin Amani,  Zohreh Mizrakhi,  Shahla Bebe, Manijeh Badiee attended the 60^th CSW session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 14 to 24 March 2016 and like every other year, brought thousands of women together.

The diverse ICWIN delegation along with other WIN members and affiliates attended many civil society / NGO workshops, UN sessions and engaged at all levels to shape the global agenda.    Non of the ICWIN members ever attended UN, CSW session so the attendance gave the delegation a better insight in the work of the United Nations and  the role of civil society organizations at CSW Forum.

Independent from the UN, the NGO CSW Forum gave ICWIN delegation and thousands of other activists from around the world the opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to women and girls, to network and share strategies/good practices.  

One of the most valuable experiences for the ICWIN delegation was attending the WIN caucus at the Ms. Foundation.  The discussion on the challenges and opportunities of the women’s movement in US and globally, issues that need to be highlighted at the “ Agreed Conclusion “ of the 60^th session, strategies to keep the momentum of gender equality movement particularly in light of the US election was one of the amazing experience of the ICWIN delegation.  The discussion formulated in the official Recommendation and insights for Agreed upon conclusions  of the WIN  to the official US delegation to CSW. 

Upon the return of the delegation back to Southern California, the delegation organized a community event at Kanoon Sokhan in Santa Monica and shared their experiences along with a PowerPoint presentation. The delegation is also planning to translate key documents of the 60th session to Persian and publish it.