On the occasion of the 67th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), the Journalists and Writers Foundation is organizing a panel discussion on “Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders for Sustainable Peace” on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 2:30 PM at the Church Center for the United Nations. 

Meaningful participation of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) is required to establish sustainable peace and development across the world. Various United Nations Resolutions indicate that when they are involved as active stakeholders within the society, peace negotiations last longer, and conflict resolution policies are implemented successfully.  

As WHRDs continue to be at the forefront to establish just and cohesive societies and lead social movements to advance human rights for all, they are also targeted to be subjects of life-threatening violations and their civic space has been shrinking. Structural inequalities and increasing discrimination against women in patriarchal societies have direct implications for the crucial work of WHRDs for sustainable peace and security. Lack of recognition for the transforming role of women human rights defenders aggravates intersecting forms of violations including cyber-attacks, physical violence, legal harassment and thus increases impunity against such crimes. 

Therefore, the JWF is organizing this CSW67 panel to share different country cases where meaningful participation of WHRDs has been transformative, raise awareness on the harmful, patriarchal, anti-gender narratives and provide policy suggestions to combat different forms of barriers disabling their access to social platforms. The JWF advocates for the protection of women human rights defenders in different capacities. It collaborates with various civil society organizations on local and global levels and participates at platforms providing training sessions to empower WHRDs. The JWF also monitors and reports state-led violations that WHRDs encounter to the UN Treaty Bodies and Special Rapporteurs and submits inclusive policy suggestions and civil society inputs to relevant intergovernmental organizations.

On this CSW67 Panel Discussion, the JWF aims to bring together human rights advocates to discuss: 

• Women human rights defenders as pivotal actors in creating sustainable peace 
• Gender-specific challenges the WHRDs encounter in patriarchal societies  
• Exclusion of WHRDs by state-led legal harassments and arbitrary measures 
• Different country case analysis and best-practices 

Date and Time:  7 March 2023, Tuesday at 2:30 PM EST 

      Church Center for the United Nations, 8th Floor

      777 United Nations Plaza (First Ave) New York, NY 10017