YWCA Palestine Participates at the Commission on the Status of Women CSW67 in New York

For the past eleven years, the YWCA has been actively participating in the United Nations Commission on the Status of women in New York which is convened in March of every year for promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world are invited to contribute to the session.

 The YWCA of Palestine has been striving to build young women’s capacities in International Advocacy and offering them platforms to advocate for a Just Peace in Palestine.

 This year, the sixty-seven session of the CSW focused on the priority theme” Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

Three delegates attended in Person the CSW67 from the YWCA of Palestine headed by the General Secretary Ms. Amal Tarazi and Two youth members representing the Local Associations Ms. Zeina Ayyad and Ms. Dalia Shomaly from the 5th of March until 12th March 2023.

 A Highlight for attending the CSW every year is the opportunity for the YWCA of Palestine to meeting with about 100 other YWCA delegates from more than 20 different countries and work collaboratively towards the World YWCA Goals.

 The Delegates organized an in person Parallel event at the NGO CSW67 around the theme: The Palestinian Young Women Practices of Their Digital Rights, Challenges and Aspiration. The workshop focused on how Women in Palestine suffer from a general lack of access to their fundamental rights in addition to their limited participation in public and private decision-making.

An Analytical paper was conducted by YWCA to diagnose and examine the status of young women’s practices to their digital rights with a focus on those who are residents at the Palestinian refugee camps. The Paper highlighted the level of awareness and implementation of those women to their information privacy and their involvement in expressing their voices and advocating for their rights on social media.

The presentation highlighted:

1.  The concepts and nature of digital rights in the linkage of the international conventions.

2. The challenged that young women face in exercising their digital rights maintaining their digital security, and protecting themselves from digital crimes.