MICHELLE BACHELET TO SPEAK AT NGO CSW FORUM CONSULTATION DAY

MICHELLE BACHELET TO SPEAK AT NGO CSW FORUM CONSULTATION DAY
UN Women Executive Director to Discuss Economic Empowerment of Rural Women

 
February 10, 2012 – New York, NY – The NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO/CSW/NY), one of three women’s committees of CoNGO that advocates for women’s rights and gender equality, today announced that Michelle Bachelet, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, will address attendees at this year’s NGO CSW Forum Consultation Day (26 February). She will discuss progress made by the UN to achieve gender equality as well as the economic empowerment of rural women, the priority theme of the UN Commission on the Status of Women for 2012. Prior to her UN Women appointment, Ms. Bachelet served as President of Chile (2006-2010), and held ministerial portfolios in the Chilean Government as Minister of Defense and Minister of Health.
 
Other events at the NGO CSW Forum Consultation Day include a performance by children from the National Dance Institute, a non-profit education program founded by Jacques d’Amboise. Giving the keynote address will be the NGO/CSW/NY’s 2012 Woman of Distinction, Mirna Cunningham Kain, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues. The program also includes a Regional Perspectives Panel moderated by Ilona Graenitz, Chair of the NGO/CSW/Vienna, featuring Ambassador Garcia Gonzalez (El-Salvador), Vice-Chair of the CSW 56 Bureau, and Layla Alkhafaji, a human rights activist and former Parliamentarian from Iraq. UNDP’s Alim Alsoswa, former minister of human rights in Yemen, will speak on a Rural Women Panel, moderated by Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, Chair of NGO/CSW/Geneva and Secretary-General of the worldwide YWCA. Rural women leaders from Uganda, Zimbabwe and Japan will also present their views on women’s leadership, HIV/AIDS, and economic empowerment.
 
During the afternoon, attendees will have their choice of three sessions in which to participate: Orientation for new participants to the CSW, Advocacy training or Training for Rural Women Leaders Speak-out. A draft program for the full NGO CSW Forum Consultation Day is available online.
 
The NGO CSW Forum Consultation Day will be held on Sunday, 26 February 2012 from 9am – 5pm at the Salvation Army (120 West 14th Street, New York NY). Registration for the NGO CSW Forum Consultation Day remains open until 17 February 2012.
 
About the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY
The NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO/CSW/NY) is one of three women’s committees of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN (CoNGO). Under CoNGO’s umbrella, the NGO/CSW committees helped plan the NGO Forums at the UN World conferences in Mexico, Copenhagen, Nairobi and Beijing. The NGO/CSW/NY works in partnership with other CoNGO committees to organize the NGO CSW Forum that includes Consultation Day in preparation for the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meetings. It also facilitates interaction between NGOs and the UN on a wide range of issues including peace and security/violence against women, women’s health, migrant and refugee women, climate change and the environment. The NGO/CSW/NY represents approximately 80 organizations and is a volunteer-based, non-profit NGO funded largely by individual contributions.