Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 70  Final Report

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 70  Final Report

9-20 March 2026, UN Headquarters, New York, USA

Gianna Avellis

ICORSA Director

I am pleased to present the NGO CSW70 Forum Report showcasing the diversity of voices, depth of work and scope of reach of NGO CSW constituency as it focused on “Access to Justice”.

This year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was unlike any other in the history of the United Nations (UN). It had many “firsts”, such as the first-time official negotiations began in January, the first time the Agreed Conclusions were ready to adopt the first day of the CSW and the first time they were taken to a vote. It also faced the new regulations of the CSW Revitalization enacted by the Pact for the Future. New proposals emerged as part of the UN80 Reforms merging UN Women with UNFPA coinciding with the CSW calendar which invited discussions about the future of the UN partners. The prospects of having the next Secretary General being a female also loomed during the CSW making March a busier than usual time.

The NGO CSW70 Forum continued to be a vital convening space for discernment and dialogue for all these topics of discussion. Both the numerous virtual and the in-person parallel events countered the shrinking space for civil society at the UN by providing vital opportunities to confront the urgent global issues of our time.

The wars, the U.S. visa bans and bonds, the UN defunding and liquidity crisis all posed challenges for travel to the CSW this year. Nevertheless, women and girls, in all their diversity persevered to create change, to maintain and protect their rights enshrined in the Beijing Platform for Action and other human rights instruments and agreements despite the push back and last-minute efforts to undermine consensus and multilateralism.

This NGO CSW70 report reflects the challenges of the day, the urgency of the moment, as well as the determination of the many feminists, advocates and leaders to persevere and sustain the global movement for gender equality and women’s rights.

The NGO Forum served as a platform for our Consultation Day and Reception, the five regional caucuses and thematic caucuses, the Rainbow Caucus, numerous NGO briefings, Conversation Circles, a Health and Wellness space, an Artisan Fair, as well as over 670 events, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of participants all within the span of 2 weeks! You have showered us with praise and appreciation, keen insight and feedback! Keeping our NGO spaces safe, engaging, virtual and in-person for face-to-face engagement is not only vital but essential for the movement to grow, mature and prosper!

Gianna Avellis represented ICoRSA at the CSW70, NY, from 9-20 March 2026 in the Women20 Italian Delegation.

To this aim, ICoRSA has been registered as NGOCSWNY Organization not ECOSOC (a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council, established in 1946). We decided to apply as an ECOSOC NGO for next year.

CSW is the principal intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of Gender Equality, the Empowerment and the Rights of Women.

CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s and girls’ rights, documenting the reality of their lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of women and girls.

The Commission on the Status of Women, a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is a global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. The Commission was established by an ECOSOC resolution in 1946 with a mandate to prepare recommendations on promoting women’s rights in the political, economic, civil, social, and educational fields. It consists of representatives

of 45 Member States elected for four years.

Each year, the annual CSW session, which takes place for two weeks in March in New York, focuses on a specific topic related to gender equality known as the “priority theme.”

At the end of the two weeks, an outcome document is produced on the theme.

NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO CSW/NY) is a coalition of NGOs, civil society organizations, and individuals advocating for gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women and girls in all their diversity. As a substantive committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) and convener of global civil society for the annual CSW session, it advocates for the setting and measuring of global standards on gender equality and engage in multi-stakeholder partnerships to advance the human rights of women and girls

worldwide.

The NGO CSW Forum is organized by and for global civil society, non-governmental organizations, and feminists to connect them with the official United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) process. With nearly 700 events, the

NGO CSW Forum informs, engages, and inspires grassroots efforts and gender equality advocacy around the world. The Forum provides civil society the opportunity to engage with the CSW processes and sessions without any special qualifications (such as ECOSOC-accreditation).

While the NGO CSW Forum runs parallel to and complements the UN CSW, it is a separate process with separate organizers.

In particular, Gianna Avellis attended several events that are reported in the following. Here are listed some of them:

• 9 March 4.30-6.00 PM, 107 Plaza at NY Chapel, “Modelling and Advocacy for Peace: Women and Girls as Part of the Solution”.
• 10 March, 6.30 PM CHURCH CENTER , Women20 Italy parallel event “WOMEN’S LENS FOR JUSTICE Empowerment and Sustainable Transitions”, where Gianna Avellis presented the contribution given by her to the document made on Women Justice in collaboration with CREIS (European Research Centre on Sustainable Development.
• 10 March, 8.30-10.00, side event NGOCSW, “Bridging the Gaps in Health: WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE”
• 13 March, 8.00-15.00, Women20 Inception Meeting, where G.Avellis participated to the Working Group of Women20 on Education, STEAM and Digital/AI (ESDA WG), in collaboration with Tamara Danceva and other women leaders of Women20.

In particular, the event Women20 Inception Meeting was hosted by ACCENTURE NYC company, one of its sponsor, in the ACCENTURE BUILDING SKYSCAPER in the centre of New York and started with a presentation by ACCENTURE of the State of Art of AI, very interesting news about the current AI issues such as “Agenting AI Across Industries”, “AI is powering reinvention”, “AI and 41 Drivers for Business Reinvention Today”, in particular EU AI ACT, AI and “Agenting AI in Everyday Work and Life”, in particular in Coding & Software Development Agents, Creative and Content Generation, Data Analysis & Business Intelligence Agents, Enterprise Knowledge COPILOTs and COWORK, Deep Research and Knowledge Discovery, Customer Service & Front Office, Agentic Workflow. Thay showed a Demo: UN SDG Chat: AI-powered SDG Chat enables the world to engageand Interact with SDG Content in a new way.