Commission on the Status of Women and Gender Parity in Humanitarian Crisis
The 60th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded last week highlighting the importance to the gender-responsive implementation of Agenda 2030 and UN Member States agreeing on rapid progress, including stronger laws, policies and institutions, and scaled-up financing (UN Women, Press Release, 25 March 2016).
The agreed upon conclusions call for gender perspective integrations across all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG4 Quality Education. CSW had one of the largest attendances to date and a Global Business Coalition for Education member, NRS Relief participated in various side events along with 80 government ministers and 4,100 non-governmental representatives from more than 540 organizations.
CSW and the private sector
This year, NRS Relief attended several CSW side events on topics ranging from education to the refugee crisis. Our aim is to understand how we as a private company can better support the Agenda 2030 through practical business practices. However, as one of the few representatives from the Middle East region and from the private sector more generally, I felt like the conversation was incomplete. While topics often touched on the private sector’s ‘added value’ and ‘critical contribution’ needed to meet the Agenda 2030 more broadly, it rarely included the private sector voice. For example, even during the Q&A sessions representation from Africa and civil society dominated the conversation, but the business voice was lost.
One event, contrary to the majority of the conversations, that did capture the private sector’s vision at CSW was the UN Global Compact’s Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Annual Event. The UN Global Compact is the largest sustainability initiative in the world which serves as the moral authority of the UN and integrates its values in companies’ sustainability practices. In 2010 the UN Global Compact and UN Women launched the WEPs, a set of principles for businesses and provides guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. Our work was highlighted at the WEPs Annual Event. I spoke about NRS Relief’s commitment through reviewing our day-to-day practices and policy in accordance with empowering, advancing, and investing in women worldwide, starting with our own employees and throughout the supply chain.
CSW and humanitarian crisis
CSW highlighted the imperative of empowering women in leadership and decision-making positions in all aspects of responding to and recovering from crises. Various official and side events flagged the critical need; however, voices from the women themselves were absent due to the various difficulties regarding travel and visas. The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, taking place in Turkey later this spring, will be the platform to tackle the difficult challenges facing men, women and children and call for leadership commitment for global action. It is well documented that humanitarian crises and other emergencies disproportionately affect women and girls. Within months of the Ebola outbreak, for instance, early-forced marriage skyrocketed along with teenage pregnancy, as families pulled children out of school to shore up additional financial resources in any capacity that they could. Recognizing these challenges, the Summit will encompass the critical needs of women and girls in crisis settings, with result-oriented and forward leaning pledges made by leaders.
GBC-Education serves as a vital platform
As GBC-Education has pointed out, if the private sector is not included in this dialogue, then women and girls across the globe could miss out on innovative solutions to empower them in the face of crises. By tapping into the ingenuity of the private sector, which can not only contribute fluid financing solutions, but their core assets as well, then the international community can build stronger partnerships with more impactful gains.
At NRS Relief , we design, develop and deliver core relief items, public health products, and solar solutions from the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. We train our employees so that they understand the hurdles the international community faces as they respond to crises and emergencies. We have not only donated various products to support community-based activities, both in Syria and in Lebanon to support women and children refugees, but provide employment for Pakistani women as well. We joined GBC-Education initially because of its commitment to education in Pakistan but its Education in Emergency priority has enabled us to contribute more meaningfully. The massive Agenda 2030, CSW and the upcoming WHS must continuously and consciously engage the private sector to reach its comprehensive goals and coalitions, such as GBC-Education allows our voices to be heard.
This blog also appeared here.