From 10 to 21 March, 2025, the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) will take place at the United Nations headquarters in New York, marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
APC staff, members and partners will engage extensively throughout CSW69 by hosting, presenting and participating in numerous events and “helping shape the conversation about gender equality in our digital age.” We see it is an important opportunity to examine the commitments made in 1995 and review the successes and shortfalls since that time, contextualised in today’s digital realities. While human rights are at the heart of the Beijing Declaration, which remains a foundational piece of advocacy grounding the feminist and gender movement, it is nonetheless a pre-internet document that does not fully reflect the widespread digital transformation of recent years, particularly its impact on women and gender-diverse populations.
As we advance in our advocacy for inclusive, safe and meaningful internet connectivity, it is imperative to recognise and address emerging issues that were not originally contemplated but are now crucial to ensuring comprehensive rights for women and girls in all their diversities in the digital era. The APC network will use the opportunity of CSW69 to engage and mobilise feminists, women rights organisations, tech activists and digital rights organisations to come together for collective sense-making, countering agendas and policy siloes, and enabling intentional connections between key policy processes.