Ms Julie McKay, the Executive Director of the Australian National Committee for UN Women will join the Australian Government delegation to the 58th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) in New York from March 10 – 21.
Ms McKay will join the delegation to CSW58 as one of two non-government delegates. The delegation is led by The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash.
“I feel very humbled to have been invited to CSW58,” said Ms. McKay. “I will do my best to honour the trust that has been placed in me to advocate for real change in the status of women and share experiences with colleagues from across the world.”
The CSW is the UN’s main intergovernmental body for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, which are the mandates of UN Women. It meets annually for two weeks to review progress on global conventions and standards on women’s rights, such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
This year CSW58 will meet at UN Headquarters from March 10 – 21, two days after International Women’s Day on March 8.
Following the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals the post-2015 development agenda will be a key focus for CSW58 and is an opportunity to ensure gender equality is strongly reflected in its design.
The other non-government delegate is Dr. Susan Harris-Rimmer, the Director of Studies at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University. Ms. McKay and Dr. Harris-Rimmer have begun a series of discussions with Australian civil society organisations working on gender equality and women’s empowerment to ensure that their views are reflected in CSW58.
