NGO CSW63 Forum Updates – Collecting your UN grounds pass

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Because of the high number of registrations for CSW63, we will be open for UN grounds pass pick-up starting on Friday before the session begins and have extended the registration hours over the weekend and during the first days. Please be aware of the important information below.

Collection of United Nations grounds passes takes place in the UN Pass & ID office which is located at 320 East 45th street (between First and Second Avenue), outside of UN premises.

We strongly recommend that participants take advantage of the extended on-site registration period prior to the opening day of the session. Those who are unable to do this should expect that there will be long lines and an extended wait on Monday, 11 March and Tuesday, 12 March mornings.

Grounds passes collection hours

Prior to the session
Friday, 8 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Saturday, 9 March: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday, 10 March: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

First week
Monday, 11 March: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tuesday, 12 March: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday, 13 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Thursday, 14 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Friday, 15 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Second week
Monday, 18 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Tuesday, 19 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Wednesday, 20 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Thursday, 21 March: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Friday, 22 March: 9 a.m. – 12 noon

Obtaining United Nations grounds passes*
Kindly have your printed CSW63 confirmation email and passport issued by a Member State or an Observer State of the United Nations (or government-issued photo ID if coming from within the U.S.) ready before entering the UN Pass & ID office located at 320 East 45th street. Without these documents, you will not be able to obtain your United Nations grounds pass for CSW63!

Each representative should have received a CSW63 confirmation email when her/his CSW63 registration was approved by the Conference Focal Point of the organization.

The title of the email reads “63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) confirmation letter”. Please see a sample here:

If you have not received your CSW63 confirmation email in your email inbox, please check your SPAM/junk email folder. Alternatively, you can view and print your confirmation email on your Indico account. For step-by-step instructions of how to view and print your confirmation email, go to:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/ngo-participation/registration

If you cannot locate your CSW63 confirmation email, please contact csw@unwomen.org as soon as possible. A printed copy of the CSW63 confirmation email is required to collect your grounds pass. There is no printing on-site! Electronic versions (e.g. on a phone or computer) will not be accepted. Please make sure you have the contact information of your organization’s Conference Focal Point at hand if needed.

Enter the UN Pass & ID office at 320 East 45th street (between First and Second Avenue). At peak hours, please expect lines; please dress warmly as New York can be quite cold and rainy in March. Take water and a snack with you if you line up at peak times (Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 March). Should you have special needs (e.g., disability, pregnancy, medical condition), please let the Officer or CSW staff member at the entrance know.

Kindly note that luggage or suitcases will not be allowed in the UN Pass & ID office and on UN premises.

Show your documents to a CSW staff member who will direct you to the badging stations where you be will be photographed for your grounds pass.
Be sure to bring with you an official photo ID (passport issued by a Member State or an Observer State of the United Nations if you are travelling from abroad!)

Once you have received your UN grounds pass for CSW63, exit the Pass & ID office and proceed to the main UN entrance at First Avenue and 46th street to access the UN premises.

*) PLEASE NOTE! NGOs with valid annual UN grounds passes (ECOSOC) will use these for the session and do not need to get in line for a CSW63 grounds pass at the UN Pass & ID office.

Please be reminded that the United Nations will not make arrangements or pay for any costs in connection with travel, visa or accommodation. Such arrangements and costs are the exclusive responsibility of participants. The United Nations does not charge any fees for participation in the Commission on the Status of Women sessions.

For more information on CSW63, please see:

http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw63-2019

For more information on NGO participation, please see: http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/ngo-participation

We encourage you to follow CSW on Twitter and Facebook for updates:
https://twitter.com/UN_CSW and https://facebook.com/UNCSW

Join the Twitter conversation using #CSW63 to share information about your own events!

NGO CSW63 Forum Updates – Register now to attend the Regional Caucus!

Register now to attend the Regional Caucus!

Come together with other women’s rights advocates in your region to discuss how you can have a greater voice within the conversation of women’s empowerment!

Among the topics to discuss are our plans for Beijing+25 and possible interventions into the Draft Agreed Conclusions on Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

There are Five Regional Caucuses: Africa, Arab/MENA, Asia Pacific, Europe/North America and Latin America/Caribbean.

The caucuses will be held at the Ford Foundation (320 E. 43rd St.).

This event is free, but space is limited, so please register.

REGISTER!

Schedule of Regional Caucuses below.

  • Civil Society Networking on Social Protection: Wednesday, 13 March: 4:30pm to 6:00pm
  • Latin America/Caribbean: Thursday, 14 March 2019: 9:00am to 10:30am
  • Europe/North America: Thursday, 14 March 2019: 10:45am to 12:15pm
  • Africa: Thursday, 14 March 2019: 12:30pm to 2:00pm
  • Asia/Pacific: Thursday, 14 March 2019: 2:15pm to 3:45pm
  • Arab/MENA: Thursday, 14 March 2019: 4:00pm to 5:30pm
  • Africa: Tuesday, 19 March 2019: 9:00am to 10:30am
  • Asia/Pacific: Tuesday, 19 March 2019: 10:45am to 12:15pm
  • Latin America/Caribbean: Tuesday, 19 March 2019: 12:30pm to 2:00pm
  • Arab/MENA: Tuesday, 19 March 2019: 2:15pm to 3:45pm
  • Europe/North America: Tuesday, 19 March 2019: 4:00pm to 5:30pm

NGO CSW/NY Presents Woman of Distinction Award

Gharsanay IbnulAmeen

NGO CSW/NY is proud to announce Gharsanay IbnulAmeen (Afganistan) as the 2019 Woman of Distinction.

IbnulAmeen will be the keynote speaker for our NGO CSW63 Forum Consultation Day, 10 March 2019, where she will receive her award and will be our guest of honor at our Reception, 12 March 2019.

Gharsanay IbnulAmeen, the winner of the 2019 Woman of Distinction Award presented annually by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/NY, is a 22-year-old grassroots organizer from Afghanistan recognized for her work in girls’ education, leadership and ethnic harmony. Currently she is a Special Assistant to the President of Afghanistan, H.E. Dr. Ashraf Ghani. She and the team working with her brought more than 5000 youth in Afghanistan to the Presidential Palace where they worked on women’s participation in the peace process, security, poverty reduction, administrative reforms and combating terrorism, extremism and corruption.

Co-founder of the Afghan Girls Sustainable Education Project, Gharsanay worked in Jalalabad to increase the enrollment and the school completion rate of girls, especially in secondary education. She worked with tribal elders of 21 districts to talk about their role in supporting girls’ education and asking them to raise their voices for gender equality and women’s leadership. Bad customs against women, especially in rural areas, Gharsanay stated, should stop.

Gharsanay is the Coordinator of the Young Women’s Leadership Conference for girls aged 14-19, the first such program in secondary schools. Participants were assigned community service programs, action plan development, activities on overcoming ethnic discrimination and other important leadership lessons. Successful conferences have been held in Kabul, Bamyan, Nangarhar, Ghor, Samangan, Deh Sabz district of Kabul, Mazar, Kandahra Farhar and Heart provinces with more than 1000 participants, many of them rural women. Among the topics covered are needs assessment and community mapping, confidence building, networking, STEM, ethnic harmony, peacemaking and capacity building.

In addition, Gharsanay organized the first model UN in Afghanistan. As Team Ambassador in the Everywoman Everywhere Project, she is developing the first international Treaty on Violence Against Women. Gharsanay is also the co-founder of the Global Youth Development Initiative in which students are connected to professional and peer mentors from across the world for academic advising and international exposure.

Many awards and scholarships have been bestowed on Gharsanay: the Emerging Young Leader’s Award 2017 by the U.S. State Department; the Second-Degree Promotion from the President of Afghanistan, H.E. Dr. Ashraf Ghani; the Responsible Citizen Award by the H.E. First Lady of Afghanistan, Rula Ghani; the Enterprise for Peace Scholarship representing Afghanistan in the One Young World Summit, 2018; the Generation Change Fellowship, a two-year abroad fellowship by the United States Institute of Peace. She is a graduate of AUAF with high honors and honor awards and is a finalist for the 2019-2020 Fulbright.

Finally, in Gharsanay IbnulAmeen’s words:

“This is a great opportunity … that I as a young Afghan woman [can] change the narrative about Afghanistan and show this beautiful and prosperous side of Afghanistan to the world …. It will be a representation of the strength of Afghan women and an opportunity for their voices to be heard across the world”.