Ordo Iuris at the World’s Largest Women’s Rights Conference

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• The 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is taking place in New York from March 10 to 21. This year’s theme marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration.

• The 1995 Beijing Declaration, in paragraph 106k, states that abortion should never be considered a method of family planning.

• Experts from the Ordo Iuris Institute are participating in the sessions from March 10–14, co-creating a coalition of pro-life organizations and taking part in accompanying meetings and events.

• The outcome of the negotiations at CSW69 / Beijing+30 will be permanently integrated into international law and will have long-term consequences for international human rights law, including the rights of women and unborn children.

The 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has begun in New York. The CSW is one of the key bodies of the United Nations dealing with women’s rights. This year’s discussions focus on summarizing 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action—a document that states abortion should never be considered a method of family planning. Moreover, this document calls on “all governments and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to strengthen their commitment to women's health concern, deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a major public health issue, and to reduce the recourse to abortion through expanded and improved family planning services.”

This year, the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) is taking place from March 10 to 21, 2025, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, under the presidency of Saudi Arabia. This session is particularly significant because it marks the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing in 1995 and concluded with the adoption of the so-called Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is one of the most important bodies within the United Nations focused on gender equality and women’s rights. It was established in 1946 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to monitor the situation of women worldwide and to develop global standards and policy recommendations in this area.

During CSW69, UN member states will negotiate the final conclusions, which will set the course for international policy on women's rights in the coming years. This process often sparks controversy, as some delegations seek to expand the interpretation of human rights to include issues related to so-called reproductive and sexual rights, from which they would derive a hitherto unrecognized right to abortion.

Experts from the Ordo Iuris Institute, participating in side events and bilateral meetings, are monitoring the negotiations and presenting arguments in defense of the right to life and national sovereignty in shaping family and social policy. Planned meetings include consultations with delegations from countries opposing the promotion of abortion as a human right, as well as participation in thematic panels dedicated to protecting family rights.

In the context of growing pressure on UN member states to adopt ideological provisions, it is crucial to build a coalition in favor of respecting international law in its original form, free from the ideological and instrumental interpretations of international documents that some have sought to impose on nations.

“The experiences from the annual CSW sessions show how important it is for pro-life organizations to be present at this conference and demonstrate how many supporters there are for protecting the right to life of the unborn, while simultaneously protecting the health of all women. In the coming days, it will be determined whether the Commission will attempt to adopt a document focusing on 'reproductive rights' as entailing a 'right to abortion,' rather than true rights for women and unborn children,” commented Julia Książek from the Ordo Iuris Institute’s International Law Center from New York.