CSW69: A Key Space for Women’s Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean

Washington, D.C., March 7, 2025 – In 2025, the world commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, a key milestone in the struggle for gender equality. In this context, the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), to be held from March 10-21 in New York, represents a crucial opportunity to assess progress, identify persistent challenges, and renew commitments towards the full realization of women’s rights.

In the framework of this March 8, International Women’s Day, from the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) we recognize the importance of this space to encourage progress for the promotion, protection, and guarantee of women’s rights, especially those of Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and LBT (lesbian, bisexual, and trans) women, as they continue to be marginalized in decision-making spaces and face specific violence that makes them even more invisible and limits their access to fundamental rights.

In this scenario, the participation of civil society is essential to ensure that the voices of women in the region are heard and taken into account in the global agenda. As Race and Equality, we reaffirm our commitment to the promotion and defense of women’s rights in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is why we will be accompanying the participation in the CSW69 of representatives of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA).

This is the second consecutive year in which we have accompanied ECMIA’s participation. In 2024, at the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), we were present in an extensive schedule of official activities and side events. At that time, discussions focused on the economy and the impact of poverty on the lives of Indigenous women, approached from an intergenerational, intercultural, gender equality, and individual and collective rights perspective. 

A Challenging Panorama

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the gap between international commitments and reality remains profound. Despite normative advances, women – especially those facing multiple forms of discrimination, such as Afro-descendant, Indigenous, LBT and women human rights defenders – continue to suffer high levels of violence, economic inequality, and restrictions on their political participation. The region also remains one of the most dangerous for women human rights defenders, with killings, criminalization, and harassment in response to their activism. 

These challenges are compounded by the advance of anti-rights groups that seek to reverse the gains made in gender equality. From disinformation campaigns to regressive legal reforms, these sectors promote narratives that delegitimize the feminist struggle and threaten fundamental rights. The growing influence of these groups in political and media spaces represents a serious obstacle to the construction of more just and equitable societies.

It is urgent that States reinforce their commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda by adopting effective policies that address structural inequalities and ensure safe environments for all women. The CSW69 should not only be a space for evaluation, but a turning point to achieve concrete changes.

At a time of human rights setbacks in several countries in the region, we raise our voices to demand that gender equality be a real priority and not just a commitment on paper. The fight for women’s rights in Latin America and the Caribbean cannot wait.