Briefing for Ministers and High-level Authorities of the Machineries for the Advancement of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean about CSW68 (Virtual meeting)

For 45 years, governments, the United Nations system, international organizations, civil society organizations, particularly women's and feminist organizations and movements, and academia have been meeting in the framework of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a result, a Regional Gender Agenda has been agreed upon that positions Latin America and the Caribbean as the only region in the world to have an ambitious, broad, and comprehensive roadmap that guides the countries' public policies to achieve gender equality, the guarantee of women's, adolescents' and girls' rights in all their diversity, the exercise of their autonomy and the sustainable development of the region.

In the Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted at the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (November 2022), ECLAC member States agreed to advance towards the care society, a new development model that prioritizes the sustainability of life and the planet.

During the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 68), to be held from 11-22 March 2024, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Governments, United Nations entities, and non-governmental organizations from all regions of the world will discuss the priority theme "Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective." This occasion is an opportunity to contribute, from the commitments of the Regional Gender Agenda and other regional agreements and with the care society as a horizon, to the global deliberations on achieving gender equality and women's autonomy.

At the Sixty-fifth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in hybrid format on 11 and 12 October, 2023, a special session was held for a regional consultation prior to the CSW 68, which culminated in the adoption of the Declaration by the Ministers and High-level Authorities of the National Machineries for the Advancement of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean for the CSW68. In the Declaration, the Ministers and high authorities of the region recognize that to achieve gender equality and ensure the human rights of women and adolescent and young girls in all their diversity and the exercise of their autonomy, it is vital to overcome the four structural challenges of gender inequalit (paragraph 4).

In this context, the ECLAC Division for Gender Affairs and the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean held a virtual briefing on CSW 68 on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, from 14.00 to 16.00 hours (Chilean time, GMT -3), with the purpose of sharing progress and information from the region to support the participation of governments in the deliberations of the CSW. During the session, the document "The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Regional Gender Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean. Gender Indicators to 2023" was presented.