WFWPI Closing Statement to the Human Rights Council’s 21st Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development

May 17-21, 2021
Delivered by Carolyn Handschin

Honorable Chair Akram,

Thank you for your wise facilitation.
Distinguished representatives of Member states and fellow NGO members. As we closely observed the discussions and debates during the week lining out the draft convention, we would like to firstly express our appreciation to the efforts taken by the drafting committee and other member states who actively and thoughtfully engaged in the discussions. Thank you for the generous space for NGOs to give voice, a good model of partnership that seems to be weakening in some international arenas. We are here not only representing the WFWPI, but a larger network of international NGO’s working with the UN in Geneva, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women.