CSW70: A Shared Memory Effort from New York
As Çember Civil Initiative Association and Uçan Süpürge Women's Communication and Research Association, we participated in CSW70. We are documenting this process in New York as a collaborative memory project to make it more understandable for women's organizations and activists in Türkiye and to strengthen their participation in the international advocacy field.
As the Circle Civil Initiative Association, together with the Flying Broom Women's Communication and Research Association, we participated in the 70th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held in New York between March 9-19, 2026.
As we embarked on this process, we established a partnership between the two associations. Our aim was to follow the sessions and events we attended throughout CSW70; and also to share this experience by transforming it into a collective effort to preserve memory.
Gülfer Kırbaş, representing ÇemberDE, participated in the KSK70 process with the support of the Civil Thought EU Program, while Sinem Sefa Akay , representing Uçan Süpürge Association, participated with the support of UN Women Turkey.
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is one of the most important intergovernmental platforms working in the field of gender equality and women's empowerment. Held annually in New York, these sessions bring together representatives from UN member states, UN agencies, and civil society to assess developments in women's rights and discuss policy recommendations.
The 70th session of the CSW (Knowledge and Social Council) was, as every year, organized in line with the global launch of International Women's Day on March 8th. The session was also held at a critical time for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda.
The primary theme of the 70th Session was to ensure and strengthen access to justice for all women and girls by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and addressing structural barriers.
The Commission's review theme is gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls through the full and effective participation of women in public life, their involvement in decision-making processes, and the elimination of violence.
As part of our collaboration with the Flying Broom Association, we planned to share our observations from the events we attended during CSW70 through photos and videos, and also to conduct short interviews with human rights advocates, activists, and civil society representatives who came to New York from Turkey and different parts of the world. We will publish these interviews after returning to Turkey.
This study aims to make the discussions and processes in the field of international women's rights advocacy more visible and understandable for women's organizations and activists in Türkiye. Our goal is to explain how these international mechanisms operate and to contribute to enabling rights advocates in Türkiye to follow these processes more closely at the local level.
We also hope that these exchanges will encourage greater participation of women's organizations and activists in Türkiye in the international advocacy field and contribute to strengthening the ties established in this area.
This study is a collaborative effort by two associations working to protect the human rights of girls and women in Turkey, prevent new violations, and implement gender equality in all public and private spheres, creating a shared memory .
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