Will UN plans to transform the way it works ‘throw equality under the bus’?

The UN’s annual Commission on the Status of Women will take place next week in New York. Under the Trump administration, anti-rights groups. such as C-Fam have grown in influence. Photograph: Ryan Brown/UN Women

Thousands of international delegates are gathering in New York this week for the world’s largest meeting on women’s rights. The United Nation’s annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is an opportunity for government ministers, UN officials, NGO representatives and activists to discuss the global state of gender equality and women’s empowerment. This year, there will be a strong focus on “ensuring and strengthening access to justice”.

But as senior UN figures urge countries to intensify their efforts to achieve gender equality, many of the delegates will be asking whether the UN is at risk of diluting its own commitment to women and girls.