CSW Day 6 - Alison

Hard to believe there is only one day left at the CSW. Today, I attended a wide variety of events, which demonstrated to me the amazing diversity of what CSW can offer all advocates. First, we all attended an NGO event at the US Mission to the UN. I had the happy surprise of seeing Michele J. Sison, who was the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives when I served as an intern at the embassy. At that time, I even wrote a speech for her and we had a private meeting. Turns out, she is now State Department’s #2 person at the US Mission to the UN, so that was a very nice reunion.

The panel on Difret at the Ford Foundation.

 Throughout the day I attended a panel on engaging men and boys in reducing violence against women (I heard from NGOs in South Africa, Indonesia, Brazil and Rwanda), a panel on “corrective rape” and gendercide, and finally a panel on environmentalism and extractive industries. This evening, we went to an amazing screening of the film Difret, which depicts a child marriage in Ethiopia. Following the movie, we got to listen to the producer, writer and director, woman whose story the movie is based on, and some panelists.