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Written by Meg Yates, 2023 CSW Fellow Attending the 68th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York was a deeply impactful experience. Among the many insightful sessions I attended, one that left a lasting impression on me was an NGO-run parallel event called “Women’s Land Rights and Economic Empowerment.” In this session, I had the privilege of hearing firsthand accounts from women representing diverse backgrounds, including Lebanon, occupied territories in Western Sahara and Palestine, and the Sami tribe of Norway. These women shared stories of the challenges relating to land rights, particularly within the context of renewable energy development. The concept of ‘green desperation’ was a recurring theme, highlighting how the relentless pursuit of renewable energy projects by governments and big corporations has resulted in instances of human rights violations across the globe. They revealed how institutions use their ‘green image’ to mask non-renewable energy practices and the detrimental impact on communities. For instance, in the Western Saharan occupied territories, the Moroccan government has been found to be destroying land and property for renewable energy projects without consent from the Sahrawi people, and no provision of compensation. Women in Western Sahara are disproportionately impacted, with panel members sharing devastating stories of sexual violence against women and exclusion from education and economic opportunities. A panel member of Sami descent from Norway pointed out, “Nordic countries are seen as champions of human rights but are using this rhetoric to keep their treatment of Sami people and other Indigenous communities across the world invisible.” This sentiment highlights how corporate interests and geopolitical dynamics can overshadow sustainability goals, leading to serious infringements on Indigenous rights. The panelist shared that “Indigenous people have always lived in a sustainable way […] and have already sacrificed so much. We need Indigenous knowledge to keep the world green. If we destroy the nature, we can’t go back.” There is an urgent need for Indigenous peoples to be actively included in decision-making processes related to renewable energy development and environmental sustainability. It is imperative that Indigenous people and people from marginalised communities not only have a seat at the table but also play a central role in shaping policies that safeguard their land and ensure equitable benefits from the transition to renewable energies. Reflecting on my experience at CSW 2024, I realised the lack of media coverage in Australia for many global human rights issues discussed. It highlighted the importance of actively seeking diverse perspectives and information sources to stay informed about human rights issues around the world. Staying up to date with global media is not just about being informed; it's about being an advocate and ally for marginalised communities worldwide. As civil society, we can play an important role in holding governments and corporations accountable for their actions. By amplifying marginalised voices and actively engaging in discussions and actions that promote human rights and environmental justice, we can contribute to a more equitable and sustainable world. ------- The views and opinions expressed by Global Voices Fellows do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation or its staff.

Written by Majida Kassem, CSW2023 Fellow As I sit down to reflect on my experience at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), I am overwhelmed by the wealth of knowledge and insights I have gained. The various sessions I attended shed light on the persistent struggles faced by women and girls globally, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive holistic solutions to address gender inequality. However, amidst the plethora of discussions, one issue stood out to me as particularly pressing, the gendered impact of genocide in Palestine. In Palestine, the intersection of gender inequality and conflict exacerbates the challenges faced by women daily. It is a stark reminder that true gender equality cannot be achieved until all women, regardless of their circumstances, are able to exercise their rights freely and without fear. Since October 7, 2023, the toll of violence on women has been staggering, with an average of 63 women killed each day – casualties of a war they did not provoke. The destruction of homes and essential infrastructure, including hospitals, further compounds the suffering, with 60% of homes and 86% of hospitals destroyed. Despite the international community's calls for ceasefire, this remains largely unimplemented. Crimes against humanity, including forced displacement and deportation, continue unabated, tearing families apart and plunging communities into despair. The gender poverty gap persists, with women bearing the brunt of economic hardship and deprivation. Food insecurity remains a pressing concern, with 87% of women in Gaza struggling to find enough food to feed their families. Four in five women in Gaza skip meals each day to ensure their families are fed, highlighting the severe humanitarian crisis. It is important to note that behind every statistic lies a human story of loss and suffering. The deaths of thousands of fathers have left behind a trail of widows and orphans, grappling with grief and uncertainty. The cries of mothers mourning their children echo through the rubble, a poignant reminder of the human cost of conflict. Even if there were to be a ceasefire today, the road to recovery for Palestine is long and arduous, with the reconstruction estimated to cost 50 billion dollars according to UNDP Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), Abdallah Al Dardari. The burden of rebuilding lives cannot fall solely on the shoulders of Palestinians. The international community must step up and shoulder its responsibility, providing the necessary support and resources to rebuild shattered communities. Ultimately, as we celebrate progress in the fight for gender equality, let us not forget the women and girls in Palestine who continue to struggle every single day for basic human rights. Their voices must be heard, their rights must be protected, and their dignity must be upheld. It is only by continuing the conversation, standing in solidarity with them and taking meaningful action that we can truly advance gender equality for all. ---- The views and opinions expressed by Global Voices Fellows do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation or its staff.

By Tahlia Beckitt, Curtin University, Y20, 2023 Executive Summary Social issues have become more pronounced in Australia due to a number of recent challenges, leading to increased inequality and hindering individuals’ ability to contribute effectively to the economy. Social enterprises are organisations that serve as intermediaries between government policies and communities, directly engaging with these communities to tackle social issues while also generating economic opportunities for participants (Social Traders, 2021). Currently, social enterprises contribute $21.3 billion to the Australian economy per annum (Social Enterprise Australia, 2023). This paper recommends the national adoption of the Victorian Social Enterprise Strategy 2021-2025 (SES), to introduce sufficient federal support for such enterprises. This will improve the business skills and capabilities of social enterprises, whilst enhancing their connectivity and ability to alleviate social issues being experienced in Australia. In implementing this policy, existing and potential barriers such as community suspicion, openness and fraud will also need to be addressed. The first recommendation proposed to mirror the SES is the introduction of 1200 initial $2000 grants for youth or Indigenous social enterprises in the start-up stage. Such monetary support will encourage a new generation of involvement in social innovation by increasing the accessibility into the career path. This is estimated to cost $2.65 million and is modelled on the successful UK Social Enterprise Boost Fund (SEBF) (UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2023). The second recommendation is to incentivise the introduction of university studies relating to social innovation, to allow further interaction with such concepts by youth and Indigenous Australians. This will cost a total of $1,050,000, bringing the total cost to $6.1 million when combined with staffing, operations and advertising costs over five years.

By Cleo Wee, Curtin University, WHA, 2023 Executive Summary Domestic and family violence (DFV) affects people of all ages, genders and backgrounds, but it predominantly impacts women and children and has a significant impact on physical and mental health (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2022). Women in rural and remote Australia face additional barriers such as lack of services and inadequate screening/assessment of DFV risk factors that are specific to rural/remote communities. This policy paper aims to identify and discuss additional barriers that DFV victim-survivors living in rural/remote Australian communities face. This paper recommends: Australia's National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) establishes an additional DFV screening and risk assessment tool that is specifically tailored for rural communities, beginning with a pilot program in Western Australia with WA Country Health Services (WACHS). Conduct an audit after 12 months to determine the efficacy of implementing this tool in detecting DFV and referring patients to appropriate further services. Success of this recommendation would be defined as a statistically significant quantitative increase in DFV detection in rural communities and subsequent referral of patients to further DFV services. Funding of approximately $359, 000 should be sourced from the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children in order to hire the appropriate researchers, coordinators and auditors from WACHS, ANROWS and the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO). Identified barriers include inadequate training for healthcare staff which in turn leads to a lack of routine DFV screening/assessment. Suggestions to overcome this include implementing a nationally accredited training program as part of paid professional development leave for healthcare workers.

By Callum Noone, Curtin University, UNFCCC, 2023 Executive Summary Australia committed to achieving the United Nations Agenda 2030 in 2015, including satisfying the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals primarily focus on collective outcomes for people, prosperity and the planet. Australia has made steady progress in achieving the SDGs, however, it is not projected to complete a single SDG in full. Many of Australia’s global partners, such as Finland and Japan, have effectively embedded the SDGs into their national decision-making frameworks, resulting in significant progress in achieving the goals. Creating an Australian Sustainable Development Implementation Plan (ASDIP) presents the most effective and viable method to ensure that Australia maximises positive sustainable development outcomes in the lead-up to 2030. The plan will be created and situated within a new sub-secretariat within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), focusing on allocating specific departments with actions to which progress can be tracked by SDG data reporting. The plan's creation will be formulated from the collation of SDG data and through consultation. The plan's creation and maintenance will cost approximately $10 million over five years. Initiatives and programs under the plan may cost approximately $250 million over five years. A possible limitation of an ASDIP is the need to create and roll out the plan within a short period. A major political risk associated with creating and delivering the ASDIP is the political implications if the government does not fully achieve the plan.

By Arshia Jain, Freya Phillips National Scholar, CSW, 2020 Arshia Jain is Global Voices’ first Freya Phillips National Scholar. Her policy paper focuses on Closing the Gender Wage Gap Through Better Recruitment Practices. Executive Summary Despite pay parity being stipulated as a human right in both international and domestic law, Australia continues to experience a national wage gap of 14.2% (WGEA, 2021). While there are various factors that contribute to this pay disparity, approximately 39% of this wage gap is attributed to sex discrimination (KPMG, 2017). The effects of pay disparity compound over a woman's lifetime resulting in an estimated loss of $1.5 million in prospective earnings (ACTU, 2016). This policy paper addresses the need for better recruitment practices that reduce the opportunity for unconscious bias and discrimination to close the gender wage gap. It recommends that employers are prohibited from asking candidates about previous salary history during any stage of the recruitment process. The paper also recommends mandatory salary ranges for all job advertisements, which would encourage greater pay transparency, reducing the need for salary negotiations as well encouraging women to make higher initial bids.

By Didem Caia, RMIT university, CSW, 2020 Didem is a PhD Candidate at RMIT University. Her policy paper discusses Respecting the Multiple: Toward a multi-cultural perspective on family violence awareness in secondary schools. Executive Summary While ‘domestic violence’ is a term that is commonly applied to intimate partner violence, ‘family violence’ is a term that takes children and adolescents into consideration. Children were previously considered "silent witnesses" to family violence. Research indicates that children and adolescents may be involved in family violence, including being forced to watch or participate in assaults or intervening to stop violence from occurring (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). However, for women and children from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, family violence can also include a wider context of gender specific violence including: sexual violence; forced marriage; female genital mutilation and honour killings (Buckley & Holt, 2007). The Victorian Government’s Action Plan to Address Violence Against Women and Children recommends using a strong, practical approach to inform targeted primary prevention measures such as education. Consequently, this paper recommends a multi-sector approach to co-designing diverse, multi-cultural teaching modules for Australian secondary school students in years 9-12. This builds on the Victorian Government’s Respectful Relationships program to address knowledge gaps around cultural attitudes at the intersections of Gender equality and violence against women and children.

By Sarah Byrne, Central Queensland University, CSW, 2020 Sarah studies psychology at Central Queensland University. Her policy paper discusses Working Safely from Home: Policy Recommendations to Protect Victim-Survivors of Family Violence Whilst Working from Home. Executive Summary One woman is killed by a current or former partner each week in Australia. The COVID19 pandemic has triggered a mass shift to working from home, with little planning to address the heightened risk of family violence during this time. This policy paper proposes two recommendations which are intended to assist organisations in addressing this risk. It is recommended that organisations complete a safety assessment before sending employees to work from home. It is also recommended that safety procedures are implemented for employees to access when they feel at risk whilst working from home. These recommendations intend to assist women to fully participate in the workforce without fear of family violence. It offers wider benefits of preventing organisations from being liable for harm, as well as preventing Australia suffering the economic consequences of family violence whilst working from home.

By Diya John, The University of Melbourne, OECD, 2020 Diya is a University of Melbourne student studying a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Economics). Her Policy Paper discusses Entrepreneurial Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Australia’s Underutilised Assets. Executive Summary This paper explores policy recommendations that break down barriers to entrepreneurship for refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. Australia’s refugees and asylum seekers are twice as likely to pursue entrepreneurship than the wider Australian population (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017) and their ventures exhibit high return-on-investment (Refugee Council of Australia, 2019). But, these statistics mask the structural obstacles they face in the form of restricted access to social, human and financial capital. Consequently, three key concerns confront refugees and asylum seekers in their entrepreneurship lifecycle: (I) gaining preliminary work experience to build refugees’ and asylum seekers’ networks and working confidence; (II) engaging with promising incubator and accelerator programmes (IAP)1 who support refugee and asylum seeker enterprises; and (III) ease of accessing the various available resources for refugee and asylum seeker entrepreneurs. Until these are addressed, economic gains from entrepreneurship, valued at approximately A$1 billion annually, remain largely untapped (Legrain et al., 2019). These policy recommendations offer tangible solutions to minimise these barriers and maximise the participation of refugee and asylum seekers in their entrepreneurial endeavours.

By Akhil Bonu, UNSW, OECD, 2020 Akhil is a UNSW CO-OP student studying a Bachelor of Business Information Systems. His Policy Paper discusses Protecting Vulnerable Gig Workers and Better Understanding The Gig Economy. Executive Summary The gig economy is continuing to grow at an unprecedented rate. It is estimated that gig platforms will raise global GDP by almost $3 trillion USD by 2025 and, in Australia alone, there are already approximately 1,680,000 gig workers (AI Group Workforce Development, 2016). Despite the significant size and impact of the gig economy, workers lack a dedicated labour definition that accounts for their specific context and unique job requirements, allowing gig platforms to potentially exploit legal loopholes. This paper sheds light on the ways to mitigate the exploitation of gig workers, particularly improving legal protections. It proposes developing a new labour definition for gig workers to provide stronger protections, using criteria that will also benefit employers. These recommendations aim to strike a balance between worker protections and the substantial economic benefits of gig work.

By Tiffany Verga, Curtin University, UNFCCC, 2020 Tiffany Verga is a Curtin University student studying a Bachelor of Commerce/Arts (Journalism and Marketing). Her Policy Paper discusses Engaging Western Australian Youth in Climate Governance. Executive Summary As the impact of climate change intensifies, Australian youth1 have joined their global counterparts in demanding increased government action. This has been evident through movements such as the “Schoolstrike4climate” campaign where students skipped school to demand action from the Morrison government (Young, 2021). In May 2021, youth’s vested interest in climate action was further demonstrated when eight teenagers launched a class action in the Federal Court giving rise to a common law duty that the Minister for Environment must protect future generations against the impacts of climate change (Slezak 2021). However, despite recent successes, youth voices have often failed to be legitimised and heard, a sentiment voiced by climate activist Greta Thunberg (Harvey, 2019). Even with commitments to involve youth in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, such as signing the Kwon Gesh Climate Pledge in 2019 (United Nations, 2019), there is still much to be left desired to ensure youth feel their concerns have been heard and the barriers to accessing political leaders and a climate education are reduced. Consequently, this paper aims to recognise barriers regarding youth involvement in government and climate decisions and provide an appropriate policy solution to reduce these issues for Western Australian (WA) youth. It recommends introducing a ‘WA Youth Climate Internship Program’ (WAYCIP) for youth between 18-24, facilitated by the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation and the WA Local Government Association (WALGA). This program would directly involve youth in local government climate policy processes to address knowledge gaps, provide experiences, job skills and networks. As a result, youth will be provided greater accessibility to government and environment leaders alongside a greater understanding of the climate and environmental issues facing.

By Dominic McCarthy, Central Queensland University, OECD, 2020 Dominic is a Central Queensland University student studying a Bachelor of Business (Management). His Policy Paper discusses Rising Youth Unemployment in Rural Queensland: Job Pathways and Industry Linkages. Executive Summary This policy paper examines rising youth unemployment in rural Queensland and provides recommendations to improve upskilling and job pathways in Mt Isa. It recommends that the current Industry Training Hub pilot program be extended to include Mt Isa and the Youth Jobs PaTH program also be expanded into Mt Isa, with the inclusion of a trial of micro-credentialed courses. These initiatives address high youth unemployment rates in Mt Isa by improving education and employment pathways and outcomes. As the economy recovers from COVID19, government policy should prioritise youth employment programs with a focus on low skilled and long-term unemployed people (CSI, 2020).