SGI Participates in Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69/Beijing+30)

Global 2025

People sitting at a conference table listening to someone speaking into a microphone.

At the parallel event on March 11, Ambassador Chowdhury (center) and Ivy Koek (second left) of the SGI Office for UN Affairs, who was the co-moderator [© Seikyo Shimbun]

From March 10 to 21, the 69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69/Beijing+30) was held at the UN Headquarters in New York. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), international guidelines on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325) that calls for the participation of women in peacebuilding.

On March 11, the SGI (Soka Gakkai International) organized a parallel event titled “Activating an Intergenerational Movement for the Culture of Peace.” Former UN Under-Secretary-General Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury and High Representative of the UN, who was instrumental in the adoption of SCR 1325 and is founder of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace, attended the event. During a roundtable discussion, he stated that the culture of peace does not just mean the absence of war but also the eradication of all forms of discrimination and violence. Miyuki Kawaoka, vice chair of the Youth Conference of the Soka Gakkai Women’s Peace Committee (WPC), shared stories of WPC members’ contributions to their communities, highlighting how ordinary individuals foster peace through small, meaningful actions in daily life.

On March 13, the SGI was among organizations that cohosted a side event with ACT Alliance and the governments of Colombia, Finland and Norway. The event was titled “Empowering Change: Advancing Women’s Role in Peace and Security.” A panel discussion focused on the meaningful implementation of the SCR 1325 and the importance of local leadership in peacebuilding processes. Ivy Koek of the SGI Office for UN Affairs, who also serves as cochair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, New York, called for greater civil society involvement in the establishment of the culture of peace, highlighting the significance of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace and SCR 1325.

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