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On November 14, 2014, over 400 feminist women activists working on women’s rights will meet in Bangkok at the Asia-Pacific CSO Forum on Beijing+20 (APCSOB20) to discuss what their governments have done to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Activists from across the region will note if the reported progress by States has been sufficient and what States should be doing to tackle the challenges that remain on the 12 critical areas of concern identified twenty years ago in the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).

Prior to the UNESCAP meeting, a coalition of feminist, women activists from the region have come together to plan for a CSO forum to ensure that women from the Asia-Pacific region are able to come together to hold governments accountable and influence the review process to ensure that governments make good on their promises 20 years ago.

The CSO Forum, supported by UN Women, will commence on November 14 at the UNESCAP building, Bangkok, Thailand, starting with registration and an opening plenary.

CSOs Statement ‘Promoting Accountability and Addressing Inequalities: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights & Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific’ is an outcome document of the 12th APA Conference. It calls for stronger accountability for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in achieving sustainable development.

Kyrgyzstan Must Reject the Discriminatory Anti-“Propaganda” Bill and Uphold the Human Rights of LGBTQI Individuals and Allied Human Rights Defenders.

The CSO Forum on Beijing +20 is expected to gather more than 400 CSOs, mostly coming from the Asia Pacific region, to discuss and examine urgent and critical peoples’ issues towards the realisation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action alongside other development processes and agenda, such as the Post 2015 and Sustainable Development Agenda. This event aims to galvanise peoples’ engagement in the Beijing +20 review processes while charting concrete and action-oriented alternatives towards achieving gender equality and people-centered development.

Originally a small voluntary women’s collective in Pakistan in 1975, Shirkat Gah has evolved into a leading women’s rights organization in Pakistan. Shirkat Gah is committed to a just, vibrant and democratic society in which women are fully empowered, human rights and dignity are enjoyed equally by all without discrimination, where peace prevails and resources and opportunities are ensured on a sustainable and equitable basis.

As the world grapples with the deadliest outbreak of Ebola to date, the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW), the only global network for and by women living with HIV, releases a statement expressing its deep concerns about the unintended but potentially deadly consequences of the Ebola crisis and response for people living with HIV.

The International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) together with the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) are undertaking a new project in Nigeria through the support of Stop AIDS NOW! (SAN). The project aims to bring together activists from the SRHR communities and HIV communities, in a unified movement to meaningfully improve the provision of SRHR services for all in Nigeria and around the world.