While the landmark Beijing declaration 30 years ago on women’s rights mentioned land rights 30 times, this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) declaration fails to mention them at all. Naomi Shadrack explains why we need to put land firmly back on the global feminist agenda.
The political declaration that is the main outcome of the latest session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a pivotal moment in resetting the agenda for global women’s rights. Though not legally binding, it will shape states’ and stakeholders’ policies and, crucially, funding.
Yet that Commission on the Status of Women 2025 political declaration, marking 30 years since the landmark Beijing declaration on women’s rights, was missing something fundamental to the aspirations of rural and Indigenous women across the Global South who depend on land and natural resources for their lives and livelihoods.
Remarkably, the declaration does not mention the word “land” – this is in stark contrast to the original Beijing Declaration, which mentions land no less than 30 times.
The fundamental importance of land for women in the South
Land has different meanings for women in the Global South and Global North.
For rural and Indigenous women in the South who are fighting climate crisis, land and environmental degradation, protecting land and territories for food security and livelihoods is nothing less than essential. That is why the value women in the Global South put on the issue of land rights and territories differs from those in the Global North.
‘Land has different meanings for women in the Global South and Global North.’
The fact land and territories fell of the agenda as we approached the global CSW event speaks volumes about the importance put on land and natural resources by the Global North. While land did appear strongly in regional review reports leading up the the CSW event, it got lost in the final political declaration.
How many groups tried to keep land on the agenda
The final CSW text does not acknowledge the efforts of many different groups who developed recommendations around land rights, as they looked to build on the Beijing+30 Declaration.
Prominent among these was the Africa Kilimanjaro Women Farmers Forum (AKIWOFF), which runs the Women to Kilimanjaro campaign. It was vocal during the Africa Regional Review around Beijing+30 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the impact visible when the African Union took AKIWOFF’s recommendation on the Beijing +30 Review into the Africa regional Beijing +30 review summary report. The main call was for the CSW to emphasise the value of land to African women, not only for the economy but also to their identity, heritage, wellbeing and care.
Another group that made a compelling case around the importance of land for women was Oxfam’s partner in LAC, the Network of Indigenous Women in Latin America, ECMIA South. It advocated for protecting Indigenous women territories that connect with their bodies, identity, heritage, source of food and livelihoods.
A particular focus for ECMIA South was the so-called UN “bill of rights for women”, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
CEDAW General Recommendation 39 focuses on the rights of Indigenous women and girls. ECMIA South advocates that GR39 implementation address threats to land and territories, climate crisis, environmental degradation and other extractive activities impacting indigenous women and girls’ lives and land. The Latin America Beijing +30 review report also acknowledges and documents strategies such as the INMUJERES strategy in Mexico and initiatives for rural and Indigenous women’s access to land, territory and recognition of their agrarian rights. It also emphasises the Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted in 2022, which urges states to “encourage and strengthen the effective protection of the rights of all women human rights defenders, particularly those working on issues related to the environment, land, territory and natural resources”.
Amplifying the voices of Global South women leaders at the CSW sessions
Oxfam collaborated with the International Land Coalition at the CSW in a session on land rights, aiming to create a platform for Global South women that could amplify their voices and share their narratives. Melania Canales of our partner ECMIA spoke at the panel about advocating for implementing CEDAW recommendation 39 and the importance of protecting Indigenous women at the forefront of fighting land degradation and the climate crisis. Alice Morris representing the Working Group for Women and Land Ownership (WGWLO), India, shared her experience around lack of access to land and land acquisition and the tools they have been using to mobilise grassroots women there. Hydee Cerros from Nicaragua shared lessons on how women organise to claim their land; and Jullie Cisse, a partner from Senegal representing Africa Kilimanjaro Women Farmers Forum, shared her network’s experiences. She also spoke with the UN media about issues facing women in Africa and her recommendations.
It’s time to listen to those speaking up for land rights
All these voices need to be heard as we reset the global women rights agenda. The reality is that most people in the Global South remain connected to land, territories and natural resources for their livelihoods and lives in a way that is quite different to the relationship with land for many the North. Land rights for women remain a crucial issue to address in policies, practices and resources allocation.
Narratives make some people invisible while others are visible. Keeping women in rural and Indigenous communities visible means centring land rights and the way these affect food crises, inequality and climate change. These rights still deserve attention, action and funding.
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