UN UPDATES
January 2011
Michelle Bachelet to Make Economic,
Political and Social Case for Women at the World Economic Forum
UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet will partake at the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week to “make the economic,
political and social case for women in the world.”
During the annual meeting, Ms. Bachelet will participate at high-level
forums, focusing on major challenges and solutions of and for women, on
social protection and global sustainability. She will also discuss
women’s participation in the workforce with corporate leaders whose
companies are members of the UN’s Global Compact
<http://www.unglobalcompact.org/>
(UNGC). In this context, she will highlight the Women’s Empowerment
Principles
<http://www.unifem.org/partnerships/womens_empowerment_principles/womens_empowerment_principles.php>
— a set of seven principles developed by UN Women in partnership with
UNGC to support companies in reviewing existing policies and practices,
or establishing new ones, to improve and increase employment of women in
the private sector.
“We will continue calling on companies to sign on the Women’s
Empowerment Principles, which commit them to increasing the number of
women employees and managers,” Ms. Bachelet said.
So far, 142 CEOs of major corporations have signed on to the Principles
<http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ceo_statementofsupport_signatories.pdf>
.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index shows in its
evaluation of 114 countries that those with greater gender equality are
more competitive and grow faster. A forthcoming UN Women report,
Progress of the World’s Women, states more than 80 percent of women
workers are in jobs with no benefits or security in South Asia and
Sub-Saharan Africa. While women’s work in agriculture is essential to
food security in many countries, globally less than six percent of
foreign aid for agriculture goes to them.
December 10
UNIFEM Australia
The Executive Board of UN Women was
elected following an intergovernmental meeting of the Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) on November 10th. There were forty-one members
elected, including six from countries who are major contributors to UN
Women.
UNIFEM Australia is also excited that the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
the Hon Kevin Rudd MP, has announced that the Australian Government will
be directing $14.5 million in funding to the newly established UN Women
over the next two years. This announcement made
This funding is in addition to the support that will continue to be
offered to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and UNIFEM
Programs in the Pacific Region.
UNIFEM Australia is working towards rebranding to become the National
Committee for UN Women on January 1 and we look forward to keeping you
informed about our transition.
United Nations Elects Executive Board of New Agency for Women’s Empowerment
Member States
today took the next step in enabling the newly-created United Nations
agency on gender equality and women’s empowerment to begin its work by
electing countries to serve on its Executive Board.
The
elections, held in the 54-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC),
are an important milestone in establishing the governance structure of
the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN
Women).
The
41 board members were selected on the following basis: 10 from Africa,
10 from Asia, 4 from Eastern Europe, 6 from Latin America and the
Caribbean, 5 from
Elected from the African Group were
In
addition, the Council elected
The
Council also elected
The 35 members
elected from the regional groups will serve two-year and three-years,
beginning today, as determined by the drawing of lots.
Chosen to serve
two-year terms were Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC,
El Salvador, Estonia, France, India, Italy, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania and Timor-Leste.
Angola, Cape
Verde, China, Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Grenada,
Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Peru,
Republic of Korea, Sweden and Ukraine were selected to serve three-year
terms.
Headed by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, UN Women is the
merger of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM),
the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW),
the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI),
and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW).
The new agency
was established on 2 July by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to
oversee all of the world body’s programmes aimed at promoting women’s
rights and their full participation in global affairs. One of its goals
will be to support the Commission on the Status of Women and other
inter-governmental bodies in devising policies.
It will also
aim to help Member States implement standards, provide technical and
financial support to countries which request it, and forge partnerships
with civil society. Within the UN, it will hold the world body
accountable for its own commitments on gender equality.
In carrying out
its functions, UN Women will be working with an annual budget of at
least $500 million — double the current combined resources of the four
agencies it comprises.
22 September 10
United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ms. Michelle Bachelet,
former President of Chile, as the head of
UN Women,
the newly created UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of
Women, established on 2 July 2010 by the General Assembly Resolution.
The Under-Secretary-General will be a member of all senior UN
decision-making bodies and will report to the Secretary-General.
Michelle Bachelet’s First Press Conference at the United Nations
Michelle Bachelet, recently assigned
by the Secretary General of the United Nations to head UN Women,
held her first press conference in the auditorium of the Dag
Hammarskjöld Library.
As Latin
American Focal Point for the GEAR Campaign and President of FEIM, I
participated in this press conference where Bachelet demonstrated
her political capabilities, although it is obvious that she was not
able to talk about her service during her term in office yet because
this would anticipate the timeline set by United Nations. Although
she will not take office until January, starting now she will be
incorporated into the United Nations and begin working with the
transition group, which is made up of the four already existing
women’s entities in the UN that will be integrated into the new
entity. The representatives of the 41 countries that will make up
the UN Women’s Board of Directors will be elected in October and the
Committee will be constituted in November and begin their functions
in January 2011.
Among the
questions that she was asked at the conference, I will point out the
most important ones, which I consider should be disseminated. How
should violence against women be addressed—including massive rape of
women in armed conflicts as well as such acts committed by United
Nations Peacekeepers? Bachelet responded by stating that she will
strengthen the actions of the Secretary General’s UNITE Campaign,
and, among other actions, she will promote that the necessary laws
are passed to address all forms of violence against women and that
they be implemented in the countries where they already exist. She
will also promote the creation and application of punishments for
violence against women so that women feel that their rights are
respected. She will promote that women not only receive treatment
and support but also violence prevention, by advocating that this to
be incorporated into primary education for girls and boys, and
alluding to comprehensive sexuality education. Regarding massive
rape of women, she said that these acts must be judged and penalized
regardless of who commits them and that a review of ways to overcome
the immunity of UN personnel will have to be carried out.
Another
question was how she would work to achieve the Millennium
Development Goales –MDGs- and if she would incorporate MDG 5:
maternal health. She replied that now, in her new position, she will
continue to advocate for fulfilling the MDGs, adding that 2015 is
very close and we cannot wait any longer before getting to work. She
recognized that since some time ago, from the MDG Support Committee,
she was most interested in women’s and girls’ empowerment and
maternal health. Now, in UN Women, she will focus more on these
objectives and, she added, maternal mortality rates are very high
and this affects women’s possibilities. For this reason she believes
that, as this continues to be very important health issue, there are
no excuses for not implementing these actions. She gave examples of
effective interventions and even mentioned abortion as a cause that
needs to be addressed in order to avoid these deaths.
She also
stated that it is very important to improve women’s access to
employment in the non-agricultural sector. Women’s participation is
still very low, but she clarified that to achieve this, the current
distribution of responsibilities in the family needs to be changed.
For example, if women continue to be the sole caregivers for
children, the elderly and the disabled, they will never be able to
improve their participation in the formal labor market and this will
keep them from achieving economic independence, which is something
very important for improving the condition of women and real
empowerment.
Later, she
clarified that she the believes that UN Women cannot have only one
formula for improving the situation of women, and it will therefore
be necessary to see what is needed most in each country and
privilege working on those issues, without leaving out others. In
response to a question about how she will work in countries where
women’s rights are ignored, she said that in those cases we will
have to be realistic and work cautiously but continuously to move
forward. Answering a journalist’s question about what it means to be
realistic and cautious, Bachelet clarified that she is passionate
and therefore, through UN Women, she will work to truly accelerate
improvements for women. The audience applauded her answer.
In response to
a question about whether she planned to work with civil society, she
said that she already respects and knows the work of women’s
organizations, that she has experience working with these
organizations and that she believes that this is a key for UN Women.
She mentioned, for example, that she has promoted the formation of
advisory committees, commissions and other mechanisms for civil
society participation, and that she will also promote this in UN
Women.
She did not
mention the situation of UN Women’s financial resources because
there were no questions on this matter. Nonetheless, this is
concerning because the commitment is to reach 500 million dollars
but there still is not even a third of this amount. Therefore it is
necessary that all states increase their donations and that women’s
groups take an interest in this.
Background Information:
In
July 2010 in an historic move, the United Nations General Assembly voted
unanimously today to create a new entity to accelerate progress in
meeting the needs of women and girls worldwide.
The establishment of the
UN Entity for
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
— to be known as UN Women — is a result of years of negotiations between
UN Member States and advocacy by the global women’s movement. It is part
of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for
greater impact.
UN
Women merges and will build on the important work of four previously
distinct parts of the UN system which focus exclusively on gender
equality and women’s empowerment:
Division for the Advancement of Women
(DAW, established in 1946)
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of
Women
(INSTRAW, established in 1976)
Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
(OSAGI, established in 1997)
United Nations Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM, established in 1976)
UN
Women — which will be operational by January 2011 — has been created by
the General Assembly to address such challenges. It will be a dynamic
and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful
voice at the global, regional and local levels. It will enhance, not
replace, efforts by other parts of the UN system (such as UNICEF, UNDP,
and UNFPA) that continue to have responsibility to work for gender
equality and women’s empowerment in their areas of expertise.
UN
Women will have two key roles: It will support inter-governmental bodies
such as the Commission on the Status of Women in their formulation of
policies, global standards and norms, and it will help Member States to
implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical
and financial support to those countries that request it, as well as
forging effective partnerships with civil society. It will also help the
UN system to be accountable for its own commitments on gender equality,
including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.
The
operations of UN Women will be funded from voluntary contributions,
while the regular UN budget will support its normative work. At least
US$500 million — double the current combined budget of DAW, INSTRAW,
OSAGI, and UNIFEM – has been recognised by Member States as the minimum
investment needed for UN Women.