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Proposed U.N. Women's
Agency
A coalition of over 140 international non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and women's groups is gratified that Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon is expressing public support for the creation of a new U.N. agency for
women.
"We believe the public support of the secretary-general is a very important
step in moving closer towards the implementation of this new women's
entity," June Zeitlin, executive director of the New York-based Women's
Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO), told IPS.
She said the secretary-general last week called on member states to take up this
proposal, as did the women from around the world who were in New York for the
U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which concluded a two-week session
Friday.
The proposal for a new U.N. women's agency was made last November by a 15-member
"High-Level Panel on U.N. System-Wide Coherence", comprising heads of
government, former world political leaders and senior government and U.N.
officials.
On International Women's Day, which was commemorated at the United Nations and
around the globe last Thursday, the secretary-general said such a new body
should be able to call on all of the U.N. system's resources in the work to
empower women and realise gender equality worldwide.
"I encourage member states to study the possibility of replacing several
current structures with one dynamic U.N. entity."
The proposal for the creation of a new gender architecture includes the
consolidation of three existing U.N. entities -- the U.N. Development Fund for
Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the U.N. Division
for the Advancement of Women -- under a single new U.N. agency to be headed by
an under-secretary-
general, the third highest ranking post in the world body.
But its implementation will require the blessings of the 192-member General
Assembly, which has not given any indication of how it will respond.
Asked if she was confident that member states would support the proposal,
Zeitlin said that women who spoke to their government representatives here at
the United Nations last week will continue these discussions back at home in
their nation's capitals.
"To date, we have heard of no opposition by member states to strengthening
the gender equality architecture,
" she added.
"However, we do understand that countries have questions and want more
information on a number of issues, including about how the new entity will
operate, particularly at the national level, and where the new resources
will come from."
In a letter to the secretary-general last week, the coalition of over 140
NGOs said: "We call upon U.N. member states and the secretary-general to
take swift actions to initiate and support efforts to strengthen the
architecture for women's equality in the General Assembly deliberations
during its (current) 61st session," which ends in early September.
The coalition says the upgrading of women's equality work within the U.N.
system is long overdue. "It is imperative at this critical juncture that
member states and the U.N. system take bold action -- and provide the
leadership and resources required -- to make these recommendations a
reality," the groups said.
The 140 NGOs, spanning all of the continents, included Asia Pacific Women's
Watch, Canadian Federation of University Women, Centre for Women's Global
Leadership, European Women's Lobby, African Centre for Democracy and Human
Rights Studies, International Federation of Women's Lawyers and the World
Federation of U.N. Associations.
Charlotte Bunch of the Centre for Women's Global Leadership said the letter
signed by all of the NGOs was delivered to the secretary-general on
International Women's Day.
"It is our hope that this will get the process moving again among
governments,
" she told IPS.
Bunch pointed out that the coalition was also successful in getting the
issue discussed at the General Assembly's special thematic session on gender
last week, and with governments around the CSW session.
"While we do not know exactly what will be the next stage in the process,
the idea is gaining momentum and has been widely supported by NGOs at the CSW,"
she added.
The letter sent to the secretary-general also calls for a commitment "to
significant and sustained funding of the new women's entity and the gender
equality and women's rights/empowerment work of the whole U.N. system, including
gender mainstreaming within all U.N. policies and programmes."
The coalition also seeks "meaningful and ongoing civil-society
participation, particularly of women's groups, in the consideration and
implementation of the (High-Level) Panel's recommendations at the national,
regional and global levels."
The letter says that structures and avenues for such participation should be
built into the gender equality architecture of the United Nations at all
levels to ensure that women's voices, and especially those at the
grassroots, are heard and that women's concerns are effectively addressed in
sustained ways.
Zeitlin said the three existing women's units have a total budget of about
65 million dollars, compared to 450 million dollars for the U.N. Population
Fund and about two billion dollars for the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF.
"These recommendations present the best opportunity to reduce the gap
between the rhetoric on gender equality at the United Nations and the
reality of women's lives," she added.
She also pointed out that the panel had recommended an initial target of
some 200 million dollars for the proposed new women's agency.
"We understand this number was taken out (of the panel's report) because
some panel members believed it was far below what was needed for the United
Nations to deliver on gender equality and women's empowerment.
"
Source: UNITED NATIONS, Mar 12 (IPS) -
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