NEW YORK, 14. February: When the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) holds a two-week session beginning February 26, a coalition of over 150 international non-governmental organisations will use it as a platform to urge Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help implement a proposal for the creation of a new UN womens agency.
– We are hoping that when women from around the world are present in New York for the CSW, we will have an opportunity for the secretary-general to hear firsthand how critical this reform is, not only for improving womens lives, but also for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (which includes the eradication of poverty and hunger) and improving the well-being of all, says June Zeitlin of the Womens Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO).
– There is a clear consensus that the current structure is insufficient to meet the needs of women around the world or to fulfill the commitments governments have made at (the 1995 Womens Conference in) Beijing and other UN world conferences, Zeitlin told IPS.
The proposal for the creation of a “new gender architecture” included the consolidation of three existing entities – the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN Division for the Advancement of Women – under a single new UN agency to be headed by an under-secretary-general, the third highest ranking post in the world body.
The 15-member High-Level Panel of UN System-Wide Coherence – which recommended the “establishment of one dynamic UN entity focused on gender equality and womens empowerment” – comprised heads of government, former world political leaders and senior government and UN officials.
Charlotte Bunch of the Centre for Womens Global Leadership (CWGL) said the proposal for an enhanced womens agency with both more resources and an under-secretary-general as its head is a good step forward for advancing efforts for implementation of women’s rights at the UN, “but it can only do so if it is well resourced and also operational at the country level.”
The letter signed by 157 international non-governmental organisations says it is time to show support for a reformed and strengthened women’s entity at the United Nations.
Besides WEDO and CWGL, the coalition also includes African Womens Development Fund, Amnesty International, Asia Pacific Womens Watch, Equality Now, Global Fund for Women, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, International Gender Policy Network, Human Rights Watch, Nobel Womens Initiative, the Open Society Institute and Sisters Beyond Boundaries.
In its recommendations, the panel said that “the commitment to gender equality is and should remain the mandate of the entire UN system.” The (proposed) gender entity, it added, must also “be fully and ambitiously funded.”
Zeitlin said the three existing womens units have a total budget of about 65 million dollars, compared to 450 million dollars for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and about two billion dollars for the UN childrens 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 womens lives, she added.
She pointed out that the panel had recommended an initial target of some 200 million dollars for the proposed new womens agency.
– We understand this number was taken out of (fjernet fra) the panels report because some panel members believed it was far below what was needed for the United Nations to deliver on gender equality and womens empowerment, Zeitlin noted.
She said the coalition agrees that 200 million dollars is only a beginning.
– Therefore, women groups around the world will be undertaking a campaign, particularly among donor countries, to commit far more than 200 million dollars for the work of the consolidate agency, she declared.
Kilder: Inter Press Service og The Push Journal
