UNIFEM UK: Working for women's empowerment and gender equality

Progress for Women Is Progress for All

UNIFEM UK welcomes proposal for a new UN women's agency

November 2006

UNIFEM UK welcomes the recommendation of the Secretary General's High Level Panel looking at UN reform that there should be a stronger focus on gender equality. It has been described as 'a landmark proposal for creating a powerful new United Nations women's agency'.

The Secretary General's High-Level Panel on System-wide Coherence has been looking at how the UN system can work more coherently and effectively across the world. Its report, Delivering as One, was launched on 9 November.

Key recommendations on gender equality include:

The commitment to gender equality is and should remain the mandate of the entire UN system
Three of the UN's gender institutions – OSAGI (Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues), DAW (Division for the Advancement of Women) and UNIFEM – should be brought together
The new gender agency should have a dual mandate – normative, analytical and monitoring functions to be performed by OSAGI and DAW; policy, advisory and field programmes to be implemented by UNIFEM
The head of the agency should have the rank of Under-Secretary General (not currently the situation with UNIFEM, but consistent with other agencies)
The gender agency must be fully and ambitiously funded

Stephen Lewis, the UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS and outspoken women's advocate, said –

This is the most dramatic step forward in decades, for women and for the UN. It holds the prospect of transforming the lives of women, removing the worst poverty and oppression, saving lives in the midst of the AIDS pandemic and other massive health problems.

In welcoming the report Noeleen Heyzer, UNIFEM's Executive Director, said –

The UN has a unique role in supporting countries to implement their commitments to women's empowerment and gender equality. This will require that in fleshing out the details of the proposed agency, significant investment is made in its implementation capacity and emphasis placed on strengthening its influence at the country level.

The last point is a key one. UNIFEM UK applauds the role the UK government played in working for a substantial women's agency at the UN, and urges ministers to put forward the case for increased funding. Members and supporters can help by writing to their MPs in support of funding for this new agency. "This is an opportunity for real change on the ground, and to extend the valuable work of UNIFEM," said UNIFEM UK President, Juliet Colman.

The full Delivering as One report can be viewed at www.un.org/events/panel/

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