Looking ahead to gender reform at the UN
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In his term as UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan said, “it is impossible to realize our goals while discriminating against half the human race.” Tomorrow (21st June) will see the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on gender reform and the potential creation of an independent women’s agency.
In November 2006, a High-level Panel, including Prime Minister in-waiting Gordon Brown, recommended the establishment of an independent women-specific agency with a minimum budget of $1 billion US. The Panel’s recommendation on Gender Equality Architectural (GEA) reform included the need to consolidate the three existing women-focused UN entities into an enhanced and independent gender entity, headed by an Executive Director with the rank of Under Secretary-General, appointed through a fair and transparent process to those outside the UN. The women’s agency would have a strengthened normative and advocacy role combined with a targeted programming role. Ahead of the meeting tomorrow, a global day of action is taking place today (20th June), with women’s organisations and other groups from civil society lobbying their respective Governments and UN Permanent Missions urging Ambassadors to endorse and push for the GEA recommendations. Ruth Dearnley, Head of Campaigns for Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), a UK-based campaigning organisation playing a leading role in the global day of action said, “After the success of achieving these recommendations for a women-specific UN agency, it is incredibly important that pressure is maintained to ensure that the recommendations are carried out in full and the General Assembly does not renege on a commitment previously endorsed by the Secretary General.’ Stephen Lewis, the former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, has been championing civil society efforts in pushing for this reform so that gender equality can be realised in both the developed and the developing world. Dearnley added, “Southern partners are strongly advocating the need for change in the UN system. Women continue to bare the brunt of the developing world’s harshest problems and we will not be able to deliver on social justice until the gender imbalance is addressed.” Source: Action for Southern Africa |
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