UN PANEL CALLS FOR MORE SOLID GENDER ARCHITECTURE

Details: Created: 20 December 2006

The United Nations (UN) High Level Panel on System-wide Coherence, convened by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, released its final report on UN infrastructure on November 9, 2006. One of the report’s recommendations is the creation of a stronger agency for women. Over the past nine months, various women's organisations from around the world have been working together to push governments and Panel members for the creation of a new agency for women that would strengthen UN’s response to gender inequality.

As a result, the Panel issued the recommendation on the creation of a new high-level Under Secretary General position on gender who would serve as the head of the new women's agency. This new agency would consolidate three already established units of the UN, namely, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI). With a higher status, the head of the new agency will have substantially increased budget and additional staff for its work at global and country levels.

It is hoped that endorsements of these Panel's recommendations from both the current Secretary General Kofi Annan and incoming Secretary General Ban Ki Moon would bring gender equality on top of the UN development agenda.

Sources:
“Coherence Panel Releases Final Report” from the Center for Women's Global Leadership, posted on November 2006, <http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/policy/unadvocacy/index.html>.
“Gender Equality May Finally Arrive at United Nations” from the Center for Women's Environment & Development Organisation and Women's Global Leadership, posted on November 9, 2006, <http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/policy/unadvocacy/PRPacket9.09.06.pdf>.

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