The official session of the 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women will be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York and will focus on the Financing for gender equality and empowerment of women. Other emerging issues such as Gender perspectives on climate change will also be discussed. See the detailed programme at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm
Beside the general session of the Commission, a large programme of parallel events and activities organized by the NGO committee on the status of women will take place at the UN Church Centre, opposite the United Nations Headquarters. Some of these activities include a session on the theme of “Financing for Gender and Development,” organised by Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era (DAWN) and Isis international See the detailed programme at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/conf/seforms/dspUNcalendar2.html
Isis online bulletin, we!, will be reporting the 52nd CSW. This will be sent out through the Asia Pacific Women's Watch mailing list as well to this mailing list, to keep women abreast of the developments and discussions during the general sessions of the Commission, as well as the side events and advocacies of our sisters and networks.
Global leaders adopted a new document at the 2005 World Summit in New York calling for much stronger system-wide coherence across the various development-related agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations. Thanks to the active lobbying of gender equality advocates, the document also included the proposal for the creation of a new gender architecture consolidating three existing UN entities -- the UN Development Fund for Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN Division for the Advancement of Women -- under a single new UN agency. The proposal stipulates that this entity will be headed by an under-secretary-general, the third highest ranking post in the world body, to ensure a main authority to take responsibility to tackle these issues and promote gender commitments effectively. The document also calls for significant and sustained funding of the new women's entity to put words into action. The panel had recommended an initial target of some 200 million dollars for the proposed new women's agency.
On 1 August 2007, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro issued a concept paper on strengthening the UN’s gender architecture in the UN system expressing the urgency of such a reorganization. Based on these ideas, the co-chairs now recommend further informal consultations in the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, “with a view to taking concrete action.” Informal consultations are ongoing.
Sources:
Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-second Session 25 February – 7 March 2008, http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm
Paper on strengthening the UN’s gender architecture in the UN system by UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, http://www.un.org/ga/president/61/letters/SDOC1599.pdf
UN reform, what does it mean for women’s rights?, Association for Women Rights and Development, http://www.awid.org/go.php?pg=un_reform (latest news – Suggested Reading – Articles - Interview – Document)
Gender Equality Architecture and UN Reform, Women’s Global Leadership and Women’s Environment and Development Organization, http://www.wedo.org/files/Gender%20Equality%20Architecture%20and%20UN%20Reform0606.pdf
Coherence Panel/Gender Equality Architecture, Center for Women’s Global Leadership, http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/policy/unadvocacy/gea.html
High level Panel on System- wide Coherence, http://www.un.org/events/panel/index.html
Up-to-date information and resources about UN reform, http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php
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