Following more than three years of negotiations and concerted pressure from civil society organizations, on Sept. 14 the UN General Assembly finally adopted a resolution to create a new UN agency focused on women’s rights and gender equality. The resolution, which received unanimous support from the 192-member assembly, brings together the four existing UN bodies that deal with women’s issues—the UN Development Fund for Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, the Division for the Advancement of Women and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women—into a single entity headed by an undersecretary-general, the third-highest rank in the UN system.
The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) campaign, a coalition of more than 300 international nongovernmental associations (NGOs), had pushed for the creation of such an entity; in welcoming the announcement, GEAR and others in the NGO community urged the UN Secretary-General to move swiftly to ensure that the agency has the necessary leadership, budgetary support and clear mandate to succeed. Supporters hope the new office will be created in early 2010, corresponding with the 15th anniversary of the historic UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
“InterAction applauds the efforts of the GEAR campaign, and we congratulate the UN for taking unanimous action to establish the new women’s agency,” said Sam Worthington, President and CEO of InterAction, a member of GEAR and the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian NGOs. “The agency will raise awareness and build understanding of continuing global inequalities faced by women and girls, particularly women’s lack of access to resources and violence against women and girls. Through this new UN body, we will finally have the ability to examine our collective responses to these inequalities. InterAction has long recognized the importance of raising the status, skills and education of women and girls and we eagerly look forward to working with the UN women’s agency.”
Worthington continued, “The GEAR campaign, led by Charlotte Bunch, has worked ceaselessly to increase the effectiveness of UN programs related to gender equality and women. Changing the architecture of the UN has been a huge undertaking, and we believe will result in real and positive changes for women and girls around the world.”
To learn more about this ongoing effort, visit the campaign’s main website, GEAR UP, and the European Campaign for GEAR or contact Jeannie Harvey at InterAction.
