New UN Agency for Women to be Established
16 September, 2009
After three years of extensive consultations, the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution (A/RES/63/311, not yet online) that will establish a new United Nations entity focused on the rights of women.
Whilst early plans called for the amalgamation of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI), the new resolution, adopted 14 September, also rolls the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) into the new agency, which will be led by an Under-Secretary-General who would report directly to the Secretary-General.
The resolution also requests Secretary-General Ban to provide Member States with a comprehensive proposal outlining the mission statement, structure, funding and oversight of the new entity so that it can be created as soon as possible.
NGOs are calling for the entity to be operational by the time of the Beijing +15 Review at the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2010.
For further information, see http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/ga10854.doc.htm, http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article1598, and http://www.ipsterraviva.net/Europe/article.aspx?id=7811.
