News & information on GEAR campaign » UN Documents on GEAR

Second version of the draft SWC resolution available

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:33:21 +0000

[New York, 25 May 2010] New draft of the resolution on System-wide Coherence that the UN General Assembly needs to adopt to establish the new UN gender equality entity was sent to the Member States last week. The current version builds on the comments and suggestions made by regional groups and Member States during the informal consultations earlier this spring.

In what come to the section of the resolution on the establishment of the new UN gender equality entity, the new draft includes several clarifying additions, for example regarding the transitional process, the regional support centers, securing the links between normative and operational work.

From the point of view of GEAR Campaign’s demands, positive changes include a new paragraph about the role of women’s movements in promoting gender equality. However, suggestions made by EU and Canada about creating mechanisms for ensuring CSO participation have not made it to the new draft.

The Member States will discuss the new draft in a series of informal consultations already this week, on 25, 26, and 27 May. The next round of negotiations is set to start in mid-June.

[Read the second version of the draft SWC resolution]

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Co-Chairs release elements for resolution on the new UN women’s agency

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:17:59 +0000

[New York, 13 April 2010] The facilitators of the UN System-wide Coherence process have put together the elements that could be included in the resolution that the General Assembly will have to pass in order to create the new UN women's agency.

The document containing the draft elements of the resolution on the composite gender equality entity, along with similar drafts related to other tiers of the System-wide Coherence reform, will be introduced to the Member States on 16 April. The next intergovernmental meeting on the new gender equality entity will take place on 30th April. This is when the Member States will start to negotiate seriously about the content of the upcoming resolution.

We have heard that the aim is to have the Member States agree on the texts in the end of June or on the first week of July.

[Read the draft elements for the resolution on the new UN gender equality entity]

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UN answers frequently asked questions about the new women’s agency

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:28:41 +0000

[New York, 23 March 2010] UN Secretariat has put together a useful document on the establishment of the new UN gender equality entity that answers many of the frequently asked questions.

The document is a useful resource for everyone interested in the details of the new women's agency and the process at the UN aiming at its creation. However, it does not fully reflect the GEAR Campaign's position.

[Read the DSG's Key messages and facts document]

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CSW adopts a statement supporting the new UN women’s entity

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:26:58 +0000

[New York, 12 March 2010] The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded its fifty-fourth session on 12 March with the adoption of a short text supporting the creation of the new UN gender equality entity. This is a statement of support of symbolic value only, not the UN General Assembly resolution that will be needed to create the new entity.

The resolution entitled "Strengthening the institutional arrangements of the United Nations for support of gender equality and the empowerment of women by consolidating the four existing offices into a composite entity" was presented by representative of Egypt. She said it was a political statement of the will of Member States to support system-wide coherence of all United Nations entities mandated to work towards gender equality. According to her it reflected the United Nations important role to achieve that priority target of gender equality and women’s empowerment, as set out in the Beijing Declaration and Platform.

The representative of Norway, the country that initiated the resolution, said that in adopting the text, which had more than 181 co-sponsors, the Commission would confirm that strengthening United Nations institutions was a truly universal objective. That clear message from Member States should inspire and boost ongoing negotiations of the General Assembly to set up an entity by the end of the current Assembly session.

The text of the resolution is short. It only reiterates the support that Member States gave to the creation of the new women's rights entity in September 2009, and does not set a timeline for General Assembly resolution that is needed establishment the new entity.

[Read the CSW resolution on new UN gender equality entity]

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Secretary-General releases detailed proposal for the new UN women’s entity

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:43:45 +0000

[New York, 18 January 2010] Plans for the new UN women's agency take shape as the much-awaited report about its details was given to Member States on 6th January. A new round of intergovernmental negotiations between UN Member States on the report and the next steps in establishing the women's agency will start shortly.

The report commissioned by the UN Secretary-General as mandated in the resolution of 14 September 2009 gives a detailed picture of how the new entity would look like once up and running: what would be its mission, how would it be governed and financed, and how its work on the ground would be organized.

For women and girls around the world, the most important question about the entity is whether it will make a difference in their daily lives. The programming that the new entity will undertake and the financial support it will provide to improve the lives of women and advance gender equality are key for finding the answer.

The report suggests that in the first phase the new entity could have county offices in those 80 countries where UNIFEM is present at the moment. The report does not propose a schedule to expand the country presence from here, but says that the level of support provided in the first phase countries should be improved: the number of national field staff would be tripled in comparison to current situation (from 200 to 600).

The report also proposes an increase in funding for the UN gender equality architecture. Whereas in 2008 the four existing women's rights entities had an income of around 220 million USD, the report sets the annual budget at 500 million USD.

375 million USD would be used for country-driven programming activities, 125 million USD would go for keeping up the basic operational capacity at regional and country level and at the headquarters.

The new entity would have the following functions: provide support for UN decision-making bodies, undertake programming at country-level, undertake advocacy efforts, monitor the implementation of intergovernmental agreements on gender equality, undertake research, lead and coordinate UN system’s actions on gender equality, strengthen the accountability of the UN system, and monitor gender balance within the UN.

The entity would have an UN Under-Secretary General as its Executive Director.It will be a body created by the UN General Assembly to assist it, and report to the Assembly through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).The Commission on the Status of Women will be the policy making body guiding its work.

An Executive Board will oversee the operational activities of the entity. The UN Secretary-General’s report proposes that the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board is used for this purpose, and that the arrangement could be reviewed after three years.

[Read the detailed proposal for the new UN gender equality entity]

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GEAR resolution passed by the UN General Assembly

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:48:50 +0000

[New York, 14 September 2009] The UN General Assembly adopted on 14th September a resolution on System-wide Coherence that will enable the creation of a new UN gender equality entity to be headed by a new Under Secretary General.

While the part on the gender equality entity is reduced to three paragraphs and the text is not as strong as the GEAR Campaign was hoping it to be, the decision is in any case an important step forward. Now swift and effective action from the UN Secretary-General and the UN Member States is needed to make the new entity operational without delay.

[Read the UN General Assembly Resolution on System-wide Coherence]

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UN prepares to decide on the creation of the women’s agency

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:19:00 +0000

[New York, 20 August 2009] A report by the Co-Chairs summarizes the issues related to UN System wide Coherence process on which the UN General Assembly should decide in September, including the reform of the UN gender architecture. Apart from urging the UN Member States to decide on the establishment of the composite gender equality entity, the Co-Chairs recommend them to decide on the Executive Board of the new gender equality entity, and envisage an effective transitional process in order to ensure the necessary leadership and the preparatory work.

The elements of the report will serve as the basis of the upcoming resolution. the UN General Assembly will start discussing the resolution in the beginning of September, and it should reach agreement by 14th September.

[Read the report by the Co-Chairs]

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Co-Chairs paving way for the new gender equality entity

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:00:55 +0000

[New York, 23 June 2009] The Co-Chairs of the UN General Assembly are pushing the Member States toward a consensus on the creation of the new gender equality entity. In an “executive summary” released on 19th June they summarize the intergovernmental debates on the UN gender equality architecture reform and suggest possible ways forward. The Co-Chairs see that the current session of the UN General Assembly could reach a decision authorizing the Secretary-General to make the necessary arrangements to establish a composite gender equality entity.

In the coming weeks, the Co-Chairs will meet informally with UN Member States and regional groups in order to find common ground on issues where more intergovernmental discussion is needed. One such issue is the funding of the new entity, in particular the balance between voluntary contributions from UN Member States and contributions from the UN regular budget. Another issue to be discussed is the governance of the new entity and the form its Executive Board should take.

[Read the Executive Summary by Co-Chairs]

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Details about staffing and structure of the new gender entity

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:49:52 +0000

[New York, 12 June 2009] More details about the way the new UN gender equality entity would look like have now been released. In response to the questions and requests raised by UN Member States when the gender equality reform was discussed in April, the UN Secretariat has released a paper with detailed information about the staffing, organizational structure and funding of the new entity.

The Secretariat estimates that as a composite, the gender equality entity would have a staff of 1049 persons, from whom almost 90% would be working at 5 regional and 50 country offices. Compared to the less than 300 persons who work in the current UN gender equality bodies, this would be a major improvement. The Secretariat also proposes a phased approach to the scaling up of operations, shift from the first to the second and from the second to third phase being subject to a review.

[Read the "Consolidated Response" paper]

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UN Deputy presents details on the options for GEAR

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:53:16 +0000

(New York, March 2009) The UN Deputy Secretary General has provided the Member States with further details on the different institutional options for the new gender equality entity. The paper released on 5th March endorses the option favored by the GEAR campaign: the so called "composite entity", which would combine normative policy work and operational work on the ground. The paper outlines details related to the functions, funding, staffing and governance of the new women's entity, embracing many of the key demands of the GEAR campaign. In her cover letter, the Deputy Secretary General urges the Member States to come into agreement about the new entity during the present session of the General Assembly, that is, by September.

(Download DSG's modalitities paper)

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