[25 August 2009] Asia-Pacific Women's Watch (APWW) has sent a letter to the UN Member States of the region on behalf the Southeast Asia GEAR Campaign.

"At this point we know that the resolution on GEAR will be debated and negotiated on the floor before the closing of the 63rd General Assembly. We appeal to you to express strong support for this very important and historic measure. In particular, we want the proposed entity to be ambitiously funded with stable and predictable resources. We believe that Member States should pledge and secure a minimum of US$ 1 billion in funding for the new gender entity in the first phase of development, as well as substantial annual increases built into the process to expand to more countries over time. [...]

Moreover, we believe that it is critical that it should have meaningful, systematic and diverse civil society
participation. The Executive Board should include one civil society representative from each region,
following the HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinating Board model. Civil Society Advisory bodies could be
created at the global, regional and national levels and should be comprised of representatives from diverse
NGOs, and especially women’s organizations and local women at country level.

May we emphasize that it is imperative for GEAR to be resolved soon as we have received reports that programs on gender at the UN are already being stalled as agencies are expectedly adopting a wait-and- see attitude.  Rest assured that we shall continue to monitor developments at the UNGA here in Southeast Asia. The UN has always been an instrumental and meaningful institution in furthering the cause of gender equality at the global level. Your continued and meaningful support of the GEAR will ensure that this noble goal is further realized for the next generation."

[Read the whole GEAR Southeast Asia letter to UN Member States]