[New York, 23 April 2010] United Nations Member States met on 16 April in the first informal consultation to discuss the draft resolution for System-wide Coherence. The draft text that includes language on governance, common country programmes, funding for operational activities, and creation of the new UN gender equality entity. The Co-chairs of the SWC process, Estonia and Tunisia, invited Member States to give their first comments on the draft.

Statements delivered in the meeting by Governments and regional groups shed some light on what can be expected in the forthcoming negotiations on the resolution setting up the gender equality entity.

The Joint Coordination Committee (G77, Non-Aligned Movement & China) emphasized again that there should be a single resolution on all the clusters of the System-wide Coherence process, and that tangible results should be achieved in all the clusters. The statement included several detailed revisions and additional suggestions to the draft text about the new gender equality entity, for example the following:

• Beijing Platform for Action should be the main framework to guide the work of the entity, and Commission on the Status of Women should be the body to give the policy guidance
• The entity should have exactly the same mandates than the existing four entities, and any additional mandates should be decided upon by the General Assembly
• New Executive Board should be established, autonomous segment of the UNDP/UNFPA Board is not an option. Executive Board of the entity must have the geographic distribution of General Assembly, as for example Commission on the Status of Women and Human Rights Council have.
• The text should put more emphasis on operational capacity
• Under-Secretary General to lead the entity should only be appointed after the resolution has been adopted by the General Assembly. The USG should be someone from the South.
• Funding for the entity must be multi-year core funding. The resolution should leave open the possibility to use also regular resources for funding operational activities, and it should state that programmes implemented in developed countries should be funded by each country.
• Secretary General should report to the General Assembly annually about the developments of the new entity.

European Union emphasized that the reform is not only a merger of the four existing bodies, but that the new entity will lead and coordinate the UN system to deliver on gender equality and support Member States in the implementation of intergovernmental agreements. The EU also stressed that the entity will work with, support, and ensure the participation of civil society organizations.

[Read all the Government statement made in the meeting of 16 April 2010] 

[Read the compilation of all the elements for the resolution]