[New York, 28 April 2009] UN Member States had their say on the Deputy Secretary General's paper on the options for GEAR in two informal plenary meetings and in an "expert meeting" with representatives of UN's gender agancies. While most countries continued to support the "composite entity" favored by the GEAR campaign, many found the level of detail in the paper unsatisfying, presenting the Secretariat with a flood of questions about the future women's entity. More information was demanded especially on the governance, staffing and the financing of the new entity, and how the entity would look on the ground

The UN Secretariat is now preparing a formal response to provide details needed so that the process could move forward. Member States are expected to meet again to discuss the additional documents, probably in the end of May.

Before the consultations the GEAR campaign was actively talking with the UN Member States in order to bring campaign's recommendations and concerns about the paper in their knowledge.

Read more about the reactions of Member States to the options paper here.