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UNIFEM Welcomes the Creation of UN Women — the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of WomenContents:
Dear Friends and Partners, Today is a historic day. This afternoon, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously decided to establish UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of a strong UN organization that will be a champion to promote and advance the rights of women and girls worldwide has been a goal we have been advocating for many years, and I know that you will join me in celebrating and embracing this momentous achievement. As you will know, UN Women will merge UNIFEM with its three existing sister UN entities working on gender issues — the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). For many years, we have effectively worked with national, regional and global partners to generate a stronger public policy response to previously under-recognized women’s rights issues, such as ending violence against women, increasing women’s political participation, and prioritizing women’s leadership in forging peace and security. At the same time, we have faced serious challenges in our efforts to support countries to implement commitments to gender equality, in part because of inadequate funding and because there was no single recognized driver to lead the UN response for gender equality support. This is why we wholeheartedly joined UN Member States and women’s rights advocates in the call to strengthen the UN system to render even stronger support to the advancement of gender equality. Today marks a great new beginning, not an end. The kind of work that UNIFEM has supported will continue as we merge into an institution that will be more robust and coherent, better positioned and resourced than the sum of its constituent parts. I count on all of you to continue to be with us on this exciting journey. Your support throughout the years and your tireless engagement on behalf of the world’s women has made this success possible. UN Women will become fully operational on 1 January 2011. It is important to note that until then we will continue to be fully operational as part of the new entity. Agreements made with UNIFEM, whether in the context of partnerships, programmes or funding arrangements, will then be transferred to and honoured by UN Women. Over the past decades, there have been many achievements in advancing the women’s rights and gender equality agenda, yet much still needs to be done. We now know that we will be stronger in pursuing our joint efforts for women and girls globally. Let’s seize this moment, and the momentum, and work with renewed energy and enthusiasm. Inés Alberdi Statement by the Secretary-General on the Creation of UN Women
Today’s action does more than consolidate United Nations offices, it consolidates United Nations strengths. UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe. It is also an important step in our wider effort to strengthen UN system-wide coherence to meet the challenges of the 21st century. UN Women is a recognition of a simple truth: Equality for women and girls is not only a basic human right, it is a social and economic imperative. Where women are educated and empowered, economies are more productive and strong. Where women are fully represented, societies are more peaceful and stable. That is why I have made gender equality and the empowerment of women one of my top priorities — from working to end the scourge of violence against women, to appointing more women to senior positions, to efforts to reduce maternal mortality rates. Our challenge now is to make UN Women fully operational. I will continue my outreach with Member States and civil society in seeking a dynamic Under-Secretary-General to lead UN Women. I commend the leadership and staff of DAW, INSTRAW, OSAGI and UNIFEM for their commitment to the cause of gender equality; I will count on their support as we enter a new era in the UN’s work for women. Once again, I salute the General Assembly for its action. Women of the world look to the United Nations for leadership — and Member States have delivered. Ban Ki-moon Joint Statement by DAW, INSTRAW, OSAGI and UNIFEM[ PDF ] We enthusiastically welcome the unanimous decision by the General Assembly to establish the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to be known as UN Women. UN Women will be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls around the world, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels. Its establishment will boost the United Nations’ ability to support and work with Member States in accelerating progress towards achieving the goals of gender equality and the empowerment of women, expanding opportunity and tackling discrimination against women and girls. UN Women will work with the entire UN system, and will forge effective partnerships with all stakeholders, including with civil society and women’s organizations. We are committed to jointly implementing our mandate and functions as UN Women, with renewed vigour to meet oncoming challenges and help fulfil the rights and expectations of the world’s women and girls that this opportunity affords. We are confident that Member States will provide UN Women with the robust resource base necessary for the effective fulfilment of its mandate. We look forward to the appointment of the Under-Secretary-General to head UN Women and lead this work. |
I welcome today’s vote by the 64th General Assembly to merge the four gender entities of the United Nations into