END VIOLENCE: ‘A Promise is a Promise is a Promise’

Lets End Violence Against Women

The main roles of UN Women are:

• To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms.
• To help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society.
• To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

UN Women focuses on six key work areas. Read more about the Focus Areas from the links on the left.
 

Meeting the Needs of the World’s Women

 
Over many decades, the UN has made significant progress in advancing gender equality, including through landmark agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth.

Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes.

For many years, the UN has faced serious challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality globally, including inadequate funding and no single recognized driver to direct UN activities on gender equality issues.

UN Women was created to address such challenges. It will be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels.

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the UN Charter, UN Women, among other issues, works for the:

• elimination of discrimination against women and girls;
• empowerment of women; and
• achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The creation of UN Women

UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, was created in July 2010.

In creating UN Women,, UN Member States took an historic step in accelerating the Organisation’s goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women merged and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:

• Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)
• International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)
• Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI)
• United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

LAST YEAR, A Promise is “A Promise is A Promise is A Promise” is the official video of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women. It is being launched today, 28 November 2012, during the UN’s official commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which was celebrated around the world on Sunday, 25 November.

The UK National Committee for UN Women is the voice of UN Women in the UK. We support the work of UN Women in its mission for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The UK National Committee for UN Women is the voice for UN Women in the UK supporting the work of UN Women in its mission for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Our work is focused on influencing and raising awareness to create change in the treatment of women and girls here in the UK and throughout the world. We do this through working with Government and parliamentarians, corporate partners, and civil society. The post-2015 development agenda is a key focus of our advocacy work in the UK, read more here.

Read our latest Annual Report below or download it here.

With a growing individual membership network, we are represented throughout the UK with local regional branches and we have an active and growing corporate membership network which helps to increase our knowledge, influence and income. Read more about joining us.

A Board of 13 trustees, elected each year, is responsible for the strategic direction of the UKNC-UN Women Our current President is Jan Grasty. We are self-funding and aim to return at least 90% of all income directly to UN Women programmes.Click here to see the specific programs we are supporting in 2013.

We work with the Department for International Development and other government agencies and in partnership with many other organisations. These include: the United Nations Association, the Royal Commonwealth Society, the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations and Soroptimist International. We are a member of theGender Action for Peace and Security coalition (GAPS UK).

We are one of 18 National Committees for UN Women across the world and maintain close links with these organizations.