‘Super agency’ for women
16 December 2009, 05:23PM
© Henry Romero / Reuters
After three years of discussions, the General Assembly of the UN has unanimously voted to consolidate its existing four entities for women into one coherent agency to advance women’s rights.
This new ‘super agency’ will be dedicated to advance gender equality and enable empowerment of women. Also heartening is the fact that this agency, unlike the smaller entities it is integrating, will be headed by an under-secretary general - the third most powerful post at the UN.
Amnesty International, along with 300 other non governmental organisations worldwide, has been actively pushing world governments and the UN for just such an approach.
“It is a great victory for women's rights as well as for the coalition of women's and other civil society organisations. Now we must ensure that it is a robust and transformational body, capable of
advancing the realisation of women’s rights on the ground,
urgently and effectively."
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director, Center for Women’s Global Leadership, USA.
That’s the good news, but to make this body effective and deliver empowerment to 3 billion plus women worldwide, it urgently needs momentum, sustained political commitment and immediate, substantial funding.
Show your solidarity for women worldwide and sign the global petition to prioritise a new, effective UN agency for women.
Take action and make the United Nations more effective in realising women's rights
Amnesty International is currently campaigning to end violence that drives and deepens women's poverty. To learn more, please visit: Women, violence and poverty - breaking out of the gender trap
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