WUNRN
Global
Coalition Backs New U.N. Gender Body
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 30 (IPS) - An international coalition
of over 300 women's organisations and human rights groups, representing more
than 50 countries, is lending its support to a proposal aimed at creating a
strong new women's body at the United Nations.
The coalition, which has been running a longstanding global
campaign called Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR), has opted for a
"hybrid" body: a mix of a U.N department and a U.N. agency, combining
the best of both worlds. A paper by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, spelling out
four options to strengthen the U.N.'s gender architecture, will go before the
current sessions of the 192-member General Assembly for a final decision before
September this year.
Charlotte Bunch, executive director of the Centre for
Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, told IPS the majority of the
members of the General Assembly, and its President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann,
not only support the creation of a new, stronger entity for women, but also
have voiced a preference for a composite body.
The first option, as proposed in the paper, is to maintain
the status quo, namely the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Office
of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, the U.N. Division for the Advancement
of Women, and the International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) - but with increased resources.
The second option is to create a fund or programme (much
like the U.N. Development Programme or the U.N. children's agency UNICEF), but
financed with voluntary contributions from member states.
The third option is to create a new department (much like
the Department for Economic and Social Affairs) within the Secretariat.
And the fourth option is to create a new hybrid entity,
incorporating option two and three.
"We are not advocating for a department within the
U.N., and have made it clear to all involved that we would not find this
acceptable," said Bunch, whose organisation is part of the GEAR coalition.
"However, we also want to be clear that the
secretary-general's paper is also not recommending a department, but rather a
composite," she added.
From the beginning, Bunch pointed out, "we have been
asked if we prefer a department or an agency and we have consistently said that
we want a combination of both."
"We believe that the separation of the normative/policy
side in a department, from the operational in a fund, is one of the problems in
the current arrangements for women's rights and believe that a stronger entity
that combines both would be best," Bunch said.
The trend in U.N. entities over the past two decades has
been to combine both functions although they still follow the old structural
divides.
"What we think would be the most effective is to create
a structure that recognises these trends and needs, and that is why we support
the composite," she declared.
Colette Tamko of the Women's Environment and Development
Organisation (WEDO), which is part of the GEAR coalition, told IPS there is a
consensus among member states that maintaining the status quo is not a viable
option.
"It is evident that the current U.N. gender equality
architecture is fragmented, under-resourced and lacks a clear driver. This is
the very reason behind the reform process and the GEAR Campaign," she
added.
Asked whether the coalition hopes for a minimum of a
one-billion-dollar annual budget for the new U.N. women's body, as proposed by
some, Tamko said the GEAR Campaign is expecting the composite entity to be
"ambitiously funded" - as stated in a report by a high-level panel of
former world leaders and government officials, released in late 2006.
"We are still asking for a minimum of 1.0 billion
dollars, which we think needs to come from both assessed and voluntary contributions,"
she added. "We believe that a combination of both voluntary and assessed
contributions would provide a more secure source of funding for the new women's
entity."
The only option that offers such combination, she said, is a
composite body.
"Having both voluntary and assessed contributions would
also ensure more of a balance in terms of ownership between both northern and
southern countries," she added.
She recalled that when former Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
office sought to advance this proposal in November 2006, they suggested a
"hybrid" agency that had dual reporting so that it could combine
normative and operational elements.
Addressing a meeting of delegates recently, the
secretary-general expressed his own preference when he said that a department
would not provide a robust field presence.
And a fund or programme would not fully eliminate
fragmentation, link normative and operational work, or exercise the level of
authority needed to hold all entities accountable for performance.
"Thus, the composite entity remains the most promising
option," he told delegates.
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