[Wigsat-l] Form of New U.N. Women's Entity Still Nebulous

[Sophia Huyer]

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From: Shirley Randell <mail at shirleyrandell.com.au>
Reply-To: Pacific Women's Information Network <pacwin at lyris.spc.int>
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:07:46 +0200
To: Pacific Women's Information Network <pacwin at lyris.spc.int>
Subject: [pacwin] News clip in IPS - Form of New U.N. Women's Entity  
Still Nebulous (report on last CSW)

POLITICS:
Form of New U.N. Women's Entity Still Nebulous

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18 (IPS) - When a high-level panel of former  
political leaders and senior government officials released a study in  
late 2006 on ways to eliminate duplication and strengthen coordination  
among the U.N.'s myriad bodies, it also recommended the creation of a  
specialised agency for women aimed at consolidating gender-related  
activities under a single umbrella.

But more than two years later - and following the conclusion of a two- 
week session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) last  
week - the original proposal seems likely to be abandoned or diluted.

The most viable option, as currently contemplated, is the creation of  
a separate department for gender affairs in the U.N. Secretariat -  
much like the existing Department of Economic and Social Affairs  
(DESA) - than a separate U.N. agency. Or perhaps a mix of both.

Unlike a department, a U.N. agency would not only have remained  
autonomous but also sought a massive budget, possibly over a billion  
dollars, as demanded by women's groups and non-governmental  
organisations.

But such separate agency for women has not generated strong support  
among most member states - both for political and financial reasons.

Currently, there are four U.N. bodies focusing on gender-related  
issues: 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).

As a result, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admits the "U.N. gender  
architecture lacks a recognised driver" - and is probably in danger of  
heading in different directions.

"It is fragmented. It is inadequately funded, and insufficiently  
focused on country-driven demands," he complained before a meeting of  
member states last week.

There are also gaps between policies and implementation on gender  
issues, he argued. "And authority and accountability are weak."

Ban said he is looking at two approaches: the first is to leave gender  
architecture as it is now in the hands of four U.N entities, while  
adding resources and improving interagency cooperation.

The second is to unify all four under one roof, with several  
institutional options for the proposed consolidation.

These include a fund or programme similar to the U.N. Children's  
agency UNICEF or the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), both of which  
are considered full-fledged U.N. agencies with governing bodies.

And another option is to create a separate department in the U.N.  
Secretariat.

But the most likely scenario, the secretary-general said, is the  
creation of a composite entity, which would combine the features of  
both a fund and a department.

All of these proposals have been submitted to the General Assembly  
President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann for consideration by the 192- 
member Assembly at its current session, which concludes early  
September. A final decision is expected by then.

Expressing his own preference, Ban said 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.

Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of the New York-based Equality  
Now, told IPS: "We understand that the General Assembly is now  
considering various options for the creation of a consolidated entity  
to address women's issues."

"We believe that this entity is much needed and that its creation  
should be accelerated," she said.

Bien-Aime noted that after years of discussion, it is time to move  
forward, and the idea of streamlining, rationalising and strengthening  
the gender architecture of the U.N. system is very welcome.

"The proposed reforms will no doubt enhance the ability of the United  
Nations to promote the advancement of women around the world," she  
declared.

Meanwhile, at the conclusion of the its two-week session Friday, the  
CSW adopted several resolutions stressing the need for equal sharing  
of responsibilities between women and men, including care giving in  
the context of HIV/AIDS.

There were, however, two complaints at the CSW conclusions: firstly,  
that there was no reference to the Convention on the Rights of Persons  
with Disabilities, and secondly, to women living under occupation.

A resolution urging U.N. assistance to Palestinian women was adopted  
by a vote of 30 in favour to three against, with eight abstentions.  
The only three countries of the 45-member CSW to vote against it were  
the Netherlands, the United States and Britain.

Among the resolutions that were adopted by consensus was one that  
called on governments, along with the United Nations, civil society  
and the private sector, to intensify efforts to fully implement the  
1995 Beijing Platform for Action, which called for the removal of all  
barriers to women's participation in all spheres of public and private  
life.

Francisco Cos-Montiel, senior programme specialist for Women's Rights  
and Citizenship at the Ottawa-based International Development Research  
Centre (IDRC), told IPS that two of the issues before the CSW were  
decentralisation and women’s rights, along with care giving in the  
context of HIV/AIDS.

When services such as health are transferred to localities with little  
capacity or with limited fiscal revenues, women (and not men) are  
going to provide care giving in the absence of these public services.

This, in turn, can have important consequences, for example, on girls'  
education, or will limit women's capacity to enter the labour market,  
he added.

"I think that, for the first time, the need to have gender sensitive  
decentralisation policies was highlighted (at the CSW session)," Cos- 
Montiel said.

It also presented the potential advantages these policies might have,  
but also the risks they pose for women, he said.

Bien-Aime of Equality Now told IPS that while the topic of focus -  
namely, the equal sharing of responsibility between women and men -  
was an important one, it was so broad that governments yet again  
seemed paralysed into moving toward concrete and urgent action to  
bring the Beijing Platform Action to life.

She said that next year the CSW will be celebrating Beijing Plus 15,  
(the fifteenth anniversary of the Beijing Women's Conference), and the  
question will remain as to what CSW has concretely done to remedy  
gender-based discrimination and violence.

"The Beijing Platform for Action is a strong blueprint for governments  
to put in place mechanisms and machineries that could work toward  
ensuring equality for women before the law and in practice, and yet  
another session slips by with nothing concrete to bring home," she said.

In light of the magnitude of the issues before the CSW, "We had hoped  
that it would have embraced the opportunity to develop mechanisms to  
ensure equality before the law by appointing a special rapporteur on  
laws that discriminate against women," she added.

"We are disappointed that the discussion yet again did not move  
forward. Eliminating discriminatory laws is an issue that should not  
really be controversial as it is a question of fundamental human  
rights affirmed by many conventions, as well as the Beijing Platform  
for Action and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Bien-Aime  
said.

In 2000, she said, member states at the CSW had already pledged to  
repeal discriminatory laws, preferably by the year 2005, "which is now  
a shameful four years behind us."

"The only cost to repealing laws that discriminate against women is  
political will, which we hope will manifest itself at a minimum by the  
15th anniversary of Beijing through concrete actions, including the  
appointment of a special rapporteur or independent expert on sex- 
discriminatory laws," Bien-Aime said.

(END/2009)

Source: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46186



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