{"id":4664,"date":"2010-07-02T12:18:20","date_gmt":"2010-07-02T12:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.africlub.net\/awdf\/?p=1253"},"modified":"2015-08-13T10:06:24","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T10:06:24","slug":"un-women-born%e2%80%a8civil-society-celebrates-creation-of-gender-equality-entity-after-four-years-of-advocacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awdf.org\/OldSite\/un-women-born%e2%80%a8civil-society-celebrates-creation-of-gender-equality-entity-after-four-years-of-advocacy\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Women Born:\u2028Civil Society Celebrates Creation of Gender Equality Entity After Four Years of Advocacy"},"content":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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30 June 2010<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Contact: Charlotte Bunch, 732-642-5271 or cbunch@ig.org<\/a>, Bani Dugal, 646-404-4210 or bdugal@bic.org<\/a>, Rachel Harris, 301-535-9702 or rachel@wedo.org<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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UN Women Born: <\/strong>Civil Society Celebrates Creation of Gender Equality Entity After Four Years of Advocacy<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign celebrates the United Nations General Assembly resolution, agreed to on 30 June and to be formally adopted by the General Assembly on Friday, 2 July, to establish \u201cUN Women\u201d\u2014the new gender equality entity at the UN.\u00a0\u00a0 This move has been sought by women\u2019s organizations and other civil society organizations around the world since the UN established a System-Wide Coherence Panel for UN Reform in 2006. Charlotte Bunch of the Center for Women\u2019s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University, a founding member of the GEAR Campaign, stated, \u201cWe have high expectations for this new agency to be a solid foundation for advancing the human rights of women as central to global policy efforts to reduce poverty and move toward greater realization of peace and democracy in the world.\u00a0\u00a0 The coalition of women\u2019s groups and other social justice, human rights and development organizations that played a pivotal role in this effort will now turn its efforts toward ensuring that the new body has the human and financial resources necessary to succeed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Particularly notable in the resolution are the paragraphs regarding the importance of civil society participation in the new entity.\u00a0 The body must have increased operational presence at the country level including engagement with women\u2019s groups and other civil society organizations invested in gender equality and the empowerment of women.<\/span><\/p>\n

The GEAR Campaign\u2019s global, regional, and national networks will be contacting UN representatives at all levels to work with the transition process and the new Under Secretary-General, once appointed, to ensure they are connected with organizations on the ground ready to provide their expertise and support.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the new entity is developed, GEAR supporters will continue to advocate for four major elements critical to its implementation:<\/span><\/p>\n