EQUIDAD DE GÉNERO

IGUALDAD Y EQUIDAD EN DERECHOS HUMANOS

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Today's Topics:

   1. Statement on Gender Equality and UN Coherence Panel
      (Phoebe Schreiner)

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 16:47:13 -0400
From: "Phoebe Schreiner" <PSchreiner@sorosny.org>
Subject: [Beijing+10] Statement on Gender Equality and UN Coherence
	Panel
To: 10@neww.org.pl>, "Alison Giffen" <agiffen@osi-dc.org>
Message-ID:
	<1CBED6247AC65445BF49BFDD3CC5DBC60CAA83C3@osinyexch.soros.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Apologies for the cross-posting. 

From: womenact@yahoogroups.com [mailto:womenact@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Leslie Wright
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 3:30 PM
To: List Womenact
Subject: [womenact] Fwd: Statement on Gender Equality and UN Coherence
Panel

Important information re: women's architecture at the UN

CWGL <cwgl@igc.org> wrote: 

Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 17:36:52 -0400
To: cwgl@igc.org
From: CWGL <cwgl@igc.org>
Subject: Statement on Gender Equality and UN Coherence Panel

Dear Friends, 

For over a year, the Center for Women's Global Leadership has been
participating in and monitoring aspects of the "UN Reform" process most
relevant to women's human rights and a number of related  issues, such
as preserving civil society participation in the UN system.  In 2005,
our advocacy focused on "Beijing + 10" at the Commission on the Status
of Women and the 2005 UN World Summit, where it became clear that
governments were engaging in a long term review of the functioning and
efficacy of the UN itself. Our goal has been to ensure that women's
concerns and gender equality are taken into account in all levels of 
the
reform discussion, whether in terms of the creation of the new Human
Rights Council, or in the review of the new "Coherence Panel" described
below.   We write now both to update you and to seek your input as some
of these processes unfold.

We have worked in close collaboration with a number of groups such as
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Women's
Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), and the Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and others to place
women's human rights squarely on different aspects of the reform 
agenda.
With these and other organizations, we have drafted the attached
"Briefing Note" that describes, among other things, one reform process
that we think warrants your attention:  the work of the newly-appointed
"High-Level Panel on System-wide Coherence in the areas of Development,
Humanitarian Assistance, and the Environment." 

We and our colleagues in New York have been working hard in recent 
weeks
to bolster attention to gender in the Coherence Panel's agenda. Our
strategies have been effective:  although gender had been absent in the
original purview of the Panel, the Secretary General recently mandated
that  gender mainstreaming be added as a cross cutting issue in the
Panel's work.   The Panel now will review both the "gender 
architecture"
of the UN and gender mainstreaming as part of its official assessment.

We hope to inform and mobilize women's human rights constituencies so
your voices and experiences can help to shape the outcomes of the
Panel's review.  Please read the attached Briefing Note, which 
describes
the focus of the Panel and the sort of information that will be most
helpful for their exploration. We include a few ideas for action below,
one of which is to send us your ideas and suggested strategies about
bolstering gender mainstreaming in the UN system (at country and global
levels).  The Center for Women's Global Leadership will work with a few
of our colleagues in New York to scan and compile themes from your
responses to the Panel and others who are interested in these 
responses.
In addition, if you have questions or concerns about the human rights
implications of the reform or gender architecture processes, please
contact Cynthia Rothschild at cwgl@igc.org.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director
Cynthia Rothschild, Senior Policy Advisor

Potential Actions to Pursue:

1) Contact individual Panel members from your country: See if your
country is represented on the Panel (there are fifteen members), and if
yes, contact your country's representative.  State your interest in the
gender architecture aspects of their work; in wanting to ensure that
these questions are taken seriously by the Panel; and any other ideas
you wish to share about gender equality or gender mainstreaming in the
UN system.

 2) Make submissions directly to the Panel and its secretariat:
If you wish to reach the Panel directly with a written submission about
gender equality/gender mainstreaming within the UN, you can send a
response to Koen Davidse, the Panel's Research Director, at
koendavidse@hotmail.com

3) Talk to your government officials about the process:
Many government officials don't know that the gender review is part of
the Coherence Panel's work, and that recommendations on gender in the 
UN
system will be made by the Panel to the General Assembly, for its 
review
in September.  This discussion will then continue at the GA in the 
fall.
Talk to them about what you want to be sure happens in this review and
your ideas for strengthening the work on women's rights through the UN.

4) Suggest ideas and strategies to us:
Email your responses by May 24 to cwgl@igc.org

We would be particularly interested in hearing your ideas about
strategies and criteria that would enhance the functioning of the UN,
both at the country level and at central offices.  Consider responding
to the following questions: 
Do you see women's rights issues as effectively integrated into UN
agencies? Why or why not?

What is needed at the country level for enhanced and more effective
gender mainstreaming? 

Have you found UN staff to be adequately resourced?  Adequately trained
in gender?  Willing to fund or participate in projects related to
women's human rights?

What good models for gender mainstreaming have you experienced? 
What would have made your experiences working with the UN more
effective? 

Leslie Wright

Independent Consultant

Representative at the UN in New York for the Virginia Gildersleeve
International Fund and Zonta International; executive committee member
of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY, and  Chair of the
Subcommittee on Violence Against Women.  Member of the NGO Committee on
UNIFEM, Board member of UNIFEM/USA, and Secretary of the Board for the
Metropolitan NYChapter of UNIFEM/USA

See also www.thecsrgroup.com <http://www.thecsrgroup.com/> 

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