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UN Women: "Accelerating the progress of women and girls" |
Executive summary: The former president of Chile and new head of United Nations Women, Michelle Bachelet, will "produce all the agreements and all the synergies" within the UN system and with Member States to run the new entity. Annual budget of $500 million - double the current combined resources of the four agencies it comprises. Details of budget spending has not been published yet.
Addressing this issue, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states that women and children would be "at the very core of our final push" to realize those goals during this week's UN Summit on the MDGs, to be held at UN Headquarters in New York.
Ms. Bachelet said she saw cause for optimism about the new entity's prospects for success. In establishing UN Women Member States were affirming the necessity of meeting the needs of the world's women.
UN Women was established on 2 July by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body's programmes aimed at promoting women's rights and their full participation in global affairs. One of its goals will be to support the Commission on the Status of Women and other inter-governmental bodies in devising policies. |
It will help Member States implement standards, provide technical and financial support to countries which request it, and forge partnerships with civil society. Within the UN, it will hold the world body accountable for its own commitments on gender equality.
Double budget
In carrying out its functions, UN Women will be working with an annual budget of at least $500 million - double the current combined resources of the four agencies it comprises. Details of how the budget will be spend has not been published yet.
As Chile's first female president, Ms. Bachelet gave priority to women's issues throughout her tenure. Since leaving office, she has been working with UNIFEM to advocate for the needs of Haitian women following January's devastating earthquake.
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Read more:
www.un.org/womenwatch/
Edited by Peter Horn
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