The U.N. at 70: Leading the Global Agenda on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality – Part Two
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The efforts of the United Nations and the global women’s movement to
promote the women’s rights agenda and make it a top international
priority saw its culmination in the creation of U.N. Women, by the
General Assembly in 2010.
UN Women
is the first – and only – composite entity of the U.N. system, with a
universal mandate to promote the rights of women through the trinity of
normative support, operational programmes and U.N. system coordination
and accountability lead and promotion.
This is a pivotal moment for the gender equality project of humankind.
Italso supports the building of a strong knowledge hub – with data,
evidence and good practices contributing to positive gains but also
highlighting challenges and gaps that require urgent redressal.
UN
Women has given a strong impetus to ensuring that progressive gender
equality and women’s empowerment norms and standards are evolved
internationally and that they are clearly mainstreamed and prioritised
as key beneficiaries and enablers of the U.N.’s sustainable development,
peace and security, human rights, humanitarian action, climate change
action and World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) + 10 agendas.
In
fact, since its creation five years ago, there has been an
unprecedented focus and prioritisation of gender equality and women’s
empowerment in all normative processes and outcomes.
With the
substantive and intellectual backstopping, vigorous advocacy, strategic
mobilisation and partnerships with member states and civil society, U.N.
Women has contributed to the reigniting of political will for the full,
effective and accelerated implementation of Beijing Platform
commitments as was done in the Political Declaration adopted at 59th
session of the Commission on the Status of Women; a remarkable,
transformative and comprehensive integration and prioritisation of
gender equality in the Rio + 20 outcome and in the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development through a stand-alone Sustainable Development
Goal and gender sensitive targets in other key Goals and elements.
Additionally,
there was also a commitment to both gender mainstreaming and targeted
and transformative actions and investments in the formulation and
implementation of financial, economic, social and environmental policies
at all levels in the recently-concluded Addis Accord and Action Agenda
on Financing For Development.
The efforts of the United Nations and the global women’s movement to
promote the women’s rights agenda and make it a top international
priority saw its culmination in the creation of U.N. Women, by the
General Assembly in 2010.
