Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underscored the vital role played by the group of current and former political leaders, businesspeople and thinkers he set up last month to spur action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), stating that the time has come to turn commitments into action.

“Around the world, people support the goals and the values embedded in the MDGs,” he said at the first meeting of the MDG Advocacy Group in Madrid, Spain. But, he added, more must be done to educate and inform about the Goals, which include targets for slashing poverty, boosting school enrolment rates, improving maternal health and increasing access to clean water and decent sanitation – all by 2015.

That is where the MDG Advocacy Group comes in, he told the gathering.

“This Group will identify strategic opportunities. You will help build awareness. You will help translate the rhetoric of good intentions into results – real results for real people.

“That is why we are here – to build a global network, a movement, a team, to score the goals and triumph – like Spain – in our great common challenge,” the Secretary-General said, referring to Spain’s recent victory at the 2010 World Cup.

Co-chaired by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the Advocacy Group includes well-known figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureates Muhammad Yunus and Wangari Maathai, as well as former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates.

Today’s meeting comes ahead of the high-level MDG Summit that will take place at UN Headquarters in New York in September, which is expected to result in concrete national action plans for realizing the Goals.

“Your role will be critical,” Mr. Ban told the advocates. “We need you to help mobilize and galvanize. We need you to help make the Summit a turning point…Help us adopt the strongest possible action plan for the next five years. Help us score the goals by 2015.

“Now is the time for you to act.”

While in the Spanish capital, the Secretary-General also met separately with Mr. Zapatero and Mr. Kagame.

In addition to discussing the work of the MDG Advocacy Group and its first meeting, Mr. Ban and Mr. Kagame talked about recent developments in Rwanda.

“The Secretary-General also noted the upcoming elections in Rwanda and expressed concern about recent incidents causing political tensions,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

Mr. Ban encouraged Rwandan authorities to take immediate action, including a thorough investigation into the latest incident in which an opposition leader was found murdered, and to bring the perpetrators to justice, added Mr. Haq.

Source : UN News Centre

WiLDAF is joining other women’s organizations around the world in order to welcome the unanimous adoption by the UN General Assembly of the resolution creating the new entity devoted to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Officially established on 2nd July, this new composite called "UN Women" is expected to be operational by January 2011. It will be headed by a Deputy Secretary General, appointed by the Secretary-General in consultation with Member States. For the meantime, the transition process will be led by the Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro.

This new entity will combine the previous four units of the United Nations dedicated to gender issues including the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women.

The new structure will depend on voluntary contributions from Member States. UN Women is set to have an annual budget of at least $500 million, double the current combined resources of the four agencies it will comprise.

It is a great victory for women’s organizations, which have been claiming for years the establishment of this new entity very important for achieving gender equality. “It will now be much more difficult for the world to ignore the challenges facing women and girls – or to fail to take the necessary action,” said Mr Ban Ki-moon. He added that the UN system is now committed to support national efforts in order to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment ".

For more information click on the following links in order to read the related articles:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.a...

http://www.un.org/News/briefings/do...

The representatives of the campaign GEAR-UP (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) presented on 17th June 2010, to the President of the UN General Assembly, Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki the global petition and pressed for the UN to establish a strong new agency for women by July 2010 .

The petition was supported and signed by 34,555 women and men from 165 countries around the world. The main points of the petition are that the new entity for women must have: world coverage and the necessary country presence and strong policy and programmatic mandate to effectively improve the lives of women worldwide; accountability mechanisms in place at both national and international levels, including through meaningful involvement of civil society, particularly women’s groups; substantial and predictable resources to ensure the capacity to meet expectations and deliver results at all levels; and an Under-Secretary-General, appointed in 2010 in order to lead the agency.

Let us recall that the GEAR Campaign (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) is a global campaign, aiming at strengthening gender equality within the UN system. The need for this campaign is based on the fact that the various UN agencies dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment are not sufficient to achieve their goals. In addition, the UN system as currently structured does not have a coordinated, coherent agency regarding decision-making, policy development and implementation in the field. To this end, it should be replaced by a stronger and a more ambitious new entity capable to produce results.

Thanks to the continued actions of GEAR Campaign, the 64th session of the UN General Assembly adopted in September 2009 the Resolution 63/311 on the creation of this new entity.

For Africa in general and African women in particular, the creation of such an entity is good news as the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals requires an increased investments in gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Ten years ago, the UN member states agreed to the Millennium Declaration and committed themselves to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. In September this year, the world leaders will meet during the 2010 MDGs Summit in order to discuss measures needed to achieve all eight goals.

As a part of the process leading to the Summit, the General Assembly will convene interactive hearings with representatives of NGOs, civil society and the private sector from 14-15 June 2010. The outcomes of these hearings will provide an input to the preparatory process for the Summit and be issued as an Assembly document.

For more information, please visit: http://esango.un.org/irene/Index?pa...

The NGOs subcommittee of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) based in New York issued a statement on women and climate change. This Statement comes in response to the ECOSOC High Level Segment open call for oral and written statements.

It is an acknowledged fact that when climate change strikes, people living in poverty, 70% of whom are women, are in the frontlines. Indeed, climate change exacerbates the feminization of poverty and, reciprocally, women living in poverty, in their attempts to ensure the survival of their families, inadvertently contribute to climate change.

In the case of rural women and girls, insecure livelihoods, due to reduced crop yields, increase the burden of household chores (collecting water, food, fuel) and reduce the time available for education and income generation. This results in unsustainable coping strategies (deforestation, migration) which damage Earth’s life support systems, leading to environmental instabilities (droughts, floods) that threaten livelihoods. Thus, the cycle of violence continues, violating the rights of both women and Mother Earth.

However, women need not be victims of climate change, nor need they remain caught in the cycle of violence. They are powerful forces for change: problem solvers and leaders responsible for the basic security and well being of their families and communities; policy advocates capable of influencing effective, gender responsive legislation in their local governments. This should be acknowledged and women’s knowledge and skills drawn upon in developing and implementing policy for the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, including the financing of such efforts.

To this end and to ensure that the financing of climate change be gender responsive and equitable, we recommend the following:

LEGAL FRAMEWORKS

In determining the allocation of climate change funding, attention should be paid to whether potential recipients have in place legal frameworks which incorporate gender concerns and ensure that the rights of women are taken into account.

WOMEN IN DECISIONMAKING

Women leaders should participate at the top level of decision making regarding varied aspects of climate change finance, for example:

• In identifying recipients to whom funds should be allocated, advisors responsible for climate change finance should be guided by women familiar with community needs.

• In the development of a ‘green economy’, women should be considered for leadership roles.

• To ensure the incorporation of women into planning for technologically related projects, funding for the education of women and girls should ensure that they receive training in science, math and finance.

SHARING THE BENEFITS OF CLIMATE CHANGE FINANCE In allocating funds for climate change projects, special consideration should be given to:
• mitigation and adaptation geared to benefit and protect women and girls

• small scale programs, generally managed by women and which aim for social and ecological benefits over the long term

• social sectors, such as those that ensure food security and health, where climate change is threatening human security

• regional groups of grassroots women who have developed resilient responses to climate change in their communities and who have been shown to seek wider collaboration in dealing with these needs Finally, to ensure the incorporation of gender in climate change finance, we propose the establishment of a monitoring mechanism so that recommendations, such as those listed here, be adequately addressed.

The UN report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) entitled "Keeping the Promise" outlines mixed results concerning the implementation of the 8 goals set by the international community to combat poverty, hunger and disease, 5 years before the realisation of these goals. Gender equality, a fundamental human right is also one of the Millennium Development Goal, which is essential to achieving the other seven objectives.

However according to the present report, there is insufficient progress regarding gender equality while we note least progress in reducing maternal mortality. The share of national parliamentary seats held by women has increased only slowly, averaging 18 per cent as at January 2009. While this is far from the 30 percent target envisioned in the Beijing Platform for Action, it represents a rise from 11 percent 10 years earlier, a significantly greater increase than the 1 percent rise between 1975 and 1995. Still, at the present rate it will take another 40 years for developing countries to reach between 40 and 60 per cent share of parliamentary seats for women.

Regarding maternal and child health, it has hardly declined despite government efforts to increase the number of qualified staff by 53% in 1990 to 61% in 2007. There were 480 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 against 450 in 2005. At this rate, the target of 120 deaths per 100,000 live births can not be achieved by 2015.

Facing these challenges, the United Nations, made through this report, some specific recommendations, which include the elimination of barriers to girls’ education, decent work for women, incentives measures to increase women’s participation in decision making, the increase of investments for gender equality and the strengthening of national health systems with the active participation of the civil society organizations, which can significantly improve both maternal and child health.

Read or download the report for more information: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_do...

The Resolution 1325 adopted ten years ago, was an important step, the international community took towards women’s involvement in the process of resolution of armed conflicts and peace-building. Nevertheless, the implementation of this Resolution seems difficult.

Therefore, Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, presented a set of 26 indicators contained in the Secretary-General’s report in order to monitor the implementation of this Resolution at international level.

Some of these indicators are related to the violations of women and girls rights and require the collection of data on these violations that peacekeeping agents have to produce.

Most of these indicators are specific to sexual violence including rape and other violence perpetrated by military or civilian personnel of peacekeeping or humanitarian workers, and also to the participation of women in decision-making, especially in politics and negotiation.

For more information, please download the report in order to access the 26 proposed indicators.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted in September 2009 a resolution on the creation of a new single entity within the Organization dedicated to women’s rights and well-being worldwide and to gender equality.

This resolution means that four United Nations agencies and offices working on gender issues namely the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) will be merged.

However many challenges remain regarding the governance and the financing of the new institution. What are the causes relating to the delay of the new entity’s establishment? What should women’s organisations, the civil society and the governments do to accelerate the effective but quick implementation of this entity?

We suggest you to read this Press Kit proposed by AWID that will shed light on these issues: http://awid.org/eng/Issues-and-Anal...

“Good health is the foundation for human development on all fronts”, declared Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs during the opening ceremony of the 43rd session of the Commission on Population and Development. According to the Deputy Director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), maternal mortality could decline by 70% in developing countries if the international community doubled its investment in family planning and prenatal care.

Werner Haug, Director of the Technical Division of the United Nations Population Fund, introduced the Secretary-General’s report on the Monitoring of Population Programmes, Focusing on Health, Morbidity, Mortality and Development.

It is to recall that the Commission began its work on April 12 in New York and will end on April 16, 2010.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//...

Agriculture represents the main source of income for the majority of Africans, especially women and girls.

Thus it is essential to invest in this area and also to empower women regarding their access to land and credit, according to World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region Obiageli Ezekwesili, who spoke to investors, business executives, members of the African Diaspora and students attending the seventh edition of the Columbia University African Economic Forum in New York.

Read more at: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXT...

March 8, 2010 represents the 100th anniversary of the International Women’s Day (IWD). It will be celebrated under the theme "A Century of Feminism" and will be an opportunity to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

The origins of March 8 come from the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen in 1910 when a woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ’Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day. Since then, this date was chosen to honour women’s achievements. Several activities and programs are conducted worldwide by women’s rights organizations including WILDAF West Africa and its national networks in order to commemorate the event.

The 100th anniversary of the International Women’s Day is an opportunity for WILDAF-TOGO to educate women on maternal health. In Benin, WILDAF conduct an extensive awareness campaign on the importance of civil marriage.

In Burkina Faso, the international women’s day will start on 7th March by a women’s march in the region Kombissiri under the theme "United to end violence against women and girls”. WILDAF-Burkina will also focus on women’s access to land and property rights during its activities.

Ghana will join the race with the theme "Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities: Progress for All ". Through this theme, WILDAF-Ghana intends to encourage women’s participation in governance, which is an important key to democracy and development and raise awareness among women about their participation in the forthcoming local elections. These activities will take place on 8th to 9th March, 2010 in Central Region, Cape Coast. Radio programmes on various topics such as the history of IWD, women achievers and the question of competency will also be conducted.

A new database launched by FAO puts the spotlight on one of the major stumbling blocks to rural development - widespread inequalities between men and women in their access to land.

The Gender and Land Rights Database , produced in consultation with national statistics authorities, universities, civil society organizations and other sources worldwide, offers up-to-date information on how men and women in 78 countries differ in their legal rights and access to land.

In most of the world, women lag well behind men in ownership of agricultural land and access to income from land, even though women are major producers of food crops and play crucial roles in providing and caring for their households.

"Disparity in land access is one of the major causes for social and economic inequalities between males and females in rural areas. It jeopardizes food security at the household and community levels, and has an impact on national food security and development. It is vital information for policy makers. But until now, finding information on this phenomenon in one place has been difficult to come by," Marcela Villarreal, Director, FAO Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division said as the new database was placed online.

The new information tool, available to anyone with access to the Internet, provides policymakers and other users with a better picture of the major social, economic, political and cultural factors which affect access to land and enforcement of women’s land rights.

The database covers both national and customary laws governing land use; property rights and inheritance; international treaties and conventions; land tenure and related institutions; civil society organizations that work on land issues, and other related statistics.

By searching country profiles, users can find out the answers to specific questions on topics like the total number of land holders, the total number of women land holders and the number of rural households headed by women. They can also call up comparisons on a given topic between two or more countries.

"Decision-makers at all levels now have, on the one hand, a comprehensive source of information on the more relevant factors affecting the equality of land rights in their countries and, on the other hand, the possibility to make comparisons between trends and situations in their own and other countries," FAO Gender and Development Research Officer Zoraida Garcia said.

"They can then use this information to tailor their own decisions and strategies, but also to have a clearer idea of the possible impacts which those strategies might have on the real economic empowerment of women, and on the well-being of rural communities," she added.

"FAO had so many requests on a regular basis from member states and others in the international community who wanted to understand how gender disparities affected and were impacted by the land tenure situation. That’s why we developed this tool, to help provide a comprehensive view of the issue," Garcia explained.

It was a positive sign that countries recognized gender and land rights as a "core issue" on the development agenda, Garcia added.

Customary norms, religious beliefs and social practices that influence gender-differentiated land rights:

Traditional authorities and customary institutions
Inheritance/succession de facto practices
Discrepancies/gaps between statutory and customary laws.

Theory versus practice

One of the key patterns seen in the database, said Garcia, is the great gulf between formal rights and practice. In many cases, national constitutions acknowledge men and women have equal rights to land, but the day-to-day reality is very different. Often, those rights are jeopardized by conflicting laws or long-standing traditional and institutional practices which assign land titles and inheritance to males or the man’s side of the family.

As it grows, the Gender and Land Rights Database will incorporate suggestions from users and feedback on how specific information has been used in national dialogues on land use, gender and agricultural and rural development.

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/it...

Progress has been made in recent years in reducing the incidence of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), largely because communities and families are taking action and calling for change. However an estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subject to this harmful and dangerous practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. The practice persists because it is sustained by social perceptions, including that girls and their families will face shame, social exclusion and diminished marriage prospects if they forego cutting. These perceptions can, and must, change. FGM/C poses immediate and long-term consequences for the health of women and girls, and violates their human rights.

Success in reducing the incidence in several countries where it was once highly prevalent has occurred as a result of culturally sensitive engagement with local communities, encouraging change from within. Where communities have chosen to make public declarations against the practice, for example in Senegal, declines of up to 65 per cent have been recorded. Support is being provided by UNFPA, UNICEF and other partners for community-led abandonment programmes. The programmes engage parliamentarians, media, traditional communicators, women lawyers, medical associations, religious leaders and scholars to speak out against the practice.

The International Day against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting provides an opportunity for people everywhere to redouble their efforts and end this harmful practice within a generation. UNFPA, UNICEF and its partners will continue to work for the achievement of this important goal, and to advance gender equality and improve sexual and reproductive health.

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid and UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman

http://www.unfpa.org/public/site/gl...