New York, October 21–On September 14th, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Resolution on System-wide Coherence, allowing for the creation of a new, stronger composite women’s agency at the UN. This is a victory for women across the globe, and an exciting moment for all those who worked tirelessly to bring this idea to reality. The GEAR Campaign’s work is not yet over, however!
We are currently reaching out to the Secretary-General and the President of the 64th session of the GA, calling on them to move forward with the transition process to will lead to the launching of the new women’s agency. This means immediately reviewing qualified candidates for the new agency’s Under-Secretary-General position, as well as approving the budget and guaranteeing ambitious, committed funding. These elements are essential to the new agency’s success, but we cannot discount the importance of having strong country presence and meaningful civil society participation. Without civil society’s involvement principally through the GEAR Campaign, the new women’s agency may never have been included in the resolution! We must build on this momentum and continue to urge the UN General Assembly to move forward with the process, and hold them accountable to the promises they have made.
