Publications

CONCLUDING STATEMENT

of NGO Regional Consultation
REFORMING THE UN GENDER EQUALITY ARCHITECTURE:
‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN EUROPE AND CIS?’

February 16th 2007, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

The International Gender Policy Network (IGPN) – a non-profit, non-governmental organization aiming at promoting gender equitable and gender sensitive public policy at all levels of global society – has organized a consultation of women’s NGO networks, actively engaged in work to advance gender equality in EU, Central and Eastern and South Europe and the CIS region.

The objective of the meeting was to update NGOs on UN reforms related to gender equality and to discuss the implications for women’s rights in the region. The meeting was supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Participants at the consultation represented NGOs and NGO’s networks at international and national level and gender experts from the European Union Member States, acceding, candidate and potential candidate countries and the USA as well as the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

The discussion was focused on the UN gender equality architecture – as it currently stands – from a global perspective and the experiences of the participating organisations and networks related to cooperation with the UN on gender equality. A special attention was given to the UN reform with overview of the process and of the report “Delivering as one” of the Secretary General’ High-Level Panel from November 2006, including proposed changes to gender architecture:
The Secretary General’ High-Level Panel recommends the establishment of One UN at country level, with one leader, one programme, one budget and, where appropriate, one office. The follow-up process includes intergovernmental coordination (transmission of the report to UN General Assembly) and UN interagency coordination at High Quarter’s level. The establishment of five One UN pilots is envisaged in 2007 (for the Europe and CIS region the pilot country is Albania). The Panel calls also for a stronger voice for gender equality and women’s empowerment and for a creation of a dynamic, fully and ambitiously funded gender entity (to unify UNIFEM, the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, and the UN Division for the Advancement of Women). The emphasis in the discussion was on how gender is being integrated into the UN reform discussion; how NGOs have been engaged in the implementation of the UN reform; how UN reform will affect regional and country scenarios within Europe/CIS; what is needed to ensure a strengthened response to women’s rights; how can women’s networks mobilize and advocate for women’s rights within the context of UN reform?

Participants underlined in the discussion that the problems in terms of gender equality that people in the region are facing continue to be very serious and demands are enormous. The challenge in the process of changing the UN architecture is how to strengthen mechanisms for mainstreaming gender at national, regional and world wide level and to produce issues to the agenda of the UN.

Following their deliberations, participants at the meeting worked to elaborate the following statement: