Feminist Looking Glass

The United Nations was set this weekend to establish a new “super-agency” for “women’s issues.”  It would have a large budget and would consolidate four existing bodies (UN Development Fund for Women (Unifem), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women and UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (Instraw)).  It would be positioned one rank below secretary general and ” would more effectively address violence against women, property rights and HIV/Aids.  Although the UN has poured billions of pounds into agencies for refugees (UNHCR) and for children (Unicef), no equivalent exists for women.”  This would be a big deal for the UN and might finally result in more of the rights and obligations of CEDAW being implemented.

However, Egypt, Cuba, Sudan and Iran have mounted a last-minute campaign to delay ratification.  Egypt has thrown up the smokescreen that the UN has spent too much money on the agency and the plans should be set aside until the UN has taken action on other initiatives.  It also looks like the “gang of four” is tying their support for the new agency to their demand that the UN General Assembly be given increased power over funds it collects from donor countries.    If the “gang of four” do not stop their tactics, they will essentially block the will of the majority since the general assembly’s 192 members are usually reluctant to act without a consensus.

Britain’s development minister, Gareth Thomas,warned that if the ratification does not occur by Monday, this would be the last opportunity to make a UN women’s agency a reality, saying that “Too many countries continue to have a disgraceful record on women’s rights and that is why it is time for the UN to stop talking and take action.”

Canada’s Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS-Free World, a U.S.-based Aids-advocacy organization, says that “I am deeply agitated by the effort to delay the women’s agency, and to use women as a foil for other issues.  Women are always expendable in the minds of some countries, but we will keep fighting. Women must have the agency that was recommended by the special panel.”

As far as I can tell from the news reports, the United States has not taken any action to try to get the “gang of four” to stop their opposition.  If Monday is truly the deadline, then the United States needs to get involved.

Filed under: International, Law Tagged: | International, United Nations, women's rights