Gender Architecture Reform Act ( GEAR)

( Editor's Note- I don't usually post a note in its' entirety- but I thought that there might be some people interested in this significant activity that is being undertaken with the UN right now! We will follow the progress between now and September 2009 when the General Assembly will address the important issue. Rather than excerpt this rather complicated proposal- I am leaving it to you to read and understand. SI signed on to the movement at CSW in March!)

UPDATE
53rd Commission on the Status of Women
March 2009

At the conclusion of the last session of the General Assembly in September 2008, Member States adopted a resolution by consensus requesting the Secretary General to develop a paper on institutional options for the new gender entity, addressing the identified gaps and challenges of the current United Nations system. The modalities paper, as it is known, was made available at the closing of the 53rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on Friday March 13, 2009, and presents all four Options initially outlined in a previous DSG paper including A) the status quo, B) an autonomous fund/programme, C) a department and D) the composite. The paper assesses the ability of each option to fulfill the functions previously outlined in the DSG’s papers (August 1, 2007; July 23, 2008) with a particular focus on the composite entity (option D). The GEAR Campaign still favors the composite option with meaningful participation of civil society and an ambitiously funded entity, led by an Under-Secretary General. The GEAR believes that the Composite entity would retain the best elements of the four women’s organizations of the UN, while significantly increasing funding, strengthening country level and policy-setting work, and creating a position of Under-Secretary General to lead the new body with further emphasis on civil society participation.

This year’s CSW took place in New York from March 2-13, 2009. It provided a unique opportunity for advocates to come together and build support for strengthening the UN system in its ability to deliver concrete and meaningful results for women around the world. CWGL and WEDO as co-facilitators of the GEAR Campaign, co-hosted two strategy meetings with the Campaign Working Group Regional and Global Focal Points including, African's Women Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Asia Pacific Women’s Watch (APWW), Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Foundation for Studies and Research on Women (FEIM), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), South Asian Campaign for Gender Equality (SACGE)/SAATHI, and WIDE - Globalising Gender Equality and Social Justice along with a number of other organizations in the New York Lobbying Group, (for a complete list of the WG, visit http://gear.collectivex.com/uploads/files/x/000 /017/033/March_2009_GEAR_Campaign_Working_Group.pdf). The GEAR WG also sponsored a workshop during the first week of the CSW where focal points spoke about GEAR activities in the region and challenges they face in country (for photos of the workshop, visit http://gear.collectivex.com/gallery/6722). Furthermore, the GEAR team lobbied delegates in New York permanent missions, spoke with governments, and promoted the campaign in regional and thematic caucuses at CSW.

The Linkage Caucus, which has its roots in organizing for the 1995 Beijing Conference and convened by CWGL and WEDO, met four times during the CSW and spurred advocacy about gender architecture within the UN system (to view a video of the Linkage Caucus, visit http://gear.collectivex.com/main/summary). This year the Caucus launched a GEAR petition calling for the creation of a new women’s entity at the UN as well as for meaningful civil society participation to be integrated into all stages of its development and functioning (to sign the petition, visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/GEAR).

During the CSW, the Secretary General convened an important and long awaited meeting on “System Wide Coherence,” where he introduced a new paper outlining options for the structure and governance of a new women’s entity, and where he endorsed the Composite (or hybrid) option, our preferred of all four options, as “the most promising.” Early this month, the H.E. Mr. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann appointed H.E. Mr. Kaire Munionganda Mbuende and H.E. Mr. Juan Antonio Yáñez-Barnuevo, Permanent Representatives of Namibia and of Spain respectively to co-chair the General Assembly consultations on the System-Wide Coherence process. Both co-chairs spoke at the meetings and shared their support for moving the SWC process forward.

Finally, the CSW adopted Agreed Conclusions late Friday evening, March 13, 2009, after arduous negotiations. Gender architecture reform advocates were pleased to note two paragraphs in the final Agreed Conclusions that support the process moving forward and the need to coordinate to address under resourcing for gender equality in the UN system (item 14 and item 15h) (to view the Agreed Conclusions, visit http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw53/AC%20adopted%2013%20March%20advance%20unedited%20version.pdf).