Women's Groups Seek to Create New U.N. Women's Agency
According to the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, a coalition of U.S.-based women's groups sent a letter to the United Nations last week to demand that the world body "more powerfully represent women's empowerment and gender issues" and specifically to ask for a new UN agency dedicated to feminist issues.
In an open letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on International Women's Day last month, the coalition of international women's groups wrote, "We are disappointed and frankly outraged that gender equality and strengthening the women's machineries within the U.N. system are barely noted, and are not addressed as a central part of the U.N. reform agenda."
There are already several U.N. bodies which focus on issues affecting women, including the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI) and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW).
The women's groups complain that none of them, with the exception of UNFPA, is a principal agency that could equate to the fully-resourced agencies such as UNICEF, the U.N. Development Program or the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Stephen Lewis, U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and a former top official of UNICEF, has vociferously called for the creation of a new agency for women. Last month Lewis stressed that an international women's agency, within the United Nations, was needed to advocate for women the way UNICEF does for children. Many may recall that it was during Mr. Lewis'
stint UNICEF that the Vatican decided to withdraw its annual symbolic donation because of mounting evidence that the agency was promoting abortion.
In a March press release, Mr. Lewis stated, "What we now have in place--whether it's UNFPA or UNIFEM or the Division for the Advancement of Women--cannot do the job that needs to be done. This is not to disparage their good work; this is only to say that it has to be combined and then enhanced a hundred-fold."
Not all women's groups are supportive of the new initiative.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, which is the largest women's public policy group in the United States said, "A UN women's agency--particularly one created in response to radical feminists - would not advocate for women but for certain ideologies espoused by those in charge.
They will claim to represent 'all women of the world' as they work for the abolishment of respect for motherhood, the killing of unborn babies, prostitution as a women's right to economic empowerment, and sex-based quotas that disadvantage women who rely on their husband's income."
In an open letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on International Women's Day last month, the coalition of international women's groups wrote, "We are disappointed and frankly outraged that gender equality and strengthening the women's machineries within the U.N. system are barely noted, and are not addressed as a central part of the U.N. reform agenda."
There are already several U.N. bodies which focus on issues affecting women, including the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI) and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW).
The women's groups complain that none of them, with the exception of UNFPA, is a principal agency that could equate to the fully-resourced agencies such as UNICEF, the U.N. Development Program or the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Stephen Lewis, U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and a former top official of UNICEF, has vociferously called for the creation of a new agency for women. Last month Lewis stressed that an international women's agency, within the United Nations, was needed to advocate for women the way UNICEF does for children. Many may recall that it was during Mr. Lewis'
stint UNICEF that the Vatican decided to withdraw its annual symbolic donation because of mounting evidence that the agency was promoting abortion.
In a March press release, Mr. Lewis stated, "What we now have in place--whether it's UNFPA or UNIFEM or the Division for the Advancement of Women--cannot do the job that needs to be done. This is not to disparage their good work; this is only to say that it has to be combined and then enhanced a hundred-fold."
Not all women's groups are supportive of the new initiative.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, which is the largest women's public policy group in the United States said, "A UN women's agency--particularly one created in response to radical feminists - would not advocate for women but for certain ideologies espoused by those in charge.
They will claim to represent 'all women of the world' as they work for the abolishment of respect for motherhood, the killing of unborn babies, prostitution as a women's right to economic empowerment, and sex-based quotas that disadvantage women who rely on their husband's income."
posted by Michael Burns at 11:19 PM
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