United Nations General Assembly Adopts Resolution for New UN Women’s Agency

On Monday, September 14, 2009 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to create a new UN agency for women. This is a landmark victory following significant efforts by the GEAR campaign, a coalition of more than 300 organizations, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, (IPPF/WHR), to create an independent, women-specific UN agency with adequate stature, resources, operational capacity in the field, and high level leadership to drive the agenda of gender equality. The agency is to be created in early 2010, during the fifteenth anniversary year of the historic UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. “This is great news for the women of the world,” said Carmen Barroso, Regional Director of IPPF/WHR.

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Please join the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR), International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) in urging President Obama to endorse the Mexico City Declaration on Sex Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, a document unparalleled in its commitment by governments to specifically address the critically important role that comprehensive sexuality education can play in achieving better health outcomes in the region.

Click here to read more and send your letter to President Obama.

Sunday March 8 was International Women’s Day, a day of reflection, recognition and solidarity for all of the world’s women. Every year, this day falls during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which is now meeting at the United Nations (March 1-13).  CSW was established in 1946 and is dedicated to gender equality and the advancement of women.  

Among its activities, the CSW drafted several conventions and declarations, including the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1967. The convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and was put into practice in September 1981.

The U.S. stands out as the only industrialized nation that has failed to ratify CEDAW, although it is a signatory.  By this omission, the United States has become one of a small group of nations, such as the Iran, Somalia and Sudan where violations of women’s human rights are particularly rampant.

CLICK HERE to read more and fight for women’s equality by joining the U.S. CEDAW ratification movement and sending a letter to Secretary of State Clinton.