UN must name head of super-agency for women now: EU official

(UNITED NATIONS) - A top European Union official on Monday said the United Nations must stop talking and instead act now to fulfill its pledge to name a powerful head for its proposed super-agency to tackle women's issues.

"We have spoken long enough about this. It's time to act," said Viviane Reding, the European Commission vice-president in charge of justice and equality, who is attending the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters.

"I expect a lot of women from a lot of continents to say that they got enough of speaking about this...All the preparatory work has been done. Who gets the post, I don't care, just do it," she added. "Either this (the UN) is an action-bound organization or this is a talking club. Women would like it to be an action organization."

Last September, the UN General Assembly agreed to set up a powerful new department consolidating the activities of several existing bodies dealing with women's issues.

It adopted by consensus a resolution backing formation of the new composite entity, which is to have a substantial budget, is to be led by an undersecretary general and to report directly to the UN secretary general.

Officials here say UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to make the appointment soon. Outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is said to be among several prominent women under consideration.

Currently, women's issues are dealt with separately by several UN bodies, including the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues (OSAGI) and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).

But none of these agencies, with the exception of UNFPA, are deemed by women's groups to be major players.

The push for a speedy appointment of a powerful woman as head of a consolidated women's agency is likely to figure prominently at the 12-day conference on the status of women who got under way here Monday.

Dozens of government ministers and more than 2,000 women activists are attending the gathering, which aims to review progress since the adoption of the Beijing declaration at the 1995 world conference on women in Beijing.

The declaration is the most comprehensive global policy framework to advance the goal of women's empowerment and gender equality around the world.