Amnesty: Ireland must back new UN agency to protect women

international | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Monday March 08, 2010 12:54 by Amnesty International - Ireland - Amnesty International

Marking International Women's Day, Amnesty backs a global campaign for a single high-powered UN agency to protect women’s rights.

Amnesty International Ireland has called on the Irish Government to mark International Women’s Day by backing a global campaign for a single high-powered UN agency to protect women’s rights.

Amnesty International Ireland has called on the Irish Government to mark International Women’s Day by backing a global campaign for a single high-powered UN agency to protect women’s rights.

Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: “Every day in Ireland women are beaten, raped and trapped in their own homes by those closest to them. Nearly half of Irish women have experienced gender based violence. One in ten have been raped.

“The proposed new UN organisation to work for the rights of women and girls is not just something that will benefit people in the developing world but it will help tackle inequality in Ireland.

“It will work especially to protect women at risk of violence or those living in poverty. The organisation will also have a crucial role in defending women human rights activists whose work is often carried out at great personal risk to themselves.

“Until now there have been four separate, low-level, UN agencies working on gender equality issues. Ireland, along with the other 191 UN member states, voted unanimously last September to merge the four into a single, powerful, organisation that can focus the UN’s work on women’s rights.

“But decisions and resolutions are worth little without political will to back them up. The new organisation still needs to be set up. Funding needs to be identified and the UN must appoint someone with the necessary authority to lead it to ensure governments live up to their promises on human rights.

“Women around the world continue to face human rights abuses simply because they are women. It is essential the UN takes this seriously.

“Ireland can help make this happen by urging the UN’s leadership to prioritise this new agency. We’re calling on the Irish Government to add its voice to more than 300 women’s, human rights and justice organisations representing millions of people around the world to help get this up and running.”

The organisation also urged the Irish Government to ensure the widest possible consultation in how it plans to implement a UN Security Council resolution on involving women in conflict resolution.

“We know the Irish Government is working on a National Action Plan to identify how Ireland can support the resolution,” said Colm O’Gorman.

“It is important that we take the time to ensure we get a quality plan, one that shows how Ireland can assist women in ending conflict and rebuilding their communities and their countries.”

Background
In September 2009 the UN General Assembly voted to merge the four existing UN agencies dealing with women’s rights into one larger agency, putting it on the same level other senior UN bodies like UNICEF, the UN’s children’s fund.

The existing four agencies are, the UN Development Fund for Women (Unifem), the 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).

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted in October 2000. It marks the first time the Security Council addressed the unique impact of armed conflict on women. It also highlighted the contributions women make to peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peace-building. The Conflict Resolution Unit (CRU) of the Department of Foreign Affairs is currently in the process of preparing Ireland’s National Action Plan.