At a meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York (February–March, 2007), 155 women’s NGOs submitted an open letter to the UN Member States and the UN Secretary General, welcoming the strong impetus for a specific women’s entity in the UN.

International: Lobbying for Women's Rights at the UN - an interview with Leyla Pervizat

Leyla Pervizat is a Turkish feminist researcher and activist who played a pivotal role in lobbying for the UN resolution on elimination of crimes against women and girls committed in the name of honour. An interview by Soheila Vahdati.

UN Study on the Status of Women & Freedom of Religion or Belief & Traditions

Working paper for Geneva-based NGO committee on freedom of religion or belief and NGO committee on the status of women

Statement on the International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation

Message from Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA

UN: Culture, tradition or religion

Examples of statements in UN documents that culture, tradition or religion may not be used to justify violations of women’s human rights, or states have an obligation to counter violations against women based on culture, tradition or religion.

UPDATE: UN: Act now for UN reform and gender equality

The Coherence Panel met on 30-31 August 2006 to finalize, among other things, their report for the Secretary General. We have heard that many critical recommendations on the gender architecture of the UN may be included in the report. At this point, it is critical to send a bold message to the panel members about strengthening operational capacity alongside the normative functions.

UN: Chief of UN Population Fund calls on imams to promote rights of women

In Bangladesh, Thoraya Obaid addressed thousands of members of the Grand Conference of Imams, urging them to promote the full and equal participation of women in society, and she promised to give computers to a unique health clinic in the capital.

UN: Act now for UN reform and gender equality

Despite the good commitments from CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action especially, implementation by governments and in the UN has been far slower than we would like. With the initiatives for reforms in the UN, there is an important opportunity now to ensure that the structural and other obstacles to effective implementation within the UN are addressed.

UN: The women's agenda for United Nations reform

AWID's Kathambi Kinoti interviews Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership on the current United Nations reform drive, and what it means for women.

UN: ''In UN reform, where are the women?'' By June Zeitlin, WEDO

At this year's CSW, WEDO and the other groups expressed their disappointment and outrage that gender equality and strengthening the women's machineries within the U.N. system are still not being addressed as a central part of the U.N. reform agenda.

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