The representatives of the campaign GEAR-UP (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) presented on 17th June 2010, to the President of the UN General Assembly, Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki the global petition and pressed for the UN to establish a strong new agency for women by July 2010 .

The petition was supported and signed by 34,555 women and men from 165 countries around the world. The main points of the petition are that the new entity for women must have: world coverage and the necessary country presence and strong policy and programmatic mandate to effectively improve the lives of women worldwide; accountability mechanisms in place at both national and international levels, including through meaningful involvement of civil society, particularly women’s groups; substantial and predictable resources to ensure the capacity to meet expectations and deliver results at all levels; and an Under-Secretary-General, appointed in 2010 in order to lead the agency.

Let us recall that the GEAR Campaign (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) is a global campaign, aiming at strengthening gender equality within the UN system. The need for this campaign is based on the fact that the various UN agencies dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment are not sufficient to achieve their goals. In addition, the UN system as currently structured does not have a coordinated, coherent agency regarding decision-making, policy development and implementation in the field. To this end, it should be replaced by a stronger and a more ambitious new entity capable to produce results.

Thanks to the continued actions of GEAR Campaign, the 64th session of the UN General Assembly adopted in September 2009 the Resolution 63/311 on the creation of this new entity.

For Africa in general and African women in particular, the creation of such an entity is good news as the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals requires an increased investments in gender equality and women’s empowerment.