I. Background

In resolution 2001/41, the Economic and Social Council decided to establish, under the regular agenda item "Coordination, programme and other questions", the regular sub-item "Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations system" in order to, inter alia, monitor and evaluate achievements made and obstacles encountered by the United Nations system, and to consider further measures to strengthen the implementation and monitoring of gender mainstreaming within the United Nations system.

II. Subject

Further to resolution 2001/41, a panel discussion on gender mainstreaming is being organized by the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) and the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), in cooperation with the Division for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (DESC). The panel will be hosted by the Economic and Social Council, in cooperation with the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The event will take place on 11 June 2002.

III. Purpose of the Panel

The purpose of the panel is to support preparations for the Council's deliberations under the new sub-item on gender mainstreaming, which will be held for the first time at the substantive session of ECOSOC in July 2002. The panel will provide an opportunity to share experiences on lessons learned, good practices and challenges ahead with regard to gender mainstreaming through interactive discussions. The focus of the panel will be on the progress made in gender mainstreaming in a number of sectoral areas under the responsibilities of functional commissions.

Advanced preparation for this sub-item will facilitate the work of the ECOSOC to effectively monitor and evaluate achievements and obstacles encountered in mainstreaming gender perspectives in the UN system and will strengthen the Council's role in proposing further measures to be undertaken.

The panel, together with the gender-mainstreaming item will also enhance the Council's capacity to review and appraise system-wide implementation of its agreed conclusions 1997/2 on mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations system. As agreed in Council resolution 2001/41, a comprehensive review of these agreed conclusions will be undertaken in the coordination segment before 2005.

IV. Format of the Panel and Participation

The panel will be organized as an event of the ECOSOC and will be open to the participation of all Member States.

Panellists will include Chairpersons of functional commissions and heads of the substantive divisions servicing those Commissions in order to highlight the importance of a systematic approach in responding to the following Council resolutions:

• Council Agreed Conclusions 1997/2, in which the Secretariat is requested to present issues and approaches in a gender-sensitive manner when preparing reports so as to provide the intergovernmental machinery with an analytical basis for gender-responsive policy formulation and to ensure that the intergovernmental machinery is made aware of the decisions and recommendations of other relevant bodies in relation to gender mainstreaming.
  
  
• Council resolution 2001/27, paragraph 17, in which the Council welcomes its functional commissions' efforts to mainstream a gender perspective in their work;
  
  
• Council resolution 2001/41 in which the Council calls upon the Secretary-General and all bodies reporting to the Economic and Social Council to address the gender aspects of issues before the Council in their reports;