Deputy Secretary-General's remarks at joint press briefing with Ambassador Tiina Intelmann of Estonia and Ambassador Ghazi Jomaa of Tunisia on General Assembly resolution on system-wide coherence and establishment of UN Women

I would like to thank Ambassador Tiina Intelmann of Estonia and Ambassador Ghazi Jomaa of Tunisia for their presence today, and I congratulate them most heartedly for the excellent job that they did in bringing the whole process together and for their stewardship of these important consultations.

I welcome what will be an historic move by the General Assembly today in establishing UN Women, an entity designed to accelerate progress in meeting the needs of women and girls worldwide.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work and determination of Member States in reaching this agreement, and the years of advocacy by the global women's movement which has been instrumental in making UN Women a reality.

Today's action will do more than simply consolidate United Nations offices; it will consolidate United Nations strengths.

The UN has made significant progress in advancing gender equality over the last decades, not least due to the dedication of its staff. And I take this opportunity to pay special tribute to our staff in the current four gender entities and the work they have been doing so far.

But –despite major achievements –the United Nations has faced some serious challenges, including inadequate funding and fragmentation, with no single recognized driver to direct UN activities on gender equality issues.

UN Women will address such challenges and will focus on two key roles:

First, to support inter-governmental bodies in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms; and

Second, to help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, as well as forging effective partnerships with civil society.

UN Women will also strengthen coherence in the UN system on gender-related issues, enhancing –not replacing –efforts by other parts who continue to have a responsibility to work for these goals.

And the new entity will help the UN system to be accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

The strengthened commitment of Member States is crucial for accelerated progress towards the goals of gender equality and women's empowerment. A strong financial basis for UN Women will be key to such progress.

In the coming months, Secretary-General BAN will appoint an Under-Secretary-General to head UN Women and is inviting suggestions from Member States and civil society partners.

The Secretary-General is committed to an open, transparent and rigorous recruitment process.

Dear friends,

UN Women will give women and girls the strong, unified voice they deserve on the world stage. This is a positive and exciting moment for all the UN family and, I believe, for the world.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Q: The DSG - you said this- that it's going to be an open, transparent and rigorous process. At least one NGO has said that it is not that, that names are being whispered in the corridors, governments alone have been formally requested to submit candidates and that this makes a mockery of 'fair and open'. So, can you say what names have been suggested? Many people have talked about Michelle Bachelet, some people have said Radhika Coomaraswamy. Have names actually been put forward? And what will 'open' mean if the names aren't announced? Will there be like a short list of some kind?

DSG: About the selection process –in the month of April this year, the Secretary-General wrote to Member States inviting them to start thinking about names, so that, once the resolution is passed, immediately he starts the process of selection. And, so far, we have had 8 countries suggesting names and this is what we expected. We expected that we would get the names and we have them so far. But in anticipation that the resolution will be passed this afternoon, the Secretary-General will now give a deadline. Because now we are sure an agreement has been reached, we will give a deadline for countries to come forward to increase the number of proposed names that we have. So this is what is going to happen. And as regards names being floated out there, I think that is normal and natural, because this is an important piece of reform that the United Nations is doing. There is a lot of interest in UN Women, in an entity like this one, so it's not surprising, and the world out there, particularly the activist groups, know who could do a good job in this regard. So it is not surprising. But we are waiting for Member States to bring names and then we will look at the names. The Secretary-General will look at the names against the qualifications that were set out. We want somebody who is strong, who has got experience, who has got skills in gender and women's empowerment, somebody who can mobilize resources. We have these qualifications sent out to Member States and other stakeholders. So, on the basis of this, there will be a list of people to be - I don't like to call it interviewed - these will be senior people, very sound, it will be an interaction with them, to see how we can have those skills out there and then there will be a proposal to the Secretary-General and the process will come from there. He might also wish to interact with them before sharing the name, probably with key [stake]holders, like Member States themselves and so one. The process - we will have to put it together properly, but that is basically what is going to happen.

Q: In your opening, you said that he's asking for names from countries, but also from NGO partners. So thus far, only countries have submitted names. But are you saying that, between now and the deadline, that people can be considered whether or not they are submitted by countries?

DSG: Yes, we expect that. We expect that civil society and other people will suggest names and you may be interested to know that it is not that a country necessarily proposes a name of its own national. We have had a country suggesting, for instance, like you were saying, 'we want Asha-Rose'. We have had something like that, for instance.

Q: [inaudible]

DSG: No it hasn't happened, but this is a?. I want to give my own example. No, the US, luckily, has not suggested me.

Q: I work with Women's Environment and Development Organizations [WEDO] and we're a part of the GEAR [Gender Equality Architecture Reform] campaign. And actually, the fellow over here asked the questions that I wanted to ask, particularly about civil society engagement within the transparent selection process for the USG. But I just also wanted to congratulate everyone. Our membership is excited about this new entity. We're really looking forward to the next few months and years of development. So thank you.

DSG: Thank you. If I may just comment on what she has just said. GEAR and other civil society organizations have worked with us, throughout the negotiations, sharing information, sharing the qualifications and so on in this regard. But even in other appointments, we have had non-Member States coming and making suggestions. And we take them very, very seriously when they give us names, CVs and strong candidates, we also concede to this, we put them on the list. So we look forward [to it]. And I do know that you have asked for a meeting with us and we have already scheduled that. So this is part of the transparency that we are talking about.

Q: I did want to ask the DSG, very briefly –maybe this is gender mainstreaming or maybe it's just how the UN works. But various staff members have raised to me the issue of the After School Programme of the UN being closed on two day's notice, about a week ago. And although it may seem like a small issue, it doesn't seem unrelated. So I just wonder what your office and what the Secretariat?if you're comfortable with that closure, with so little notice or if some efforts are going to be made to see whether this 38 year programme that has allowed women to work the full 9 to 5 day will be continued?

DSG: About the After School Care Programme –first of all, I want to let you know that it's not a small matter, it's a big matter. I'm a mother myself - I have an 11 year old and I know what it means, and she stays in after-care, not here in Manhattan, but where she's going to school, so it's a very important thing. And for me, it's something rather personal, I should say. We have had staff –parents –talking about this. Why it was closed is because, you know very well, in construction it will not be safe to have these children there. There had been discussion between the Department of Management and the Office of the UNIS [UN International School] Representative of the Secretary-General. So this went on before the notice was even given. But we are committed to making sure that we have proper work-life balance and we are looking into alternatives of addressing this issue. So it's very much on the agenda. I'm personally following it up and I hope that we will be able to come with a solution.