Improvement of the Status of Women in the United Nations System

A/RES/56/127View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 112 Advancement of women, published in 2002.

What other versions does this mandate have?

5 versions · 2001–2005

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/59/164

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2005	A/RES/59/164	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System	795	22%Compare
2004	A/RES/58/144	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System	2,325	61%Compare
2003	A/RES/57/180	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System	2,031	59%Compare
2002	A/RES/56/127	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System	1,738	73%Compare
2001	A/RES/55/69	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System	1,598	–

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

5 reports · 2001–2006

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2006	A/61/318	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/59/164
2004	A/59/357	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations system report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/58/144
2003	A/58/374	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/57/180
2002	A/57/447	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/56/127
2001	A/56/472	Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations System report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/55/69

What subjects does this mandate have?

13 subjects

Appointment of Officials Career Development Employment Policy Focal Points Gender Equality Gender Mainstreaming Geographical Distribution Recruitment Sexual Harassment Top Echelon Staff Training Programmes Women Workers Women's Status

What’s in this document?

26 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General⁶ and the actions described therein;

⁶A/56/472.

Reaffirms the urgent goal of achieving 50/50 gender distribution in all categories of posts within the United Nations system, especially at senior and policy-making levels, with full respect for the principle of equitable geographical distribution, in conformity with Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, and also taking into account the continuing lack of representation or underrepresentation of women from certain countries, in particular from developing countries and countries with economies in transition;

Welcomes:

The ongoing personal commitment of the Secretary-General to meeting the goal of gender equality and his assurance that gender balance will be given the highest priority in his continuing efforts to bring about a new management culture in the Organization, including full implementation of the special measures for the achievement of gender equality;⁷

⁷ST/AI/1999/9.

The pledge of the executive heads of the organizations of the United Nations system to intensify their efforts to meet the gender equality goals set out in the Beijing Declaration⁸ and Platform for Action;Error: Reference source not found

⁸Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex I.

The inclusion of the objective of improving gender balance in action plans on human resources management for individual departments and offices, and encourages further cooperation, including the sharing of best-practice initiatives, between heads of departments and offices, the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the Office of Human Resources Management of the Secretariat in the implementation of those plans, which include specific targets and strategies for improving the representation of women in individual departments;

The continuing designation of focal points for women in United Nations peacekeeping operations, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the focal points are designated at a sufficiently high level and enjoy full access to senior management in the mission area and at Headquarters;

The continued provision of specific training programmes on gender mainstreaming and gender issues in the workplace, tailored to meet the special needs of individual departments, commends those heads of departments and offices who have launched gender training for their managers and staff, and strongly encourages those who have not yet organized such training to do so by the end of the biennium;

Regrets that the goal of 50/50 gender distribution was not met by the end of 2000, and urges the Secretary-General to redouble his efforts to realize significant progress towards this goal in the near future;

Expresses concern that, in five departments and offices of the Secretariat, women still account for less than 30 per cent of staff, and encourages the Secretary-General to intensify his efforts to meet the goal of gender balance within all departments and offices of the Secretariat;

Requests the Secretary-General, in order to achieve and maintain the goal of 50/50 gender distribution with full respect for the principle of equitable geographical distribution, in conformity with Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter:

To develop innovative recruitment strategies to identify and attract suitably qualified women candidates, particularly from and in developing countries and countries with economies in transition and other Member States that are unrepresented or underrepresented in the Secretariat, and in occupations in which women are underrepresented;

To encourage the United Nations system and its agencies and departments to make more effective use of existing information technology resources and systems and other established methods to disseminate information about employment opportunities for women and to better coordinate rosters of potential women candidates;

To continue to monitor closely the progress made by departments and offices in meeting the goal of gender balance, to ensure that the appointment and promotion of suitably qualified women will be no less than 50 per cent of all appointments and promotions until the goal of 50/50 gender distribution is met, including through full implementation of the special measures for women, and to effectively encourage, monitor and assess the performance of managers in meeting targets for improving women’s representation;

To enable the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women to monitor effectively and facilitate progress in the implementation of the strategic action plans for the achievement of gender balance and the special measures for women, including by ensuring access to the information required to carry out that work;

To intensify his efforts to create, within existing resources, a gender-sensitive work environment supportive of the needs of his staff, both women and men, including through the development of policies for flexible working time, flexible workplace arrangements and childcare and elder-care needs, as well as through the provision of more comprehensive information to prospective candidates and new recruits on employment opportunities for spouses, the provision of support for the activities of women’s networks and organizations within the United Nations system and the expansion of gender-sensitivity training in all departments, offices and duty stations;

To strengthen further the policy against harassment, including sexual harassment, by, inter alia, ensuring the full implementation of the guidelines for its application at Headquarters and in the field, including in peacekeeping operations;

Strongly encourages the Secretary-General to renew his efforts to appoint more women as special representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf, especially in matters related to peacekeeping, peace-building, preventive diplomacy and economic and social development, as well as in operational activities, including appointment as resident coordinators, and to appoint more women to other high-level positions;

Encourages the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the organizations of the United Nations system to continue to develop common approaches for retaining women, promoting inter-agency mobility and improving career development opportunities;

Encourages the United Nations and Member States to continue to implement the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century” pertaining to the improvement of the status of women in the United Nations system;Error: Reference source not found

Strongly encourages Member States:

To support the efforts of the United Nations and the specialized agencies to achieve the goal of 50/50 gender distribution, especially at senior and policy-making levels, by identifying and regularly submitting more women candidates for appointment to positions in the United Nations system, by identifying and proposing national recruitment sources that will assist the organizations of the United Nations system in identifying suitable women candidates, in particular from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and by encouraging more women to apply for positions within the Secretariat, the specialized agencies, funds and programmes and the regional commissions, including in areas in which women are underrepresented, such as peacekeeping, peace-building and other non-traditional areas;

To identify women candidates for assignment to peacekeeping missions and to improve the representation of women in military and civilian police contingents;

To identify and submit regularly more women candidates for appointment or election to intergovernmental, expert and treaty bodies;

To identify and nominate more women candidates for appointment or election as judges or other senior officials in international courts and tribunals;

Requests the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the present resolution, including by providing up-to-date statistics on the number and percentage of women in all organizational units and at all levels throughout the United Nations system, and on the implementation of departmental action plans for the achievement of gender balance, to the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-sixth session and to the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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