WASHINGTON: The United Nations top women's rights official Michelle Bachelet said in an exclusive interview with China's Xinhua news agency that a joint effort is needed to guarantee women's rights across the world. She said that input and real coordination is needed in order to preserve gains made in recent years for women. “It won't be only UN Women. We need to integrate and coordinate very well with the rest of the (UN) agencies, with governments, and with women's groups,” UN Under Secretary-General Bachelet told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. Bachelet contined to say that she intends to build a much “bigger” and “stronger” entity but one that will not supplant other UN agencies. “My task here at the UN Women is to ensure, to monitor, and to supervise the rest of the UN system working in the same direction,” Bachelet said. The new agency, with the full name UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, was established on July 2 by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body's programs aimed at promoting women's rights and full participation in global affairs. UN Women was created with the merger of four UN agencies: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW); the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues; and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW). Here in Washington, former political consultant for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign Mary Hopkins agrees with the new UN chief, telling Bikya Masr that “people often forget that we have to continue to work hard toward solidifying any gains in the women's movement because things can unravel very quickly.” She added that Bachelet is “moving in the right direction and is making these issues stand out and be at the forefront of a very important debate that needs to become policy across the world.” BM
