UN Women’s Commission

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• UN Economic and Social Council – About, function
• UN Women – About, functions
• News Summary

Why in News?

• In an unprecedented move, Iran has been expelled from the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in a vote on which India abstained.
• The US had proposed at the UN Economic and Social Council to remove Iran from the panel

What is UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)?

• It is one of the six principal organs of UN, responsible for the direction and coordination of the economic, social, humanitarian, and cultural activities carried out by the UN.
• It was established by the UN Charter (1945) and has 54 members.
• Members are elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly.
  • Four of the five permanent members of the Security Council have been continuously re-elected because they provide funding for most of ECOSOC’s budget, which is the largest of any UN subsidiary body.
• Decisions are taken by simple majority vote. The presidency of ECOSOC changes annually.
• India held the inaugural Presidency of ECOSOC (Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar, in 1946).
  • In April 2022, India was elected to four key bodies of the ECOSOC.
  • These four bodies are:
    • Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations;
    • Commission for Social Development;
    • Commission on Science and Technology for Development; and
    • Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

What are the functions of ECOSOC?

• ECOSOC is responsible for coordinating the social and economic fields of the organization, specifically in regards to the 15 specialized agencies, the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction, the eight functional commissions.
• It also serves as a central forum to discuss the international social and economic issues and formulating policy recommendations addressed to the member states and the United States system.

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What is the UN Women?

• UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
  • It was created In July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly.
• It was created by merging the four bodies of the UN system:
  • Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)
  • International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)
  • Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI)
  • United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
• It is headquartered at the United Nations in New York.

What are the functions of UN Women?

• Working for the empowerment and rights of women and girls globally, UN Women’s main roles are:
  • To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms.
  • To help Member States implement these standards, to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society.
  • To lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality, as well as promote accountability, including through regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

News Summary

• Iran was ousted from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in the wake of Tehran’s brutal crackdown of women-led protests.
  • CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
• The vote came after intense lobbying by the US following widespread protests in Iran sparked by outrage against the edict compelling women to wear hijabs.

Key highlights

• A simple majority was needed to adopt the move, which was opposed by 8 nations including Russia and China.
• India along with 15 other nations abstained from the vote as 29 countries stood in favour of the resolution.
• Iran’s term, which began this year, was to have run through 2026.

Q1) How many members are in the UN women?

45 Member States of the United Nations serve as members of the Commission at any one time. The Commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 Member States elected by the Economic and Social Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution.

Q2) Why was ECOSOC created?

The council was designed to be the UN’s main venue for the discussion of international economic and social issues. ECOSOC conducts studies; formulates resolutions, recommendations, and conventions for consideration by the General Assembly.