women’s rights – Government Publications Blog

The United Nations is amalgamating four of its organizations for women into a single entity called UN Women.

“UN Women merges and will build on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system which focus exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:

Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW, established in 1946)
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW, established in 1976)
Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI, established in 1997)
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, established in 1976)

UN Women — which will be operational by January 2011 — has been created by the General Assembly to…be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels. It will enhance, not replace, efforts by other parts of the UN system (such as UNICEF, UNDP, and UNFPA) that continue to have responsibility to work for gender equality and women’s empowerment in their areas of expertise.”

The UN Women website is currently up and has some limited content, i.e., press releases, facts & figures, and “key documents,” but it is not clear whether the research and publications of the merged entities will migrate to the new site in due course. In the meantime, the sites for the merged organizations remain operational and at present all their publications are accessible.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is “the oldest international organization in the UN family….(providing leadership) for information and communication technology issues.” The ITU has just launched its “History of ITU Portal” which contains ITU historical documents from radio, telegraph and telephone conferences. Note, the process of digitization is currently underway and as of this date much of the proposed content has yet to be launched online. Still, it’s worth noting for now and will be a terrific resource once the project is complete. The site also provides a link to ITU statistics, which are freely available.

The FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization) has just launched a Gender and Land Rights Database which “puts the spotlight on one of the major stumbling blocks to rural development – widespread inequalities between men and women in their access to land….. (It) offers up-to-date information on how men and women in 78 countries differ in their legal rights and access to land (and) provides policymakers and other users with a better picture of the major social, economic, political and cultural factors which affect access to land and enforcement of women’s land rights.”