19 May 2008

Member States met on Friday, 16 May 2008, in an informal consultation to discuss the gender aspects of System-wide Coherence.

The meeting was co-chaired by Ambassadors Augustine Mahiga of Tanzania and Paul Kavanagh of Ireland. Several Member States as well as UN agencies working on gender aspects delivered statements.

In his closing statement, Ambassador Kavangh stressed the importance of addressing gaps within the UN system, made available an outline of the Co-Chairs' recent mission to Paris, Rome, Geneva and Albania, and asked the Secretary-General to submit a nonpaper on the current status of gender within the UN system. Finally, the Ambassador said that the issue will be pursued further - and on a more programmatic level - in June, with a debate to scheduled during the week of the 9th.

Available statements:

• Opening statement by Co-Chair, Ambassador Mahiga
• Remarks by the Co-Chairs on the recent mission to Agency Heads in Paris, Rome and Geneva, and visit to Albania
• Canada
• Iceland, on behalf of the Nordic countries
• Kazakhstan
• Slovenia, on behalf of the European Union
• Switzerland
• UNICEF

The Center for UN Reform Education plans to issue a comprehensive overview of the current process once all of the meetings have been concluded.