Buoyed by the recommendations of a high-level panel that United Nations must have an exclusive body to deal with gender issues, women’s groups from South Asian countries have started lobbying with their respective governments in support of the proposals.

The report being referred to is that of the UN Secretary General’s high level panel for UN system-wide coherence of which Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is the co-chairman. The other members are the prime ministers of Mozambique and Norway.

Dr Pam Rajput, who heads the South Asian Campaign for Gender Equality in India, said various women’s groups have collected about one million signatures from the region in support of their demand.

Rajput and other activists claim that women’s issues had been omitted from the initial terms of reference of the panel and it was a vigorous campaign by the South Asian women activists that lead to the panel taking up gender issues on its agenda. “We are happy that the panel has not only devoted a chapter to the creation of a women’s body within the UN, but also suggested that this should be resourced ambitiously,” Rajput said. The pro-active campaign by the South Asian women, she said, has triggered similar regional campaigns in other parts of the world. “Now, on the same pattern, there is a coalition of African, Caribbean and Latin American women on this,” she said.

In India, the groups want the government to launch a campaign in support of these proposals in preparation for the report being tabled in the 61st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The group has also sent memoranda to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

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