Give Women's Issues Stronger UN Profile
July 9, 2006 (Toronto Star)- The United Nations is facing a sea change in coming months as Secretary-General Kofi Annan prepares to step down. To focus the global agenda for his successor, a UN panel is studying ways to make its far-reaching development, humanitarian and environment programs more coherent.

World's women have an advocate
July 1, 2006 - (Toronto Star) When Stephen Lewis visited the central Kenyan town of Thika last month, he heard a disturbing fact. Rapes of women and girls were escalating every month, and half the girls sexually assaulted were under 12. Even more startling was a new pattern; "a significant number of women aged 65 to 80 were also raped. The men who did it were confident they could have unprotected sex with them without getting AIDS," Lewis said.

UN Needs Resourceful, Powerful Agency for Women's Empowerment
June 26, 2006 - (OneWorld) At a time when the whole world is debating over the issues of reforming the United Nations to meet the challenges of the 21 st century, gender activists and civil society organizations have called on the global body to set up a resourceful and powerful nodal agency to carry out the challenging work of women's empowerment.

African women's engagement with the United Nations
June 23, 2006 -(AWID) An interview with Dr Jacinta Muteshi of Kenya's National Commission for Gender and Development

Frontal attack on the UN
April 28, 2006 -(Dagbladet) The UN is to be reformed. An international panel is requested to elaborate reform proposals and the Norwegian Prime Minister is one of the co-chairs. The focus is on development, humanitarian assistance and environment. The aim is a more rational and effective UN. Tighter management and closer coordination shall provide better results, it is said.

U.N. Urged to Create Separate Agency for Women
April 9, 2006 (IPS) A proposed blueprint for a radical restructuring of the United Nations as envisaged by outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan has fallen short of its target in one specific area: gender empowerment. As the 191 member states get ready to discuss the political nuances and economic implications of Annan's recently-released landmark report on U.N. reform, there is an increasingly vociferous demand to rectify the gender shortcoming by creating a separate U.N. agency to deal with women's issues.

What challenges does UN reform present to women?
April 7, 2006 - (AWID) The Commission had the reputation of being politicized and protecting some member countries from the scrutiny of their human rights records. The establishment of a Peace Building Commission and a High Level Coherence Panel on Environment, Development and Humanitarian Assistance are also part of the ongoing reform effort. However, current initiatives to reform the UN have women wondering if the organization is not merely paying lip service to the principle of gender equality.

Economic and Social Council Holds Panel Discusison on Gender-Based Violence in Humanitarian Emergencies
17 July 2006 (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council this morning held a panel discussion on the topic of gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies, as it continued with its humanitarian segment.

High-Level Panel convened in Geneva to discuss strengthening Coherence and Development of the UN in Development, Humanitarian Assistance, Environment
2 June 2006 (DPI) -- A High level UN Panel set up by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in order to generate proposals on a stronger and more effective United Nations, meets today in Geneva to continue discussions on how to ensure better coherence and performance in
the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment.

Highlights of press briefing by Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway and Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on UN System-Side Coherence
2 June 2006 (DPI) -- Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway and Co-Chair of the Secretary- General’s High-level Panel in the Areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance and the Environment, briefed journalists on the panel’s second meeting, which began yesterday, 1 June 2006 and will continue until tomorrow in Geneva.

UN panel to present recommendations on work improvement by September
25 May 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- A UN Panel on UN system-wide
coherence in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and environment said Thursday that it would finalized its recommendations before September with a view to improve the work of the United Nations.

Prime Minister Announces UN Consultation in Maputo
28 April 2006 (Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique/All Africa Global
Media via COMTEX) --The high-level panel on coherence in the United Nations system in the areas of humanitarian assistance, the environment and development, will hold consultative meetings in Maputo in early May, Mozambican Prime Minister Luisa Diogo announced on Friday.

Press conference by High-Level Panel convened to strengthen UN Performance in Development, Humanitarian Assistance, Environment
6 April 2006 (DPI) -- Reaffirming their support for a stronger and more effective United Nations, the Prime Ministers of Mozambique, Norway and Pakistan briefed correspondents today at Headquarters, following the
first meeting of an eminent group of world leaders convened to examine how to fundamentally restructure the Organization to ensure better coherence and performance in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment.