UNHRC establishes advisory council on gender equality at Morocco’s initiative

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) launched, at the initiative of the Moroccan presidency of this UN body, an Advisory Council on Gender Equality, aimed at providing advice and suggestions on promoting gender equality and parity and helping to mainstream a gender perspective during Morocco’s presidency.

This body, the first of its kind, was set up on the sidelines of the 57th session of the Geneva-based UN HRC. It is endowed with both normative and operational expertise.

The Advisory Council will provide an informal space for critical thought, analysis, and advice to assist the President of the HRC in mainstreaming gender equality, parity, and women’s empowerment within the Council, with a view to speeding up tangible progress on the agenda and improving the lives of women and girls worldwide.

The body will also provide an opportunity for Geneva-based UN agencies and international organizations to share best practices, achievements, and challenges in gender equality and parity within their own institutions.

Speaking on the advisory council’s launch on Monday, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office at Geneva and current president of the HRC, Omar Zniber, hailed the creation of this body as a historic first, and stressed the need to put in place concrete measures to ensure that women are represented at the highest levels of decision-making. It is time to “move beyond the stage of celebrating the first woman to head a UN agency and ensure that women’s presence at the head of an agency becomes a normal phenomenon,” he argued.

To achieve this, mentalities and policies need to change at all levels: international, regional, national, and local, which is why the first Human Rights Council President’s Advisory Council on Gender Equality has been set up in Geneva, he said.

“The aim is to foster transformative change in dialogue, governance and inclusiveness,” stressed the diplomat.

For her part, UN Women’s Deputy Executive Director, Resource Management, Sustainability, and Partnerships, Kirsi Madi, expressed the UN agency’s pride in being part of this Advisory Council in the person of its Executive Director, Sima Bahous, emphasizing the importance of this initiative, given the daunting challenges facing the march towards gender equality.

“Without accelerating progress towards gender equality, the international community will not be able to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality, but also the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” she warned.

The launch of this Advisory Council at a ceremony at the Palais des Nations, which is attended by a host of personalities and diplomats, is an opportunity to celebrate the participation of all regional groups and major UN entities in efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, said Ms. Madi, who expressed her confidence that this body will provide a solid platform for achieving the Beijing commitments, the 2030 Agenda, and the goals of the UNHRC.

The Advisory Council will include representatives of member states at the UN Office in Geneva, the UN system, and other key stakeholders. The first members invited to join this body are recognized for their extensive experience and expertise in issues relating to gender equality, parity, and women’s empowerment in the multilateral system.
The council members will meet periodically to examine suggestions and proposals for strengthening the gender approach in the work of the Human Rights Council and more broadly in the spectrum of activities of international organizations in the multilateral system, with the aim of disseminating these suggestions and recommendations at local level in countries with programs in this field.