New Executive Board Bureau elected to lead UN Women in monumental year
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For what promises to be one of UN Women’s most challenging and transcendent years yet, Member States of the UN Women Executive Board opened the year by electing five representatives to its Bureau in elections on 7 January.
The Western European Group has the Presidency of the Executive Board this year and Ambassador Ib Petersen, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the UN, was elected as President for 2015. Denmark has long been a world champion on gender equality and the empowerment of women, always ranking among the top countries in the Gender Gap report for example. It is also one of the top donors to UN Women’s core budget.
Together with President Petersen, four Vice-Presidents representing the other regional groups were also elected: Ms. Bakhta Selma Mansouri (Algeria), Mr. Barun Dev Mitra (Bangladesh), Ms. Dragana Anđelić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Ms. María Paulina Dávila (Colombia).
The Executive Board governs the operational activities of UN Women. Its Bureau is made up of a President and four Vice-Presidents, each representing one of the five regional groups. The Bureau is elected by the Executive Board each year from among its members, with the presidency rotating among the regional groups on an annual basis.
This year will be marked by the conjunction of major intergovernmental processes, ranging from the 20-year anniversary and review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+20), to the 15-year review of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women peace and security, to the negotiations on financing for development, and of course the adoption of a post-2015 development framework and of universally agreed Sustainable Development Goals. Throughout these key processes, UN Women needs the diplomatic, political and financial support and engagement of Member States to fully implement its mandate and ensure that a stand-alone gender goal is accepted to bring transformative change to the lives of women and girls worldwide.