人权理事会举行关于在理事会工作中融入性别平等视角的年度讨论（部分翻译）

人权理事会
下午

2015年9月15日

人权理事会今天下午举行了关于在理事会及其各机制的工作中融入性别平等视角的年度讨论，关注性别均等问题。

人权理事会主席约阿希姆·卢埃克（Joachim Rücker）指出，全球35亿公民为妇女，超过总人口的50%。然而在许多国家，她们在有效、平等地参与政治、公共和经济生活方面，面对着各类限制。小组讨论因此将聚焦于性别均等，特别关注分析实现国际人权机构中性别均等的主要挑战，特别是在人权理事会及其机制，还关注指明改善性别平衡的关键措施。 

联合国人权事务高级专员扎伊德·拉阿德·侯赛因指出，女性和男性在决策、就业和教育的各个层面拥有平等代表是性别平等方面进步的重要指标。这是根本的权利问题：女性和男性必须在生活的各方各面平等参与。他们必须拥有平等表达见解、争取自身需求的能力。全世界必须停止将均等视为一种象征性做法，而是要领会到，女性和男性在各个专题和机构获得平等代表不仅体现了社会更加公正，也能够建设这样的社会。

比利时玛蒂尔德王后指出，女性和男性在平等方面经历过不同的情况，这对人类尊严、社会凝聚力、经济增长和竞争力产生重大影响。因此，人权理事会每年对其运作提出问题，从而实现男女充分平等，这无疑是正确的。实现妇女权利的一个关键阶段是1995年在北京举行的大会，会议表明，允许女性积极参与最高层决策改变了心态，并促进了经济、社会和文化生活的平等。

消除对妇女歧视委员会成员兼小组主持人帕特里夏·舒尔茨（Patricia Schulz）提醒理事会注意开展讨论的法律框架，包括理事会关于条约机构和机制中性别均等问题的2007年第6/30号决议，以及《消除对妇女一切形式歧视公约》中的强制法律框架。她强调，有必要用明确而一致的法律术语来改善女性代表不足的状况。

联合国日内瓦办事处总干事迈克尔·默勒（Michael Møller）宣布启动一个新的领导网络，即国际日内瓦性别卫士（International Geneva Gender Champions），旨在增进协同，拓宽性别平等在日内瓦和其他地方国际工作中的主流化。如要严肃采取措施将女性纳入全球政策的执行过程，那么她们就应该被纳入具有决定性的政策和行动中。因此，新的举措旨在增强落实联合国全系统性别平等和增强妇女权能政策的联合国全系统行动计划。

人权与国际团结问题独立专家兼特别程序协调委员会成员弗吉利亚·丹丹（Virginia Dandan）指出，2011年以来，女性任务负责人的任命数量缓慢地稳步减少。最大的一次减少出现在2014年，当时多名任务负责人的任期结束，新一批专家被任命。妇女历来在关注妇女权利的领域被任命为任务负责人，也就是暴力侵害妇女或贩运问题。一些任务传统上被视为专为男性保留，同时带有一种陈规定型：妇女往往有资格应对妇女问题，作为照料者，她们投身于任务活动的时间较少，在全球旅行的灵活性也较低。 

美洲人权委员会妇女权利问题报告员特雷西·罗宾逊（Tracy Robinson）提请关注女性在大多数区域人权机构代表性不足的问题，例如美洲国家组织，它在美洲国家间系统中有一个全为男性的人权法院。美洲国家组织成员国在保障性别均等方面缺少承诺和行动。各国不仅必须要注意人权机构如何构成，还要注意它们如何工作、在什么条件下工作。

全球权利小组的主任兼高级分析师苏巴斯·古亚杜尔（Subhas Gujadhur）建议各国更好地利用议程项目五，报告有关性别均等的决议的执行情况，并在普遍定期审议期间提出更具体、以行动为导向的建议。各国也必须付出更多行动，指定参加人权理事会各机制投票和任命的女性候选人。他提醒道，因为理事会通过的决议本质上没有约束力，因而没有办法评估各国如何执行专题决议，包括那些应对性别均等问题的决议。

在随后的互动讨论中，发言人一致认同，实现性别平等和性别均等依然任重道远，他们强调了各国在实践中和法律中打击歧视妇女做法的首要责任。有证据显示，追求性别平等是智慧而正确的做法。应该强制为所有联合国职员进行性别问题培训，包括领导人。一些国家询问了对联合国机构和机制的任命引入性别配额体系的可能性。一些发言人谈到了从文化上解构性别、从而消除偏见的必要性。此外还提到，土著妇女和女童很容易受到暴力和歧视，移徙妇女需要获得更多机会，例如教育，从而充分实现其潜能。 

参加讨论的有欧盟，代表阿拉伯集团的沙特阿拉伯，代表北欧国家的瑞典，代表非洲集团的阿尔及利亚，代表拉美及加勒比国家共同体的厄瓜多尔，代表伊斯兰合作组织的巴基斯坦，土耳其，巴西，科威特，黑山，加拿大，塞拉利昂，克罗地亚，印度，古巴，瑞士，尼加拉瓜，西班牙，葡萄牙，巴拉圭，智利，大韩民国，俄罗斯联邦，哥伦比亚，波兰，萨尔瓦多，保加利亚，爱尔兰，玻利维亚。

发言的还有加拿大行动组织（Action Canada）、 泛非科学和技术联盟（Pan African Union for Science and Technology）、记者和作家基金会（Journalists and Writers Foundation）、印第安法律资源中心（Indian Law Resource Centre）、喀麦隆青年和学生和平论坛（Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace）、人权机构（Agence pour les Droits de l’Homme）。 

理事会将在9月16日（周三）上午9点召开全天会议。它首先将继续关于强迫和非自愿失踪问题以及真相、司法、赔偿和保证不再发生问题的集体互动对话。随后将开始关于老年人权利和利用雇佣军问题的集体互动对话。

Opening Statement

Joachim RÜCKER, President of the Human Rights Council, opened the annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Council and its mechanisms, focusing on parity, by stating that women represented 3.5 billion citizens on the globe (more than 50 per cent), yet in many countries they faced a wide range of constraints to their effective and equal participation in political, public and economic life. Opportunities between men and women still differed. This discussion would therefore focus on gender parity with a particular focus on analysing the main challenges to achieving parity in international human rights bodies, in particular the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, and to identifying key measures to improve gender balance as well as existing initiatives and successful practices in order to make concrete recommendations. Mr. Rücker saluted the work of all those who strove for greater gender parity, and in particular the women Ambassadors in Geneva in bringing the necessary attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Keynote Statements

ZEID RA’AD Al HUSSEIN, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that in defiance of the Universal Declaration’s simple and resonant statement, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and in rights,” no country had yet achieved full equality between the sexes. The equal representation of women and men at all levels of decision-making, employment, education and gender parity went far deeper than the simply symbolic and visible advancement of specific inpiduals. It was a crucial indicator of progress towards gender equality. And more importantly, it was a fundamental matter of rights: women and men had to be able to participate equally in all spheres of life. They had to be equally empowered to voice their opinions and argue for their needs. Gender parity meant visible equality, and this profoundly influenced the unspoken notions that had for centuries underpinned discrimination against women and girls. The opportunities that were open to all, and their choices, were severely limited by gender stereotypes, long-standing and widely held views about the appropriate roles and characteristics of each gender.

Women were 40 per cent of the experts seated in the treaty bodies, but one-third of those women were seated on the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and many of the others were on the Committee on the Rights of the Child. As for Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council mandate-holders, the appointment of female experts had steadily declined over the past 10 sessions. It almost appeared as though some mandates were reserved to men, including mandates as obviously relevant to women as torture and summary execution, while specific mandates involving children were viewed as almost women-only domains. The lack of gender parity in United Nations human rights bodies could indeed be symptomatic of the under-representation of women in Member States. But the Human Rights Council needed to do better than societies. It needed to lead by example and show that everyone’s voice and interest were equal in human rights work. Actions had to be undertaken at the national and international level, to address discrimination, combat stereotypes, and promote equality. The world had to stop regarding parity as a token exercise, and grasp that equal representation of women and men across themes and bodies, not only embodied but also built more just societies.

QUEEN MATHILDE OF THE BELGIANS noted that today women and men experienced different situations of equality which had great repercussions on human dignity, social cohesion and economic growth. It was therefore only right that the Human Rights Council should conduct annual questioning of its functioning so as to achieve full equality between women and men. Twenty years had passed since the Beijing Conference in which the world had reaffirmed the importance of equality in access to education, employment and political decision-making. Progress had been achieved and in many countries the legal framework had evolved or was moving towards greater equality. But challenges remained both in prosperous countries and in disadvantaged ones. Women remained the first victims of armed conflicts; unfortunately, recent events had given many examples of combatants who preyed on women and girls and considered them as bounty of war. Women were often victims of exploitation and trafficking and in certain situations traditions perpetuated suffering, such as female genital mutilation, forced marriages or so-called crimes of honour. The principle of equal work for equal wage was still not fully implemented; many women suffered discrimination in employment and had to suffer sexual harassment and denigration. No country had achieved the perfect balance and efforts must be redoubled without delay. An essential stage in achieving women’s rights had been the 1995 Conference in Beijing which had demonstrated that allowing women to be actively involved in decision-making at the highest level changed mentality and promoted equality in economic, social and cultural life. Men had an important role to play too, including in combatting stereotypes.

Belgium was playing its part in strengthening equality between women and men by integrating this dimension in all its public policies; since 2013, gender dimension must be reflected in all interventions of the Belgium Development Cooperation. Equality between men and women would be recognized in the development goals to be adopted in two weeks’ time in New York, for there would be no development without women’s full participation, and no human rights without respect for women’s rights.

Statements by Moderator and Panellists

PATRICIA SHULZ, Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and panel moderator, in her opening remarks, reminded the Council of the legal framework in which the discussion would take place, including the Council’s resolution 6/30 of 2007 which dealt with gender parity in treaty bodies and mechanisms, and the hard law framework in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Ms. Shultz stressed the need for clear and coherent legal terms to improve the situation of under-representation of women, the need to recognize the great variety in the special measures that State parties could take to support equal representation of both sexes, and the proper financial, human and technical resources for the measures for gender parity.

Turning to Mr. Møller, the moderator asked about the need for the Geneva Champion’s Initiative, its expectations and how it was different from other initiatives.

MICHAEL MØLLER, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that with the aim to generate concrete, measurable action, he had decided to launch a new leadership network of International Geneva Gender Champions. All members of the network committed to three specific annual activities aimed at bringing greater gender equality in their work. All commitments under the initiative would be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and trackable (SMART). A great interest among Permanent Missions in Geneva had already been registered. Mr. Møller expressed hope that all heads of Permanent Missions would join the initiative for a truly global Geneva impact. One of the actions that members of the initiative committed to was the Geneva Gender Parity Panel Pledge. Mr. Møller underlined that if the effort to include women in the implementation of global policies was serious, they should be included in defining policies and actions. Accordingly, there should be parity on panels and there should not be any panels made up of solely one gender. Only 30 per cent of the senior leaders across the United Nations system were women. Therefore efforts to include women should be more intense. The Gender Champions Initiative thus aimed to reinforce the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan for the implementation of the United Nations System-Wide Policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women (UN SWAP). The Initiative would start reaching out to civil society from January 2016 onwards. Mr. Møller said he expected to see a broader implementation of the many good ideas and steps to encourage gender parity. At the Geneva level, the International Labour Office was the first to monitor the representation of women and men within delegations. The aim of the network was to enhance synergies and broaden the mainstreaming of gender equality in the work across international Geneva and beyond.

PATRICIA SCHULZ, Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and panel moderator, asked for an update and analysis of gender parity and balance in the Council’s mechanisms and treaty bodies.

VIRGINIA DANDAN, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity and Member of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, said that at the time of the Council’s establishment, a principle of full integration of a gender perspective was included. Gender balance was given primary consideration in the selection and appointment of mandate holders, including Special Procedure mandate holders. Since 2011 there had been a gradual but steady decline in the appointment of female mandate holders, from 44 per cent to 39 per cent as of August 2015. The most drastic decrease took place in 2014 when a significant number of terms of mandate holders ended and new experts were appointed. As for thematic mandates, those focusing on women’s rights, such as violence against women or trafficking, had been solely held by female mandate-holders since their establishment. On the other hand, seven thematic mandates had been held from their establishment solely by male mandate-holders, namely health, counter terrorism, torture, foreign debt, racism, freedom of opinion, and internally displaced persons. Some mandates were traditionally seen as reserved for men along the stereotype that women were usually qualified to deal with women’s issues and less so with torture and counter-terrorism. Another assumption could be made that women were traditionally considered as care givers and that thus they had less time to devote to mandated activities and less flexibility travelling around the globe. The Council’s Consultative Group should continue taking special measures to achieve gender parity in relation to the appointment of mandate holders through outreach, selection, retention and encouraging experts of both sexes to integrate a gender perspective in their work.

PATRICIA SCHULZ, Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and panel moderator, asked Ms. Robinson to share the perspective of regional human rights mechanisms on gender parity and how they had or had not contributed to gender equality and parity in their work.

TRACY ROBINSON, Rapporteur on Women’s Rights at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, stated that as in the United Nations, women were underrepresented on most regional human rights bodies. The Organization of American States had an all-male human rights court in the Inter-American system, and would be marginally improved in 2016 by the inclusion of one woman. What was missing was both the commitment and action of the Member States of the Organization of American States in securing gender parity. In its over half a century of operations, only 17 per cent of the Commissioners in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights had been women. There were many lessons for the Inter-American system. There was a problem of sustainability of the presence of women in high-level positions. States had to make a commitment to undertake measures, and they had to care not just what human rights bodies looked like, but how they worked and under which terms of work. This included having unpaid or marginally paid human rights commissioners and judges.

PATRICIA SCHULZ, Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and panel moderator, asked Mr. Gujadhur to present an analysis on how the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms such as the Universal Periodic Review had addressed the issue of parity. What were some practical recommendations that could be implemented by the United Nations human rights system?

SUBHAS GUJADHUR, Director and Senior Analyst at the Universal Rights Group, stated that over the nine years and twenty-nine regular sessions since its creation, the Human Rights Council had adopted around 825 texts. Out of these over 55 per cent of the resolutions were of a thematic nature, however a mere 4 per cent of these made mention of women or girls. Out of the 33 resolutions dealing with women’s rights over the last four years, 25 of them made reference to gender equality and 23 of them mentioned women’s empowerment/participation. On the bright side, from the period 2012 to 2015, there had been a slight increase in the percentage of resolutions mentioning gender equality. Mr. Gujadhur also noted that over 67 per cent of the resolutions adopted by the Human Rights Council called on all States or the international community to take a specific action on a specific issue; however, due to the non-binding nature of these, there was no way to assess how States were implementing thematic resolutions, including those dealing with the issue of gender parity. Mr. Gujadhur recommended that States make better use of item 5 to report on the implementation of resolutions dealing with gender parity, as well as make more specific and action oriented recommendations during the Universal Periodic Review. States had to also make more efforts to nominate women candidates for election, and appointment to the mechanisms of the Human Rights Council. Best practices had to be identified.

Discussion

European Union said that it would soon adopt the Gender Equality Action Plan and asked about the key challenge to ensuring gender equality among Special Procedure mandate holders and if the problem could be overcome? Saudi Arabia, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, said that much remained to be done in achieving gender equality and parity and stressed the prime responsibility of States in combatting discrimination against women in practice and in law. Sweden, speaking on behalf of the Nordic Countries, said that the evidence showed that gender equality was both the right thing and smart thing to do and said that training in gender should be mandatory for all United Nations staff, including the leaders. Algeria, speaking on behalf of the African Group, said that parity was a key element of gender equality and reiterated the resolve to promote the role of women and girls in all areas. Ecuador, speaking on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, said that 20 years after the Platform of Beijing, the progress had been slow and parity in gender did not mean only parity in numbers but also the inclusion of women in decision-making, including in the United Nations. Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said that most of its members had achieved gender parity and gender equality, particularly in education, but equal participation in the economic sector remained a challenge.

Turkey said ensuring gender parity was a key component in all areas of life, and actively supported initiatives to ensure gender equality throughout United Nations activities, including with regard to the nomination of treaty body experts. Brazil underlined the importance of mainstreaming women’s rights throughout the United Nations’ work as a whole, and encouraged governments to put forward candidatures of women to the treaty bodies and to consider gender balance during the nomination process. Kuwait said women in Kuwait had achieved much since the independence of the country, and that their role in society had been strengthened, including in terms of labour market integration and access to decision-making positions. Montenegro commended efforts made by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ensuring that women’s rights remained high on the United Nations’ agenda, and encouraged States to nominate women to treaty body experts and other positions within United Nations mechanisms. Canada stated its commitment to protect the rights of women, especially women belonging to vulnerable groups, and said it would continue to give priority to combat violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, and to promote the full participation of women in public life. Sierra Leone welcomed achievements relating to the increased representation of women in national parliaments, and insisted that the imposition of quotas was indispensable to address inequalities between women and men.

Action Canada for Population and Development welcomed the work on gender parity and was deeply concerned about the gender imparity in the United Nations system. Perhaps one of the reasons of this underrepresentation was due to professions traditionally seen as female or male. Pan African Union for Science and Technology said that sex trade should not have a place in the world today. The treatment of women under ISIS rule was a tragedy as was the systematic rape of women of Yezidi origin. Gazeteciler ve Yazarlar Vakfi said that women were subject to gender based violence, including rape and enforced slavery. In order to be effective, humanitarian action had to explicitly emphasize gender sensitivity. Croatia said that it had recently elected a female as President of the country, and 20 per cent of all members of Government in Croatia were women. These changes were underpinned by the mandatory inclusion of women in candidate lists for parliamentary elections. India welcomed the holding of this annual discussion with a focus on gender parity. The principle of gender parity was firmly enshrined in the Indian Constitution and 1.3 million grassroots women had been brought into the decision-making system. Cuba said that gender parity had not been achieved in the United Nations system, and recommended that States parties undertake the necessary measures to achieve parity. Cuban women represented 48.6 per cent in Parliament and Cuba was the third leading country to achieve gender parity in government structures.

Switzerland remained concerned at the constant underrepresentation of women in human rights bodies and said that specific measures must be taken to establish balance between sexes in treaty bodies. Nicaragua stressed the importance of training, empowerment and leadership and said that policies were needed to promote education on human rights. Spain said that gender equality was a fundamental pillar of its public policies and the vision of the country, and one of the six priorities of the Government. Portugal asked the panellists about the possibility of introducing a gender quota system for the appointments in the United Nations bodies and mechanisms. Paraguay urged States to present women as candidates for mandate holders and the Council to keep women in mind when selecting successful candidates. It was not possible to construct a fair world without gender parity. Chile said that cultural deconstruction of gender was crucial in removing prejudices and said that the Council could play an important part in this. Republic of Korea said that the commitments made in relation to gender equality must be fleshed out in concrete action in order to achieve the goals of several initiatives, such as the Beijing Declaration and Programme for Action. Russia agreed that much remained to be done to implement the Beijing Platform of Action and said that achieving gender equality in the Human Rights Council should not be achieved at the detriment of professionalism. Colombia said gender equality and empowerment should continue to be a crucial theme for the Human Rights Council, and regretted that there was a gender imbalance within the treaty bodies.

Indian Law Resource Centre said indigenous women and girls were highly vulnerable to violence and discrimination, including in the United States, and recommended that the Council invite the Secretary General to issue a report on this issue. Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace said refugees from the Middle East, particularly women, needed social protection, and underlined the importance of international cooperation to ensure that the needs of women were met. Agence pour les droits de l’homme said giving migrant women the opportunities to fully realize their potential was paramount, and said States had to take all appropriate measures to ensure access to education for women.

Poland said that currently 39.6 per cent of its civil service was occupied by women and asked the Human Rights Council what administrative measures were being taken to effectively promote the participation of women in the decision-making process and did this change the existing practices? El Salvador stated that certain situations had created inequality between men and women. Since 2014, there was a law on development and protection of micro and small enterprises to promote greater access for women to entrepreneurial work. Bulgaria said that it was fighting gender stereotypes through the National Action Plan. The Agenda Equality Act was currently under preparation and would ensure gender equality in all institutions and at all levels. Ireland said that the equal participation of women from all communities was essential for their proper functioning. Ireland actively promoted the inclusion of women in all levels, including in peace processes. Bolivia shared its satisfaction on the adoption of a resolution by the United Nations on public services that recognized the values of the Andean people. Bolivia had undertaken many measures to promote the participation of women, and in 2008 Bolivia became free of illiteracy.

Concluding Remarks

PATRICIA SCHULZ, Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and panel moderator, asked Mr. Gujadhur to elaborate on the measures that could be taken to ensure that gender parity was incorporated in mechanisms for securing economic, social and cultural rights in the work of the Human Rights Council.

She asked Ms. Robinson to elaborate on institutional culture and gender parity.

Ms. Dandan was asked about how to make the consensus on gender parity among mandate holders concrete, and what links were necessary to make between Geneva and New York when appointments were made.

Mr. Møller was asked to elaborate on the possibility of introducing a quota system to increase women’s participation in the United Nations system.

SUBHAS GUJADHUR, Director and Senior Analyst at Universal Rights Group, said the adoption of development goals had led to better recognition of the necessity to ensure gender equality. Regarding United Nations human rights mechanisms, rules had been adopted to promote gender parity, and voluntary pledges had been made by some States. The integration of men into efforts to promote gender-parity efforts had to be done in a holistic manner, and civil society had an important role to play in this regard.

TRACY ROBINSON, Rapporteur on Women’s Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said some women faced additional hindrances against participation, including for reasons of poverty, race or other criteria. She encouraged evaluations of practices and policies, and their impact on women’s empowerment, and underlined the importance of early accountability. As part of the Inter-American System, she made a call for a replication of today’s discussion at the regional level, and encouraged commitments made at the international level to be reflected within regional organizations as well.

VIRGINIA DANDAN, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity and Member of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, said that concretizing meant that the question had to go back to the national level. Gender equality and parity could not reach the halls of the United Nations unless they came from the national level. It was related to how New York made appointments. Very often in the decision-making at that level, gender equality unfortunately became mere rhetoric. National Governments must give political commitment to gender equality. Gender equality commitment made at the level of the United Nations could not be reflected unless it first was made at the national level. As for the European Union’s question about the greatest challenge to achieving gender parity, it lay in the stereotypes that came from national cultures. There was a need for initiatives reaching out to women, tapping into existing women’s networks, and giving a chance to qualified women. In that case, there would be a chance for gender equality.

MICHAEL MØLLER, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, responded to the question about gender quotas, noting that some quotas already existed within the United Nations system. There was a need to defer responsibility to Member States, and have some sort of accountability on that. All sorts of measures were in place and the United Nations was close to achieving 50 per cent of female representation. However, female representation at the senior level still remained problematic and much more had to be done to achieve gender balance. Mr. Møller encouraged the exchange of ideas and he urged Member States to look at their own recommendations. It took a little bit of will and imagination to achieve a lot more to move the issue further.

PATRICIA SCHULZ, Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and panel moderator, in concluding remarks said that practical measures could be undertaken, as in the example of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women where Nordic countries had provided good male candidates. She encouraged States parties to start discussing together to ensure that they would come up with candidates, female and male, where they were underrepresented. In the field of gender equality and the fight against discrimination, the female only composition for bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women reinforced the idea that these were simply women’s issues and should only be dealt with by women. For example, security was an issue in which women had a huge stake, but they were very rarely at the negotiating table. The world had to stop making statements and undertake concrete actions. The Geneva Champions Initiative was a very valuable initiative, for example, and was sure to bring results. Responsibilities had to be placed where they belonged, namely with States bodies, Treaty bodies, heads of United Nations agencies, and the non-governmental organizations in Geneva. There were possibilities of action. Some designation systems had to be revised in order to be capable to deliver gender persity. One thing that could improve gender balance was to stop nominating the same candidates for years.

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