Economic and Social Council

2010 Substantive Session

50^th Meeting (AM)

Economic and Social Council Elects 41-Member Executive Board for UN Women

 

Members from African, Western European, Other States Elected by Acclamation,

Vote Required to Seat Members from Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Caribbean

Bringing the United Nations another step closer to the official 1 January 2010 launch of “UN Women”, the Economic and Social Council today elected - by acclamation and by secret ballot – the 41 inaugural members to the Executive Board of the new entity established to meet the unique and often under-represented needs of women and girls worldwide.

In its resumed 2010 substantive session, the Council elected the following countries to the Executive Board of UN Women, the historic entity that will work to accelerate the United Nations goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment: Angola (3 years), Argentina (2 years), Bangladesh (2 years), Brazil (2 years), Cape Verde (3 years), China (3 years), Congo (3 years), Côte d’Ivoire (2 years), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2 years), Denmark (3 years), Dominican Republic (3 years), El Salvador (2 years), Ethiopia (3 years), Estonia (2 years), France (2 years), Grenada (3 years), Hungary (3 years) and India (2 years).

It also elected Indonesia (3 years), Italy (2 years), Japan (3 years), Kazakhstan (3 years), Lesotho (2 years), Libya (2 years), Luxembourg (3 years), Malaysia (2 years), Mexico (3 years), Nigeria (3 years), Norway (3 years), Pakistan (2 years), Peru (3 years), Republic of Korea (3 years), Russian Federation (2 years), Saudi Arabia (3 years), Spain (3 years), Sweden (3 years), Timor-Leste (2 years), Ukraine (3 years), United Kingdom (3 years), United States (3 years) and the United Republic of Tanzania (2 years).

The structure guiding today’s elections was decided upon by the Council with the recent adoption of resolution E/2010/L.40, which - in line with General Assembly resolution A/RES/64/289 on “system-wide coherence” and which established UN Women - outlines that 35 of members of the Executive Board would be elected from among the five regional groups and serve terms of two and three years. Council President Hamidon Ali, of Malaysia drew lots to determine which States would serve those staggered terms.

Further by those resolutions, six seats on the Board would be filled by “contributing countries” serving three-year terms.  As such, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States were elected to fill seats allocated for four of the top ten providers of voluntary core contributions to the Entity.  Mexico and Saudi Arabia were elected to fill two seats allocated to developing countries, not members of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/DAC) that provide such contributions.

Board members from the African States and the Western European and Other States, as well as the contributing countries were elected by acclamation, while one round of voting by secret ballot was required to determine the members that would represent the Asian States, Eastern European States and Latin American and Caribbean States.

The terms of the 41 members during the first election will begin immediately and run until 31 December of the year in which their term ends. In subsequent elections, members will be elected for three years, beginning on 1 January of the year following their election and running until 31 December of the year in which their term ends.

The Council President also reminded delegates that States were eligible for membership on the Executive Board whether or not they had been endorsed by their regional groups, as was the case today with Timor-Leste, the Eastern European States and the Latin American and Caribbean States.

The creation of UN Women by the General Assembly on 2 July 2010 pulled together four agencies devoted to women's issues:  the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; the Division for the Advancement of Women; the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).  In mid-September, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet as the Entity’s Under-Secretary-General.  (See Press Releases GA/10959 and SG/A/1262)

In other business today, the Council decided that the theme for the thematic discussion of its 2011 high-level segment would be “Current global and national trends and challenges and their impact on education”, as proposed by the Council President.

It also adopted by acclamation a decision (document E/2010/L.41), introduced by Congo’s representative, recommending that the General Assembly, at its sixty-fifth session, decide on the question of enlarging the membership of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from eighty-four to eighty-five States.  In doing so, it took note a 12 July 2010 request contained in a note verbale from the Permanent Mission of the Congo to the United Nations Secretary-General.

Election of Members to Executive Board of UN Women

One round of secret ballot voting took place in the election of 35 members to the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women for Asian States, Eastern European States and Latin American and Caribbean States.

Asian States — 10 Seats

Number of ballots:	54
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid votes:	54
Number of abstentions:	0
Number of members voting:	54
Majority required:	28
Number of votes obtained:
Bangladesh	54
China	53
Indonesia	53
Japan	53
Republic of Korea	53
India	52
Kazakhstan	52
Malaysia	52
Pakistan	50
Timor-Leste	36
Iran	19
Philippines	1

Having obtained the most votes, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea and Timor-Leste were elected to the Executive Board.

Eastern European States — 4 Seats

Number of ballots:	53
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid votes:	53
Number of abstentions:	0
Number of members voting:	53
Majority required:	27
Number of votes obtained:
Russian Federation	46
Ukraine	43
Estonia	42
Hungary	38
Albania	35
Armenia	1

Having obtained the most votes, Estonia, Hungary, Russian Federation and Ukraine were elected to the Executive Board.

Latin American and Caribbean States — 6 Seats

Number of ballots:	54
Number of invalid ballots:	0
Number of valid votes:	54
Number of abstentions:	0
Number of members voting:	54
Majority required:	28
Number of votes obtained:
Brazil	48
Argentina	47
Peru	47
Dominican Republic	44
El Salvador	40
Grenada	39
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	38
Chile	1

Having obtained the most votes, Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada and Peru were elected to the Executive Board.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record