United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to lead the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or U.N. Women.
>> Ex-Chilean President Tipped to Lead UN Women
The new entity will become operational by January 2011 and will receive “a large boost in funding,” according to the U.N. News Service.
U.N. Women - which merges the U.N. Development Fund for Women, Division for the Advancement of Women, Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and U.N. International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women – is expected to have an annual budget of at least USD500 million, or twice the existing resources of the four agencies.
>> UN Establishes New Gender Entity
U.S. envoy to the U.N. Susan Rice and European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton welcomed Bachelet’s appointment.
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