Statement by Carol Fulp, U.S. Senior Adviser to the 65th General Assembly, at the UN Pledging Conference for Development Activities

Carol Fulp, U.S. Senior Adviser to the 65th General Assembly

New York, NY

November 8, 2010

AS DELIVERED

The United States is delighted at the creation of UN Women, and the appointment of Under-Secretary General Michelle Bachelet to head this newest of UN agencies. With her at the helm of UN Women, the new agency on gender equality and women’s empowerment is poised to become one of the UN bodies most able to benefit women, men, and children. Women around the world have high expectations of this vital new agency. We all know that when the situation of women and children improve, their societies’ levels of development, security, and prosperity also increase.

The United States is committed to supporting her efforts to combine the mandates and work of four previous UN entities in order to give one streamlined, powerful voice to UN efforts to advance the status and lives of women globally. We look forward to joining the Executive Board as one of the major contributors, in order to help UN Women carry out its mandate, and achieve the universal goal of improving women’s lives, from economic empowerment and increased women’s participation in political processes to protection of women and girls from violence and discrimination. The important role of UN Women in giving women’s issues the status and weight that they deserve in the UN system, through the Chief Executives Board and the other coordination mechanisms within the UN system, also has our full support.

The U.S. is the largest contributor to the UN, and we intend to remain so. We plan to continue our strong support of UN Women at levels consistent with or exceeding recent contributions, subject to the availability of appropriations.

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