UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet to visit Finland
Press release 253/2011
5 October 2011
Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, will pay a visit to Finland on 9–11 October. She will have meetings with President of the Republic Tarja Halonen, Minister of Finance Jutta Urpilainen, Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja and Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala. According to Bachelet, UN Women’s vision is a world where women are guaranteed equal rights to development, human rights and security.
With its headquarters in New York, UN Women – the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – began functioning in January of this year and has activities in over 80 countries. Underlying the establishment of this new organisation was the wish to intensify the UN’s gender equality work and to eliminate duplication of efforts in this field. UN Women was formed through the merger of four UN actors that focused on gender equality and women’s empowerment: the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW); the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW); and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI).
The focus areas in UN Women’s strategy for 2011–2013 are expanding women’s leadership and participation, enhancing women’s economic empowerment, preventing violence against women and girls, strengthening women’s role in peace and security issues and including gender equality perspectives in all activities.
Finland is strongly committed to the work of UN Women and has tripled its support to the organisation. In 2011, Finland granted UN Women three million euros in general support. In addition, Finland gives 500,000 euros a year in support for the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women administered by UN Women. Finland prioritises women’s economic empowerment and supports the organisation at country level. Finland will have a seat on the Executive Board of UN Women in 2012.
Michelle Bachelet served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010. As Chile’s Minister of Health in 2000–2002, Bachelet was responsible for improving primary health care and implementing health care reform. In 2002 she was appointed Minister of Defence, the first woman in Chile to hold the post and, at the same time, the first woman defence minister in the history of Latin America. Bachelet has stressed the importance of gender equality issues throughout her career.
Additional information: First Secretary Petra Paasilinna, Unit for UN Development Issues, tel. +358 9 1605 6469