UN Women

هيئة الأمم المتحدة للمرأة
妇女署
UN Women
ONU Femmes
ООН-Женщины
ONU Mujeres
Formation2 July 2010; 14 years ago (2010-07-02)
TypeUN entity
HeadquartersNew York City, United States
Official languages
  • English
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Chinese
  • Arabic
  • Russian
Head
Sima Sami Bahous[2]
Websitewww.unwomen.org

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity charged with working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women is charged with advocating for the rights of women and girls, and focusing on a number of issues, including violence against women and violence against LGBT people.

UN Women was established by a merger of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, established in 1976) and other entities and became operational in 2011.[3] The organization operates under a governance structure and has an executive board representing different regions. Former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet was its inaugural executive director and Jordanian Sima Sami Bahous is its current executive director.[2][4] UN Women is a member of the UN Development Group.[5]

UN Women faced criticism for its response to the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, with accusations of not condemning Hamas's gender-based war crimes adequately, and for waiting seven weeks before issuing any statement of condemnation of the sexual violence.[6]

  1. ^ "Official Languages". United Nations. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  2. ^ a b "Secretary-General Appoints Sima Sami Bahous of Jordan Executive Director of UN-Women | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". un.org. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  3. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". UN Women - Asia and the Pacific. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  4. ^ "Gender equality 'champion' Sima Sami Bahous to lead UN Women". UN News. 2021-09-13. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  5. ^ "UNDG Members". Archived from the original on 2011-05-11.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).