She has also been appointed  UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region of Central Africa in March 2013 and UN Special Envoy for Climate change in July 2014 .
IAW supports Mary Robinson as future Secretary General of the UN for the following reasons

We admire her willingness to stand up for what she feels is right.

In all the offices she assumed she exercised a transformative power, that is a feminist type of power This feminist understanding of power is distinct from male domination because it aims at empowering  those over whom it is exercised .

As President of Ireland she reinvented  the role while at the UN she also widened the brief of the  HR Commission  to include security but in a way women mean it not men that is security of food,safe water, healthcare , shelter .

I AW supports Mary Robinson because she is of the view  that human rights have to do with holding those with power to account for abuses of power .Also that you do not weaken  human rights by making them relevant to globalization and corporate responsibility as in our world those with economic power do not have traditionally strong values on human rights .

IAW  is in favor of M Robinson because of the support she has always given to civil society .

Concerning climate change  Robinson believes the way to go is not governments. The answer is civil society that is environmental groups ,development groups ,human rights groups ,youth groups .They will build up the pressure on governments.

Finally IAW is in favour of her because she is a champion of the poor ,the oppressed and underprivileged and more generally of those who have their rights violated and for whom she has always tried to speak from their perspective

The post IAW wants Mary Robinson as the next Secretary General of the UN appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

The United Nations (UN), an organization grounded in the principle of respect for equal rights and with a self-prescribed goal of achieving gender equality, “particularly at the Professional level,” has never seriously considered a woman for its top post of UN Secretary-General.Though the post has historically rotated to ensure that every geographical region gets a “turn,” thousands of more than qualified women from all over the world have never had a chance at a “turn.”

On 27 April discussions will begin on the nomination process for next years’ election, a process that is overseen by the UN Security Council and which has been shrouded in secrecy and confusion since 1945. Without women’s equal access to positions of decision-making power and a clear process to get there, gender equality, global security and peace will never be realized.

Right now, there is an opportunity to change this. Help us make equality reality at the highest global levels. Join the global campaign for a woman UN Secretary-General in 2016 and help spread the word: it is ast #TimeforaWomanSG to lead the UN!

Take Action 

The post Take action: Support the campaign for a woman UN Secretary General appeared first on International Alliance of Women.