BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Guaranteeing women's rights all across the world requires joint efforts, real input and coordination, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, the head of a newly-established UN body promoting women's welfare, said here Monday.
"It won't be only UN Women. We need to integrate and coordinate very well with the rest of the (UN) agencies, with governments, and with women's groups," UN Under Secretary-General Bachelet told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
Bachelet said she intends to build a much "bigger" and "stronger" entity but one that will not supplant other UN agencies.
"My task here at the UN Women is to ensure, to monitor, and to supervise the rest of the UN system working in the same direction," Bachelet said.
The new agency, with the full name UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, was established on July 2 by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body's programs aimed at promoting women's rights and full participation in global affairs.
UN Women was created with the merger of four UN agencies: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW); the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues; and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW).
