UAE elected to board of UN agency

New York:  The UAE has been elected to the Executive Board of the Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women at the UN for a three-year term until December 2015.

The elections were held during a session by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York.

Elected from the Asian Group along with the UAE to fill five vacant seats were the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Thailand and the Maldives.

In the elections, 16 other member countries were elected to the board of the newly-created agency.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in a historic step to accelerate the Organisation's goals on gender equality.

The board has ten members from Africa, ten from Asia, four from Eastern Europe, six from Latin America and the Caribbean, five from Western Europe and six from contributing countries.