WAM NEW YORK: The United Arab Emirates was elected to the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) for a 3-year term between 1 January 2012 - 31 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, a total of 16 other member countries were elected to the board of the newly-created agency.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in an historic step in accelerating the Organization's goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact.

Then, the board members were selected on the following basis: 10 from Africa, 10 from Asia, 4 from Eastern Europe, 6 from Latin America and the Caribbean, 5 from Western Europe and 6 from contributing countries.

WAM/MMYS