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ANGELA
KING, UN WOMEN’S RIGHTS ADVOCATE AND FRIEND TO WOMEN WORLDWIDE
Jamaican diplomat and international civil
servant Angela E. V. King, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General and
Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, died February 5 at
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after battling with
breast cancer. She was 68. In expressing regret at King's death, Jamaican
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said the international community has
lost a pioneering champion in the achievement of women’s advancement.
Angela joined the UN Secretariat in 1966 from the Permanent Mission of
Jamaica, where she worked on matters relating to human rights and social
development. She was one of the first two women Foreign Service officers
posted after Jamaica joined the UN. While at the UN, she held the positions
of director of Recruitment and Placement, director of Staff Administration
and Training, deputy to the Assistant Secretary General for Human Resources
Management, and director of the Operational Services Division, where she
worked closely with the Focal Point for the Improvement of the Status of
Women in the Secretariat on issues such as special measures for women and
sexual harassment.
Angela had a long history of active work for
the advancement of women in the UN Secretariat. She was a founding member of the ad hoc
Group on Equal Rights for Women (GERWUN) and chaired the Secretariat's
High-level†Steering Committee on Improving the Status of Women. Angela
attended the First, Second and Fourth Women’s World Conferences in Mexico
(1975), Copenhagen (1980) and Beijing (1995) and organized and directed the
Beijing+5 Special Session of the General Assembly (2000). She served as director of the Division for
the Advancement of Women of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs
(1996), where she was responsible for the†follow-up to the Beijing Conference
and for managing the central UN program for the advancement of women. She
also chaired the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender and Equality
(IANWGE) and supervised the†Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW).
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has issued a statement in which he says:
"Angela King led the United Nations' efforts for the empowerment of
women with knowledge, passion and courage as the United Nations worked to
translate into practice the Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. A fervent
champion of the equality of women and men, and women's enjoyment of their
human rights, she knew that all parts of the United Nations had a
responsibility to uphold those principles -- including in the area of peace
and security. Ms. King's advocacy and partnership with civil society paved
the way for the Security Council’s landmark resolution 1325 (2000) on women,
peace and security -- the Council's first recognition of women's essential
role in peacebuilding, peacemaking and peace negotiations. She was equally
committed to championing the cause of women staff members in the United
Nations, and their equal opportunities in the workplace. Her work for gender
equality crowned an almost 40-year career with the United Nations, during which
she also served as Chief of the United Nations Observer Mission in South
Africa at the time of the country's first democratic, non-racial elections.
She will be mourned with profound affection and respect by many friends and
allies around the world."
Always elegantly dressed in Jamaican attire, Angela stood out from the more
conservatively dressed officials of the UN on many a dais and platform. She
represented a new kind of official, always gracious, smiling, and ready to
listen to NGO representatives from all over the world. For many of us, she
was the one we could talk to about our problems and concerns as we battled to
find a way through the UN bureaucracy and regulations. Angela is survived by
her son Richard A. James.
In closing, it seems appropriate to quote from a
letter of tribute from a member of the Rwandan delegation:
“The death of Angela King is a very big loss for
the whole women community over the world even though she announced at the
49th CSW session when she officially left the Division that she had a cancer
and was leaving because of health problem and medical treatment. Last year
when we were attending the 50th session of CSW although she was no
more the UN Secretary General's Special Advisor on Gender Issues, she
participated actively and chaired a panel. She met Rwanda delegation to
congratulate Rwandan Government for outstanding achievements in gender
mainstreaming especially in decision-making. As we are preparing for CSW 51st
session a word of condolence and remembrance will be included in Rwanda
statement.” FATUMA NDANGIZA
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