After four years of negotiations the UN General Assembly has agreed to the establishment of a new UN body for Gender Equality.

The new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women will be referred to as UN Women, officials said.

It will start work at the beginning of next year and unify four existing UN divisions dealing with women's issues.

This body will for the first time give the UN a "single recognised driver" for the empowerment of women, Ms Migiro, deputy secretary general, said.

"UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity and tackle discrimination around the globe," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.

The new entity will pump the bulk of its projected US 500 million annual budget into programming to directly benefit the world’s most vulnerable women and to promote gender equality.

However, this unprecedented boost may still leave the agency lacking influence and impact, civil society advocates say.

“Of course, actions are louder than words and UN Women remains very much a promise of action,”said Elisabeth Roesch, gender-based violence advocacy director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

“The coming months and years will be a crucial period to see if this agency lives up to that promise and is able to make a difference. Two things that will certainly be essential are strong leadership and resources.”

(Sources: BBC, IRIN)