United Nations – On 1 March the United Nations came under strong pressure to quickly establish a powerful super-agency to tackle women's issues.

"We have spoken long enough about this. It's time to act," said Viviane Reding, the European Commission vice president in charge of justice and gender equality, who is attending the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters.

"I expect a lot of women from a lot of continents to say that they got enough of speaking about this... All the preparatory work has been done. Who gets the post, I don't care, just do it," Reding, who is from Luxembourg, told AFP.

"Either this (the UN) is an action-bound organisation or this is a talking club. Women would like it to be an action organisation.

"Now is an important moment... to seize the opportunity to take a great step forward by establishing our new UN women's agency," Britain's minister for women and equality Harriet Harman said at the opening of the 12-day conference on the status of women here.

Campaigner cutting roses to highlight the plight of girls and women who suffer genital mutilation

Last September, the UN General Assembly agreed to set up a powerful new department consolidating the activities of several existing bodies dealing with women's issues.

The 192-member body adopted by consensus a resolution backing formation of the new composite entity, to have a substantial budget and to be led by an undersecretary general reporting directly to the UN secretary general.

Officials here say UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to make the appointment soon. Outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is said to be among several prominent women under consideration.

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