The event is set to be held at the Sofitel Hotel on June 18 and 19, 2012, will shed light on major Arab laws supporting Arab women’s rights.
Experts and specialists from Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania and Yemen will highlight their countries’ experiences in this regard.
The kingdom of Bahrain participated effectively in the first Arab Women Summit which convened in November, 2000, during which the agreement to establish the Arab Women Organisation first emerged. The agreement was later adopted during the 116th meeting of the Arab League’s Council on September 10th, 2001.
In 2002, Royal Decree No (24) for the same year approved the agreement, and paved the way for the kingdom’s access to the AWO, among the first Arab countries to do so.
The kingdom’s speedy ratification of the AWO’s founding agreement is in line with its strong belief in the crucial position enjoyed by women in the Arab family structure, strong resolve to promote them as basic pillars of economic, social and human development and keenness to coordinate with Arab countries in order to advance women and increase their national contributions.
The agreement came into effect on March 16th, 2003, when eight Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria, Oman, UAE, Sudan and Lebanon) ratified it.
First: Bahrain’s Presidency of the AWO:
Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King and President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) assumed the presidency of the Arab Women Organisation during the latter’s second session (2005-2007).
The Secretary-General of the SCW Lulwa Al Awadhi also chaired the Executive Council of AWO from February 2005 to March 2006.
According to Article (8) of AWO’s founding agreement, stipulating that AWO’s presidency rotates biennially according to the alphabetical order, Jordan presided over the first session (2003-2005), Bahrain the second (2005-2007) and UAE (2007-2009).
The second session started in March, 2005. Then, in June of the same year, the second AWO’s Summit convened in Bahrain under the chairmanship of HRH Princess Sabeeka.
The Summit made the following Recommendations:
• Launching a Digital Library sponsored by HRH Princess Sabeeka.
• Endorsing the Arab Strategy for the Enhancement of the Arab Women (2004-2008).
• Conducting an analytical study on the image of the Arab women in the Arab school curricula and devising a plan to change it according to its findings.
• Cooperation between the University of Bahrain and the SCW to provide funds for Masters Researches and higher studies focusing on Arab women’s issues.
• Implementing a programme to change the stereotyped image of the Arab women in the West, similar to that carried out by the Cambridge University in September, 2005.
• Enhancing solidarity between Arab women.
Arab Women’s Achievements during Bahrain’s Presidency of the AWO:
• A Survey on women’s empowerment in the health, economic, educational and media level was conducted and its findings were submitted to the concerned sides in order to improve Arab countries’ performance in each theme.
• Holding of the “Forum of Arab Women: Past, Present and Future” at the UK-based Cambridge University from September 19th to 20th, 2005, under the patronage of HRH Princess Sabeeka. The event, aiming to change the stereotyped image of the Arab women at the West through, was attended by experts, academicians, UK MPs, representatives of UN Agencies in Britain and Egypt and Britain, Arab countries’ Ambassadors to the United Kingdom and representatives from local NGOs and media establishments.
• Holding training sessions on including gender issues in Arab school curricula and promoting the values of the AWO. For example, the kingdom hosted, from November 21st to 23rd, 2005, a meeting of Arab Media Personalities with the aim to:
– Raise awareness on Arab women’s problems in Arab media.
– Preparing and training qualified media cadres on women’s affairs.
– Creating a positive media atmosphere in which women’s issues are tackled objectively and transparently.
– Staying away from the stereotypical image of women emphasizing women’s inferiority and men’s superiority.
• Holding the Arab Youth Conference in Cairo from July 5th to 7th, 2005, with the aim to raise Arab youths’ awareness on women’s educational, health, media, economic, social, political and legislative issues.
• On July 20th, 2006, the AWO Supreme Council issued a statement on the sufferings of the Palestinian and Lebanese women as a result of the Israeli aggression. HRH Princess Sabeeka also sent a cable to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in which she condemned the Israeli inhumane and brutal attacks on civilians, women and children in Lebanon and Palestine.
• The Bahrain AWO held, on November 13th, 2006, meetings on the “Arab Youth Strategy” aiming to consolidate the spirit of national belonging among Arab youths, make them aware of the challenges facing Arab women and help Arab decision-makers to embrace youths’ ideas in order to meet their aspirations. The strategy was set to be launched during the inaugural session of the First Arab Women’s Conference, hosted by the kingdom from November 13th to 15th, 2005.
Second: The First Conference of the AWO and Its Results
The First Conference of the AWO, themed: “Six Years since the First Arab Women Summit: Achievements and Challenges”, was held in Manama, under the auspices of HRH Princess Sabeeka, from the13th to 15th of November, 2006.
Arab First Ladies or representatives, representatives of regional and international specialised agencies and NGOs attended the event which focused mainly on eight themes, namely the “Women and Law”, “Women and Politics”, “Women Abroad”, “Women and Media”, “Arab Women and Economy”, “Educated Women … Developed Nation”, Women and Armed Conflicts” and “Arab Women, Sciences and Technology”.
Outcomes:
• Inauguration of the AWO’s Digital Library whose operation expenses were donated by HRH Princess Sabeeka.
• Inauguration of the Arab Youth Strategy to enhance women’s role in building Arab societies.
• Recommending the publication of the first report on Arab women’s affairs and issues to evaluate the progress made by member states in implementing decisions taken during forums and conferences focusing on women.
• Honouring 15 ladies from the member states by granting them the Kingdom’s medal of the second degree. Members of the Executive Council and the AWO’s Director-General were also decorated.
The kingdom’s hosting of the conference has got many positive implications:
– It was the first women conference held in Bahrain under the umbrella of the Arab Women Organisation.
– It reflects the keen interest of the wise leadership, led by HM King Hamad, to support the issues of Arab and Bahrain women.
– It is a living proof of the advanced status reached by Bahraini women who, thanks to the rights embedded in the Constitution, have become more involved in public life by holding key high positions such as ministers, judges and members of parliament.
– The massive participation of Arab First Ladies or their representatives reflects the importance of joint Arab Action and the leading role played by the kingdom in this regard.
Recommendations:
1. General Recommendations:
• Encouraging member states to adopt the Arab Youth Strategy to enhance women’s role in building Arab societies.
• Urge member states to launch partnerships between governments and NGOs in planning and implementing women-oriented policies.
• Allowing the AWO to cooperate and coordinate with international and regional organisations in organising women empowerment programmes, including statistics and progress indices.
2. Women and Law
• Monitoring and following up on Arab laws related to women’s rights through AWO’s legal committee.
• Call for the need to create mechanisms to bridge the gap between laws and their implementation.
• Urging member states to amend national laws in order to remove all texts including discrimination against women, so as to be in harmony with the regional and international conventions which they have ratified.
3. Women and Politics
• Requesting member states to adopt and activate the suitable mechanisms in order to facilitate women’s access to decision-making positions.
• Urging them to evaluate women-directed political capacity-building programmes objectively and scientifically and take advantage of the results to launch future plans and programmes.
4. Women and the Media
• Launching an Arab Media Strategy aiming to consolidate women’s role in sustainable development.
• Including women and media within the national issues of top interest and activating the needed legislations.
5. Women and Education
• Making sure that educational output meets the labour market’s needs.
• Enhancing the quality of education and including personal skills within school curricula.
• Providing women with more training in the media field and creating a media body that documents and highlights women’s media achievements.
6. Women and Economy
• Calling upon member states to take the necessary steps in order to consolidate women’s role in national economies and provide them with the support needed for facing the challenges of economic globalisation.
• Providing supportive services for women in order to enable them to reconcile between their family duties and role in the economic development.
7. Women and Armed Conflicts
• Taking the necessary procedures to launch a campaign to free Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons.
• Setting up special programmes and plans to protect Arab women who are suffering from occupation and armed conflicts in order to enable them to face the repercussions.
8. Emigrant Arab Women
• Calling upon the Arab League to activate the Arab Network for emigrants in order to develop contact with Arab women living abroad.
• Developing Arab media discourse so as to embrace immigrant Arab women’s issues and defend them.
• Establishing an Arab Network for emigrant Arab Women, as a mechanism that allows AWO to follow up issues of Arab women living abroad.
9. Arab Women and Technology
• Trying to provide gender-based science and technology data and encouraging women to use modern technology.
• Requesting member states to establish national committees in charge of upgrading women in the fields of sciences and technology.
Second: the Second Arab Women Conference and its Results
The second edition of the Arab Women Conference was hosted by the United Arab Emirates from November 11th to 13th under the theme of “Women in the Human Security Concept: Arab and International Perspectives”.
The kingdom of Bahrain’s delegation was led by HRH Princess Sabeeka who, as President of the previous session, delivered a speech at the inaugural session in which she praised the event’s theme stressing the importance of security in ensuring the success of economic development plans and their sustainability.
Results:
• Launching of the Arab Women Media Strategy (2009-2015) with the aim to promote a positive media culture of Arab women. It also seeks to boost efficiency of the media establishments to present a fair image of Arab women that will contribute to raising social awareness about women’s position, roles and contributions in building the future of their communities.
• Inauguration of the Arab Network for Women in Diaspora (ANWD) whose expenses were donated by Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak. The ANWD, proposed during the first edition hosted by Manama, aims create a data-base on Arab cadres living abroad and enhance communicating with emigrant Arab women.
• Honoring of the Bahraini media figure Wejdan Fahd Jassim for her masters theme on Bahraini women’s uses of satellite channels chosen by the Arab League as the Best Research in 2008.
The conference focused on the following seven themes:
• Global visions on security and safety: were women taken into consideration?
• Women’s security: a cultural perspective.
• Has globalisation of economy consolidated women’s economic security?
• Women’s security and health and environment issues.
• Education as a cornerstone of human security.
• Women’s security and that of society: social policies.
• Armed conflicts and women’s security.
In addition to the above themes, a special session was held to inform participants on the Rural Women’s Employment Project aiming to create a fund that provides beneficiaries with small and flexible loans as well as project models that takes into consideration their capabilities and the nature of the rural areas in which they live.
The conference also issued a communiqué in which participants called for the need to initiate dialogue with the International Human Security Committee to draw the attention to the Arab approach on woman human security and urging it to deal with this concept on international perspective, establishing a research reference on human security of woman in the Arab World and introducing clear-cut indicators and a guide for human security of woman, raising awareness on international human law and spreading and promoting its culture as well as its relationship with the woman and creating adequate mechanisms to enforce it on the ground, integrating the AWO’s strategy with the human security concept and initiating efforts to embed the latter into the policies and programmes of the AWO, employing the AWO’s media strategy in promoting and deepening the human security of Arab woman and supporting the role of woman as stabilizing factor of security and stability rather than a client demanding security and protection.