Karama, Alliance for
Arab Women, and UNIFEM Present the Regional Beijing+15 NGO Shadow Report for
the Arab States in December 2009
Sarah
Vaill - Karama
CAIRO, EGYPT, December 2, 2009 –
On December 13-14, 2009, in Cairo, Egypt, Karama, UNIFEM Egypt, and the
Alliance for Arab Women will convene a two-day 22-country consultation to issue
the Regional NGO Shadow Report on the Arab States' fulfillment of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA), fifteen years after it was adopted
at the UN World Conference on Women in 1995.
NGO representatives from 22 countries
across the Middle East and North Africa will gather in Cairo on December 13th
and 14th to assess the regional progress of the BPFA, what has been
implemented, challenges and obstacles to implementation, and the role of
NGOs. Building from this analysis, the representatives will also issue
recommendations and targets related to the Millennium Development Goals, which
all UN member states adopted in 2000 and will continue to pursue through 2015.
As an outcome from this regional
consultation, these women's rights activists and experts from the countries of
the Arab League will develop a set of collective regional priorities for the
next five years. These priorities will be presented in addition to the
Beijing+15 Regional NGO Shadow Report at the 54th Session of the UN
Commission on the Status of Women in New York, where Beijing+15 will be a
review theme.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action was adopted in September of 1995 on the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of the United Nations. The Platform for Action sets out actions
in 12 critical areas of concern aimed at women’s empowerment and advancement.
These entail removing obstacles to women’s participation in all areas of public
and private life through exercise of equal shares in economic, political,
social and cultural decision-making. The Fourth World Conference on
Women, where these commitments were adopted in 1995, was attended by 189
governments and more than 5,000 representatives from 2,100 NGOs.
Karama (meaning “dignity” in Arabic) enacts
initiatives supporting women leaders and activists from eleven countries of the
Middle East and North Africa building a movement to end violence against women
and girls. For more information on Karama, visit www.el-karama.org or contact Zahra Radwen at
+202-25272372.
Alliance for Arab Women: contact Dina Abou Elamiem, Media
Manager, at +202-393-9899 or visit www.theallianceforarabwomen.org.
UNIFEM Egypt: contact Dr. Maya Morsy, Country
Coordinator, at +202-25748494 or visit www.unifem.org.jo.