Counselor / Rehab Abu Zain
Chargé d'Affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Lebanon, Representative of Her Excellency Mrs. Claudine Aoun, President of the Supreme Council of the Arab Women Organization.
His Excellency Ambassador / Ahmed Nayef Rashid Al-Dulaimi
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the League of Arab States, Representative the Her Excellency Dr. Yousra Karim Mohsen, President of the Executive Council of the Arab Women Organization.
His Excellency Ambassador / Saleh Abdel Wahed Shamakhi
Representative of the State of Libya to the League of Arab States.
Her Excellency Dr. Fadia Kiwan
Director-General of the Arab Women Organization.
Ladies and gentlemen, heads of delegations and missions,
It is my deep pleasure to share with you this celebration, and to express our thanks to all employees in the Arab Women Organization for the good reception.
It is an honor to be heading the delegation of the State of Libya in the occasion of its presidency for the Supreme Council of the Arab Women Organization, assuring the importance of the Arab Women Organization as symbol of Arab solidarity with its diversity and its various cultural components. This organization managed to brought us together over eighteen years in accordance with our common goals to discuss issues of supporting and empowering women in all fields,
On this occasion, I cannot fail to commend the prominent role of Mrs. Claudine Aoun, President of the National Commission for Lebanese Women's Affairs, during her presidency of the ninth round of the Supreme Council of the Arab Women Organization, the past two years appreciated her distinguished role in spreading the culture of citizenship and promoting the concept of equality, specially through the work of the eighth conference of the Arab Women Organization.
It is a good opportunity to take this occasion to refer to issues such as women empowerment and gender equality, which are core issues according to the national unity government's agenda. Our government, with all its ministries and institutions, has realized that the status of women is in fact related to social justice and to the seventeen sustainable development goals and human civilization as a whole. It goes without saying that the progress of societies is measured by cultural indicators, the most important of which is the status of women in society and their role in it.
As the Prince of Poets Ahmed Shawqi says:
And if the women were brought up in ignorance.... the men were suckled out of ignorance and idleness
Or as the poet of the Nile, Hafez Ibrahim, said:
The mother is a school if you prepare her.. you prepare a nation of good races
Ladies and gentlemen, honorable attendance
Over two decades ago, Arab Women Organization was established in response to Cairo Declaration, which was issued by the first Arab Women Summit in November 2000 and entered into force in March 2003. Let us review the three goals that the organization was established to achieve, to form the priorities of our work in the organization to achieve advancement in the status of women, which was the main component in the general policy of the organization and clearly explained in the "Strategy for the Advancement of Arab Women" and in the forums that were organized during the first and second Arab Women Summit.
Empowering women has become at the center of all national development programs and plans by providing all conditions and factors that would strengthen status of women in society.
There is still a long way ahead for women to reach equality by strengthening the capabilities of national mechanisms concerned with women’s rights and organizing the competencies of national institutions that contribute to supervising and empowering women affairs and developing gender-related statistical mechanisms and national human rights mechanisms.
As for the role of Libyan women in national reconciliation, in recognition of the important role of women in the process of developing the social, political, economic, and cultural environment in Libyan society, especially at this stage, and based on Resolution 1325 and subsequent Security Council resolutions and Recommendation No. 30 of the Judicial Agreement on all forms of discrimination against women, and all international and regional conventions ratified by Libya, it is time for women to participate in the peace negotiations, as they should be part of the process of democratization in post-conflict countries.
The government is also working on a project to formulate an action plan for women, security, and peace as a “national mechanism”, its launch will constitute the first step in putting regional and international decisions into practice, and will be considered as an important gain for women in particular, and will also enhance the human rights system in Libya in general, and reflects the response of the political will in Libya towards achieving security and peace.
Despite the difficult circumstances that Libya and the world are going through due to the Corona pandemic; the national efforts executed by the government to address the pandemic within the country have yielded satisfactory results according to reports submitted by the authorities concerned with providing support and vaccination to all citizens and everyone lives in Libya without discrimination or exclusion. Referring here to the fact that one of the most important fields the Ministry is currently working on, with all government institutions and relevant ministries, in cooperation with civil society, is to monitor policies and programs that respond to women’s needs during the pandemic.
finally, I can only express my sincere thanks and gratitude, on behalf of the Government of National Unity, to the honorable attendance, especially His Excellency Ambassador Saleh Shammakhi, our honorable representative, who often had respectable attitudes regarding women issues, and has launched the slogan “Women build a state and develop a nation).
I also thank the representatives of the delegations and the employees at the Arab Women Organization and everyone contributed and participate or expressed his interest in the pivotal role that women represent in the advancement of societies and their remarkable contribution along with men in the battlefield of life in all its aspects.
Thank you,
Peace, mercy and blessings of God