KUWAIT: The First Gulf Forum on Women's Rights and the Civil Status Law, organized by the Women's Cultural and Social Society, kicked off here yesterday under the auspices of Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Faisal Al-Hajji.
Chairwoman of the Women's Cultural and Social Society Sheikha Al-Nisuf said the forum coincided with a study on the Kuwaiti civil status law and the Bahraini laws, within celebrations of the World Women's Day. Both the forum and the study, she said, was being conducted in cooperation with the Freedom House and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and came as a culmination of a whole year's worth of effort by experts in the region.
Freedom House is a US-based international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights. It is best known for its annual assessment of the degree of democratic freedoms in each country, which is widely used in political science research.
Moreover, Al-Nisuf noted that the society that she headed had launched on the occasion of the World Women's Day a national awareness campaign on the Kuwaiti civil status law under the slogan "Law is your beacon," adding that it was aimed at raising the awareness of women regarding their legal rights.
Since 2006, the society has been working on a comprehensive program, in cooperation with Freedom House and UNIFEM, for shedding more light on this area, she said. On her part, UNIFEM Regional Director Muna Ghanim said a study conducted in Kuwait just before the parliamentary elections of June 2006 indicated that more than half of the participants saw a need to amend the civil status law in a way that ended discrimination against women.
The political participation of women is constantly on the rise, despite it being relatively slow, and the presence of women in governmental decision-making positions is of utmost importance because they can provide the cornerstone for strong alliances that can help change priorities," she said. Ghanim noted that the road toward gender equality and women empowerment was a long one, calling for "working together to protect what women have achieved.
Meanwhile, Chairwomen of the Bahraini Women's Union Mariam Al-Ruwai'ey highlighted the efforts exerted in her country for issuing a civil status law, saying that a committee was formed upon an initiative by women's society in 1982 to follow up on this issue. As for Executive Director of Freedom House Jennifer Windsor, she expressed her joy at participating in this event, which highlighted the importance of women's attainment of their political rights.
She said the organization, which was established in 1941, had engaged in a number of partnership programs around the world with the aim of spreading knowledge and exchanging expertise. Prominent female figures and experts from the Gulf region are participating in the one-day forum, including Kuwait's Professor of International Law Dr. Badriya Al-Awadhi, who will be presenting a paper on the rights of women in the Kuwaiti civil status law compared to Arab legislations.
Chief Justice at Bahrain's Jaafari Court Sheikh Hamid Al-Mubarak will be presenting a paper on Jaafari laws and women's rights, while BahrainUniversity's Dr. Ahmad Al-Atawi will be presenting a paper on the rights of women in Sunni laws.
- KUNA, Kuwait Times
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment