Maghreb women hail creation of UN gender equality body

[Al-khiyal]

Maghreb women hail creation of UN gender equality body

July 12, 2010 -- Women in several Maghreb countries are welcoming the UN's creation of a new body known as the Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The UN voted to create the body, which will be known as UN Women, on July 2nd. It will start working in 2011 with the goal of hastening the reduction in gender inequality and developing assistance for women and girls. "This is a good decision, because it will allow women to be better understood and defend themselves," Mariem Mint Bilal, a Mauritanian women's rights advocate and Rally of Democratic Forces parliamentarian, told Magharebia. "However, this [body] must be more than just a sounding board, because there have been far too many UN resolutions that have resulted in nothing being done," she added. The UN General Assembly voted for the creation of UN Women in 2009, but it took almost four years of negotiations among member states, as well as a campaign by the EU, to bring together four UN departments concerned with women's rights. "For a very long time, women have been waiting for a clear signal from the UN to enable them to be heard better within their own countries," said Khadijetou Mint El Moctar, a young lawyer who heads an NGO working for women's and children's rights. "In Mauritania, and in spite of some tentative progress, discrimination against women continues," she said. "On top of this, the maternal mortality rate is still very high and violence continues. This new body will give us the means to be more effective."

Moroccan Naima Korchi, an expert in international humanitarian law, told Magharebia, "I think [the creation of UN Women] is a really important step forward in the UN's work to improve the conditions of women and their place in the international community, particularly in the field of decision-making." UN Women will support international governmental bodies in laying down policies, while also helping member states to implement those standards and forming partnerships with civil society. "[UN Women] has brought several bodies which deal with women into a single major entity, which will make it possible to have a clear co-ordinated policy in its activities concerning women," said the legal expert. UN Women will unite the work of four previously separate UN departments: the Division for the Advancement of Women, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, and the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women. "Having a woman to represent the Maghreb in this body will make it possible to adapt UN activities to the region's characteristics and, alongside this, to provide a higher profile for Maghreb women on the international stage," said Korchi. Khadija Riyadhi, who heads the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, told Magharebia that the new body "is an instrument that can only be positive, since it's going to support the work of governments in the area of women's rights, since there's no tangible progress in that area, despite the several existing mechanisms and conventions".

In Tunisia, Safia Sahbi of the Democratic Women's Association said she was surprised at the unanimous vote for the body's creation "since Islamic countries generally always express reservations in the name of private cultural issues". "[W]hat can be appreciated is the decision to form a partnership with civil society, and so I'm hoping that women's rights associations are going to be among the first to engage in such partnership in the Arab region," she added. "It's a good step but needs to be achieved in reality," said Tunisian women's rights activist Aymen Rezghui. "UN decisions need to be approved by member states first, and then, more importantly, those countries need to show commitment to those decisions."

[Al-khiyal]

Un système d’indice des inégalités entre les sexes bientôt à Alger

Vendredi 16 Juillet 2010 -- Testé dans 12 pays africains, le système d’indice de développement et des égalités entre les sexes en Afrique, dit IDISA, sera introduit avant la fin de cette année en Algérie, apprend-on de l’Union nationale des sages-femmes algériennes. C’est d’ailleurs sa présidente qui recevra, jeudi prochain, la commission économique pour l’Afrique qui séjournera à Alger pendant quatre jours. Un atelier de présentation de système sera également tenu mardi à Alger. Ce système sera installé en collaboration entre le ministère délégué chargé de la Famille et de la Condition féminine, le ministère des Affaires étrangères ainsi que le Centre africain pour le genre et le développement social de la commission économique pour l’Afrique.