The First Experts meeting on the Regional Arab Strategy “Protection of Arab Women : Peace and Security”
On December 14th, 2009 The League of Arab States hosted the first regional meeting aiming to formulate an Arab strategy addressing the issue of Arab women’s peace and security.
In cooperation with UNIFEM Egypt and the Arab Women’ Organization, this exceptional meeting gathered a number of female experts from across the Arab world : Palestine, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt in addition to Ambassador Laila Emara, Board Member from the Peace Movement and Dr. Haifaa Abu Ghazaleh, President of the National Council for Family Affairs in Jordan and technical expert of the strategy.
The meeting took place to discuss and negotiate the broad lines for the Arab women’s strategy at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, the discussions included: women’s human security and the international and regional mechanisms and framework. By the end of the day, the experts reached five main goals that the strategy will incorporate: participation of women, protection of women, prevention, training and education of women and raising awareness.
The deliberations during the meeting stressed on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 : Women, Peace and Security and its responsibility in promoting women’s well-being during and post conflicts. The discussions also addressed the role women play in armed conflict and the importance of addressing crimes committed against women and girls. The experts agreed on the necessity of involving the media and highlighting the success stories aiming to raise awareness among Arab societies on women’s peace and security and the involvement of young girls in building peace.
“ It is important to link the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 to other international declarations and references such as CEDAW and the Beijing Conference on women that took place in 1995 and to focus on directing the financial resources to building peace rather than combating violence and war”, said Dr. Maya Morsy, UNIFEM Egypt country coordinator.