UNION FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN
REGIONAL CONFERENCE
on
“ Women Parliamentarians as Active Agents of
Development “
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF H.E THE FIRST LADY OF EGYPT
The Euro Mediterranean Partnership (1995), also known as the Barcelona
Process, is a comprehensive policy for the region. It promotes three
partnership areas: a political dialogue to achieve a common area of peace
and stability, an economic partnership to create a zone of shared
prosperity, and a social, culture and human partnership to encourage
understanding between peoples and cultures.
Since 1995, despite the continuity of dialogue and contacts through various
channels, the progress towards the goals set out in the Barcelona
Declaration has been slow. A fresh political impetus was provided by the
Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean initiative. Under the present
co-presidency of Sarkozy(France) and Mubarak(Egypt), it is believed that the
Union for the Mediterranean initiative can play an important role in
increasing the potential for regional cohesion and in addressing common
challenges facing the region.
The Euro-Med Work Programme (2005), the Paris Summit Declaration(2008), and
the recommendations of the subsequent First (2006) and Second (2009)
Ministerial Conferences on “Strengthening the Role of Women in Society",
highlighted the importance of the empowerment of women and indicated that
active and effective engagement of women of the Mediterranean Partners is
essential to ensure balanced and sustained development of the region. An
important dimension of these recommendations, is the growing role that women
have in influencing politics towards a discourse of human development.
Women’s participation in decision–making processes, constitutes a
prerequisite and a fundamental value for democratic governance. This value
needs to be safeguarded and implemented in the Mediterranean region. It is
within this framework that the National Council for Women in Egypt (NCW) ,
presided by H.E Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt, is planning
to host a conference on “Women Parliamentarians as Active Agents of
Development”.
The conference will provide a forum for women parliamentarians from the
Mediterranean region to conduct discussions highlighting their ability to
influence politics and policies for more holistic, human-based development.
The conference will also provide a forum to share experiences and to propose
innovative, adaptable policy framework recommendations on some key thematic
areas of development as related to climate change. Climate change will have
a series of effects particularly for agriculture and water management which
may intensify food insecurity, and increase competition for scarce water
resources. Climate change may hinder economic growth, therefore worsening
poverty and social instability.
The goal of the conference:
The overarching conference goal, is to showcase the value of women
parliamentarians in addressing the common challenges facing the
Mediterranean region.
Key Thematic Areas of the Conference:
In light of current discussions on climate change, financial and food
crises, enhancing economic equality and environmental sustainability are
becoming more critical to sustain human security. There is a need to more
directly discuss the inter-relatedness of these issues and how they will
impact those already at a disadvantage. Women's economic, social and
cultural roles place them at a disadvantage. The impacts of climate change
on human security in general, and on the vulnerability of women in
particular, have many inter-related aspects. Gendered division of labour
often results in women working in the informal and agricultural sectors,
which are more affected by climate change.
Whether nature or human induced, climate change has disproportionately
adverse impacts on women. Given the geographical nature of the Mediterranean region, there
is a need for greater emphasis to address possible gender impacts of climate
change, particularly on women who are vulnerable due to social and economic
inequalities.
Food security, economic wellfare, energy and water are only some of the
major issues confronted by women in the face of climate change and yet women
are routinely under represented in related negotiation and decision-making
processes. In addition, climate change plans in many countries, do
not specifically address gender differences and particular hardships faced
by women.
The cycle of gender biases that is perpetuated through extreme poverty, and
the lack of opportunities presented to women, needs to be broken. The attributes of decision-making processes
of women parliamentarians vis-à-vis their male counterparts will be
discussed
and highlighted during the conference. The participants will assess various associated policies,
and discuss measures that can be pushed forward in their respective
Parliaments for more equitable, human-rights based development.
The Objectives:
The main objectives of the conference are to:
Promote and strengthen constructive political dialogue between women
parliamentarians of the Mediterranean Partners.
Reinforce the successful elements of The Barcelona Process: Union for the
Mediterranean and to transform its objectives into tangible realities.
Demonstrate how regional dialogues with different political agents can
increase the potential for continued regional cooperation and integration.
Contribute to strengthening the role of the women parliamentarians, as
active agents of change in the
Mediterranean region.
The results anticipated as an outcome of the conference are:
The structure of the conference:
The conference will last for three days. During the second and third days, women
parliamentarians will share their experiences while discussing the thematic
topics and the challenges facing the region.
The first day will start by
the opening session, followed by a High Level
Panel to be convened and chaired by H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, the First
Lady of Egypt. The Panel will draw on the extensive experiences of its
esteemed members.
The Venue of the conference is the premises of the National Council for
Women in Cairo.
The format of the conference structure, is utilizing plenary sessions to showcase experiences in related areas. Short introductory
addresses will be given, whenever appropriate, to help frame the overarching
issues.
The Agenda design, is expected to contribute to in-depth discussions.
Participants will apply their expertise to foster active and outcome-focused
participation, identify key areas of concern, make practical recommendations
and propose concrete steps that need to be taken.
Co-Chairs of the sessions will introduce the speakers and moderate discussions
and comment on questions raised by participants.
Rapporteurs will summarize the key issues raised during the sessions.
A drafting committee consisting of the rapporteurs (open to participants)
and chaired by Dr. Amal Othman, MP and Chair of the Legislative Committee of
the Egyptian Parliament, will work to consolidate the
information from the discussions.
The Languages of the conference are Arabic/English/French with simultaneous
translation from/to the three languages.
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