Qatar 'committed to women's empowerment'

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

New York: Minister of Administrative Development and Labour and Social Affairs H E Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jaffali Al Nuaimi has underlined that Qatar has made a lot of achievements in the advancement and empowerment of women and attached due interest in and support for women’s issues by involving them in plans and national development programme and this is reflected in Qatar National Vision 2030 launched by Emiri Decree No. 44 of 2008.

This came in a statement by the Minister at the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations in New York.

He said Qatar confirmed the active and the pivotal role of women and will continue to provide all efforts that would empower women and lead their advancement and to promote their participation in all fields in a way that contributes to enhance efforts in this area at the national regional and international levels.

The Minister stressed the importance of the session as it takes place after the adoption last year of the international community with the development plan beyond 2030.

He affirmed Qatar’s firm faith in the essential role being played by women in society and said: “This belief is based on the legacy of the values-based principles to the Islamic Shariah which elevate the role of women as a genuine partner in the family building and community advancement.”

He pointed out that the Constitution of Qatar and national legislations highlighted the principle of equality of rights and duties among all citizens women and men stressing Qatar’s commitment to its international obligation and that Qatari laws relating to women comply with the related international conventions that Qatar is a party to.

The Minister reviewed the achievements of Qatari women which played a pivotal role in the implementation of national development strategies and plans in all fields in a way that enhances their position and status in the community.

He said Qatar National Vision 2030 came to reaffirm the importance of women’s issues in state policy and thus contributing to enhance their capabilities and enable them to participate fully in all aspects of life such as education labour health and the process of decisionmaking.

“This trend confirms the status accorded by the leadership and the people of Qatar for women as a major building block of family cohesion and in building a society of prosperity stability and protection of human rights and equality among all segments of society and without discrimination.

“In line with the State’s commitment to promoting human rights and support for women’s issues a number of government institutions and civil society organizations have been established that deal with women’s issues.”

He referred to Qatar Foundation for Social Action which includes affiliates including protection centre and social rehabilitation centre family counselling and others pointing out that these institutions continue to work hard to raise awareness of women’s rights including women with disabilities aged women and others as well as providing women and girls with quality education equal employment opportunities and participation in decisionmaking.

The Minister also referred to Qatar’s success in the implementation of national strategies and plans on the empowerment of women which were confirmed by international and national reports where he referred to the Human Development Report 2015 issued by the United Nations Development Programme which pointed out that Qatar ranked first at the level of the Arab countries while ranked 31 at international level in the context of human development also pointed to the fourth National human development of Qatar’s report for 2015 which showed that the average number of years of schooling received by females has reached 14 years a similar number of years of education for males and amounted to government support ratio for education at 19.4 percent which is higher than the ratio at the global level which is 14 percent. Likewise the percentage of female participation in the labour force increased to 35.1 percent which exceed the ratios in the countries of the region.

The Minister highlighted Qatar’s efforts in supporting women in countries that suffer from poverty and the effects of armed conflict and foreign occupation. In this context he expressed Qatar concern about the difficult conditions faced by Palestinian women in the occupied Arab territories especially in Gaza Strip and the denial of basic rights.

He called for the intensification of efforts for the advancement of Palestinian women and address the humanitarian conditions in accordance with the provisions of international humanitarian law and human rights stressing the importance of supporting access to full rights particularly the right to establish a Palestinian state based on the resolutions of international legitimacy.QNA