More Than 200 Female Saudi Cadets Graduated From Military Training Course
New
Age Islam News Bureau
31
March 2022
• Iran
Orders Probe after Women Barred From Football Game
• Red
Card! Outrage in Iran over Ban on Female Football Fans
• Afghanistan:
Defending the Rights of Women in a Necropolis of Human Rights
• UN
Dubai Forum: Women Entrepreneurs Call For Greater Access to Financing
• Afghanistan:
UN Special Envoy Holds Dialogue with Women Representatives in Kabul
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/female-saudi-cadets-military/d/126702
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More
Than 200 Female Saudi Cadets Graduated From Military Training Course
Saudi
Arabia opened up military recruitment to women in early 2021 as part of the
goals of Saudi Vision 2030. (Supplied)
-----
March
31, 2022
RIYADH:
More than 200 female Saudi cadets graduated on Wednesday from a military
training course, the General Directorate of Passports announced.
The
228 soldiers, who have completed their fourth basic individual course, were
honored during a ceremony presided over by Lt. Gen. Sulaiman bin Abdul Aziz
Al-Yahya, the directorate’s director general, under the patronage of Prince
Abdulaziz bin Saud, the minister of interior.
In
a speech, Al-Yahya passed on to the graduates a message of congratulations from
the minister and praised the women for the determination they had shown during
training. He also stressed the importance of “responsibility, working
seriously, being team-spirited and making every effort to serve the country.”
Saudi
Arabia opened up military recruitment to women in February last year as part of
the goals of Vision 2030 relating to empowerment and gender equality in all
fields. Saudi women now have the opportunity to join the Royal Saudi Air
Defense, Royal Saudi Navy, Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force and the Armed
Forces Medical Services.
The
first group of female recruits graduated from the Armed Forces Women’s Cadre
Training Center in September last year after completing 14 weeks of basic
training that began on May 30.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2054056/saudi-arabia
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Iran
Orders Probe after Women Barred From Football Game
File
Photo
-----
Syed
Zafar Mehdi
30.03.2022
TEHRAN,
Iran
Iranian
President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered an investigation into Tuesday’s incident
during a football match between Iran and Lebanon where women were barred from
entering the stadium and pepper-sprayed.
Speaking
at a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Raisi ordered his interior
minister to “thoroughly investigate” the matter and take “necessary measures”,
his office said.
The
incident that took place outside a football stadium in the northeastern city of
Mashhad when Iran was taking on Lebanon in the World Cup 2022 qualifier has led
to a widespread outcry across the country.
According
to reports and eyewitnesses, women were prevented from entering the stadium
despite possessing tickets and were greeted with pepper spray when they
protested against the decision.
According
to local media, a total of 12,500 tickets had been sold online for the match,
with 2,000 seats reserved exclusively for women.
Iran
and the world football’s governing body FIFA have had many run-ins over the years
on the presence of women in football stadiums, with FIFA long demanding that
Tehran allow them inside the stadiums.
Women
have been barred from entering sports stadiums in Iran since the 1979
revolution.
It
remains unclear if FIFA or its Asian chapter will take any punitive action
against Iran over the incident, which has already created ripples in the
football world.
Outcry
Following
the match on Tuesday – which Iran won 2-0 to end up as the group topper –
videos circulating on social media showed female football fans angrily
protesting outside the stadium.
It
sparked massive anger and outrage across the country, prompting top officials
to take notice.
Government
spokesman, Ali Bahadori Jahromi, said in a statement on Wednesday that
government officials, including President Raisi, had “protested” against the
incident.
In
a separate statement, Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Baqar Qalibaf, called it an
“irrational and disrespectful” behavior toward women, blaming it on “managerial
shortcomings and hasty decisions.”
The
country’s attorney general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, also took note of the
incident and said it was “unacceptable” to sell the tickets and then prevent
women from entering the stadium.
The
governor of Mashhad, the second-most populous city in the country, said the
people responsible for the incident will “definitely be dealt with.”
Mohsen
Davari said he “apologizes” to the people who were not able to enter the
stadium and were deprived of watching the football match, including the women.
The
issue of women’s presence in sports stadiums in Iran has been widely debated
both inside and outside the country, with the issue even reaching the
parliament.
In
January, around 2,000 women were allowed to enter the Azadi Stadium in Tehran
to watch Iran’s match against Iraq, when Iran became the first Asian side to
qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Before
that, in 2019, women in Iran were for the first time in four decades allowed
inside Azadi Stadium to watch the Asian Champions League final between Iran’s
Persepolis and Japan’s Kashima Antlers.
It
came in the wake of the death of football fan Sahar Khodayari, who died after
setting herself on fire. She had been reportedly arrested after trying to enter
Azadi Stadium disguised as a man.
Following
Tuesday’s match, Iranian team skipper Alireza Jahanbakhsh said it would be
great to see women in stadiums, making a strong case for the complete lifting
of the decades-long ban.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iran-orders-probe-after-women-barred-from-football-game/2550388
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Red
card! Outrage in Iran over ban on female football fans
March
31, 2022
JEDDAH:
There was outrage in Iran on Wednesday after thousands of women with tickets
were denied entry to a stadium hosting a football World Cup qualifying match.
President
Ebrahim Raisi ordered an Interior Ministry inquiry, a regional governor
apologized and the country’s attorney general said the incident was “not
acceptable.”
The
World Cup qualifier against Lebanon on Tuesday night, which Iran won 2-0, took
place at the Imam Reza stadium in the northeastern city of Mashhad. About 2,000
women who had bought tickets for match gathered at the perimeter of the stadium
but were not allowed to enter.
Mohsen
Davari, the governor of Mashhad, said: “I apologise that many people couldn’t
enter the stadium. Unfortunately, a large number of people outside were
deprived of watching the game.”
Attorney
General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said: “If conditions allowed the sale of
tickets to women, a suitable place had to be found for them.” The incident was
“not acceptable ... and showed poor management,” he said.
Iran
has generally barred female spectators from football and other sports stadiums
since the revolution in 1979. The country’s powerful clerics say women must be
shielded from the masculine atmosphere and the sight of semi-clothed men.
The
latest incident is likely to attract the attention of world football’s
governing body, FIFA, which ordered Iran in September 2019 to allow women
access to stadiums without restriction or face suspension from international
competitions.
That
directive followed an outcry over the death of Sahar Khodayari, a football fan
who was detained in 2018 trying to enter a stadium dressed as a man. She later
set herself on fire in fear of being jailed.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2054011/sport
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Afghanistan:
Defending the Rights of Women in a Necropolis of Human Rights
March
31, 2022
By
Dr. Nafees Ahmad
The
Taliban founded an authoritarian Islamist theocracy in Afghanistan a
quarter-century ago that egregiously engrossed in methodical internal
subjugation, deprivation of human rights to Afghan citizens. Consequently, the
Taliban endured international isolation. Now, once again, they have ascended to
power and captured Kabul on 15 August 2021 that received initially mixed indications
whether the Taliban 2.0 regime will be a new incarnation this time. While the
Taliban have desisted from massive retaliatory exterminations, their imperium
has provoked a mass exodus and intensifying uncertainties over how they will
deal with women, minorities, media, and socio-political disagreement that have
been well-protected under the 2004 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan. There are several questions such as Will the Taliban execute their
stated promises about the formation of an inclusive government? Will they
respect the diversity of Afghanistan while guaranteeing services and jobs for
all Afghan citizens, including women? Will they again establish a Sunni
clerical totalitarian regime worse than the Iranian model? Will they abide by
their counterterrorism commitments and work with the Western jurisdictions to
ensure free economic aid flows or once again allow isolation? To what extent do
the U.S. and its allies still impact the promises and prospects of the Taliban?
However, in a troubled world, the human right to dignity and the right to human
equality of all people have become more needed than ever before.
The
answers to the questions hereinabove are fully available under the present 2004
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan that was adopted after the
years of protracted conflict and whose fate, now, remains in limbo. It has
envisioned the Afghan State as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the
Preamble. The National Assembly is the supreme legislative establishment in
Afghanistan, consisting of two houses; a) the Lower House (Wolesi Jirga) and;
b) the Upper House (Meshrano Jirga). The Wolisi Jirga includes 249 elected
seats and is empowered to amend the Constitution’s provisions and makes the
President accountable to the Wolesi Jirga. The Meshrano Jirga has 102 seats,
including a third of presidential appointees, out of which 50% of the seats are
for women. The judiciary’s highest court is the Supreme Court, which includes
nine judges appointed by the President at the approval of the Wolesi Jirga for
a term of 10-years. The Ministry of Justice has been empowered for new
enactments and law reforms. The Bonn Agreement in 2001 has established the
Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). Thus, AIHRC is assigned by
the Constitution to promote and protect human rights and investigate human
rights abuses, including war crimes. The idea of diversity is protected under
Article 4 of the Afghan Constitution; the nation of Afghanistan shall contain
Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkman, Baluch, Pachaie, Nuristani, Aymaq,
Arab, Qirghiz, Qizilbash, Gujur, Brahwui, and other tribes. The majoritarian
religion is Islam (Sunni); however, several other minority religions such as
Hindu and Buddhism are also professed.
The
existential peregrination of Afghanistan is sandwiched between once metropolis
of civil liberties and present necropolis of human rights. Today, Afghanistan
is jettisoned between Afghan domestic unilateralism narrative and global
multilateralism narrative. Geopolitically, Afghanistan is located between South
Asia and Central Asia, but it is part of SAARC (South Asian Association of
Regional Cooperation)—an inter-governmental organization—bordered by
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, India, Pakistan, and Iran. The
total area of Afghanistan is 647,500 sq. km, and more than half the landmass is
mountainous, and it is shared in half by the Hindu Kush mountain range. The
total population of Afghanistan is 38,928.34 (2020), and it is 40,003,062
(2021) with a growth rate of 2.40% (2021) and 25.75% (2019) live in urban
centres. Afghanistan remains one of the poorest nation-states in the world,
with a literacy rate of 36% (14% women and 43% men).
Legal
Pluralism
Most
legal systems in conflict and post-conflict countries consist of parallel and
often contradictory social, economic, and political systems and regulatory
mechanisms that are a potential source of future legal insecurity and social
and political conflict, and Afghanistan is no exception. However, the Preamble
to the Constitution stipulates that the Nation of Afghanistan observes the UN
Charter and the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Therefore,
Afghanistan is a party to a compendium of international instruments such as CEDAW
(U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women) and U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1325 to secure women’s rights.
Moreover, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan obligates the
government to foster a peaceful and progressive society based on social
harmony, human dignity, equality of justice, protection of human rights, the
accomplishment of democracy, and preserving national integration and equality
among all ethnicities and tribes. However, the Constitution also states that an
explicit provision that no law “contrary to Islam” must not be interpreted
imperfectly if the same is problematic for women’s human rights.
In
Afghanistan, legal pluralism is based on several types of legitimating sources,
including International law, State Law, Religious Law, and Customary Law.
Traditional practices maintain social order, particularly in rural areas, where
the State still has the only limited writ. Each village has its informal
customs and processes for enforcing norms and resolving disputes. Therefore,
community councils still act as the principal judicial system in the country,
and almost 80% of disputes are settled outside the formal judicial system and
without any legal documentation due to a lack of access to standard courts and
trust deficit in them. Community councils are problematic as they reject
anything construed as contrary to their creeds and convictions. As such,
disputes relating to marriage, divorce, polygamy, and child custody can be
poorly judged. In addition, these councils are dominated by men and have a
patriarchal structure in which women are strongly under-represented. In a
country where women symbolize family honour and are at risk of being considered
goods and properties to be used and exchanged for this purpose, violence
against women is widely tolerated at household, community, and national levels
due to traditional justice mechanisms being unresponsive to women’s human
rights.
Implementation
with HRDA Constitutionalism
Implementation
of human rights in Afghanistan is possible with Human Rights Driven Approach
(HRDA) Constitutionalism. HRDA Constitutionalism invokes the application and
appreciation of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan where
appropriately sufficient arrangements have been envisioned in the Preamble and
Chapter-2 on fundamental rights in the context of women’s rights. International
Human Rights Law (IHRL) Framework is one of the most significant devices for
fostering women’s human rights but does not have pragmatic implementation at
the grassroots stratum. The constitutionally guaranteed legal equality of women
is time and again contravened with the retaining the discriminatory personal
laws stemmed from Islamic hermeneutics based on customary laws that are further
seconded by the Constitutional recognition of Sharia Law, for example, a woman
walks out of an abusive marriage; therefore, the judicial authorities will be
subjected to chastisements, despite the fact it does not have any basis in
family law, civil law, criminal law or criminal code of Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, these punishments are pronounced by the judicial officers as per
their interpretation of Sharia law.
The
promotion of women’s human rights can be accomplished by creating spaces for media
campaigns, organizing conferences, encouraging the participation of NGOs, and
sensitizing the common people about the human rights of women. Women’s
organizations will have to work with AIHRC to have a regnant voice on crimes
against women while generating parallel documentation of Optional Reports to
the CEDAW Committee. Now, there is a necessity to reform the local laws in
tandem with the international IHRL obligations of Afghanistan. Regrettably,
Afghanistan does not have an appropriate system in place for a pragmatic
enjoyment of women’s human rights in every walk of life that too in
contravention of the constitutional protections.
Traditional
Sensitivities & Islamic Councils
Primarily,
Afghanistan is a traditional Islamic State in which HRDA Constitutionalism will
have greater socio-cultural acceptability provided it is consistent with the
applicable Sharia Law system. In this conspectus, appropriate modules can be
taken from various other Islamic countries in the neighbourhood like Iran and
Pakistan, where the situation is different and beyond. There is a pivotal issue
of Islamic interpretations in Afghanistan that percolates from an absence of an
accurate understanding of Sharia Law. Therefore, it is crucial to collaborate
with Islamic scholars, particularly from the liberal Islamic democracies, to
evolve the correct construction of Islamic views with the Afghan scholars on a
wide range of subjects, including women’s human rights. Thus, a liberal and
HRDA Constitutionalism-based elucidation of the Holy Quranic verses has to be
commenced by Islamic scholars in Afghanistan. HRDA has to create a social
balance between women’s family obligations and the rights of women. Such a
premise would encourage and facilitate the training of women in the human rights
discourse. It would also embolden women’s empowerment and provide requisite
momentum to feminist movements in Afghanistan.
The
diverse challenges to women’s rights need to be addressed with carving out a
pragmatic role for highly influential Islamic Councils. These are, in fact,
women’s rights involved in the matters of polygamy, reproductive
determinations, child custody & marriage, divorce, preferences for life
partners. Traditionally, women’s rights in these matters have always been
decided by the patriarchal fiefdoms in Afghanistan. There are reasons for such
a sorry state of affairs, like the low literacy threshold among the Afghan
population that led the people of Afghanistan to exclusively rely upon the
religious clergy that has significantly shaped and influenced their way of
life, including their personal affairs. The new political leadership can
facilitate accessibility and coordination to NGOs and women’s rights defenders
to sensitize the people in this connection. Therefore, religious scholars must
be sensitive to women’s rights armed with liberal and harmonious construction
of religious texts. These religious scholars can be the change-makers in
bridging the contradictions between traditional sensitivities and Islamic
beliefs that trample upon women’s rights in Afghan society. Thus, it is the
Quranic human rights of women that the Afghan State must access, and it must
respect the same.
Gender
Representation in Judicial Routes
The
Afghan Judicial System (AJS) does not adequately represent Afghan women judges;
therefore, legal safeguards designed for their protection are often nosediving
at the ground enforcement. The Supreme Court of Afghanistan does not have women
judges, and the same is the situation within the local judiciary. Further,
there is no female representation at the community level again due to the
misconstruction of Sharia Law regarding the ability of women to make proper
judgments. Now Afghan women judges and lawyers
are fleeing for safety and refuge as criminals convicted by them are out
for reprisals. It shows an inherent and deep-rooted bias and ill-conceived
preponderance of patriarchal and parochial tendencies against women, and AJS is
not an exception. The pace of judicial and institutional reforms has been
sluggish that added salt to injury. Afghanistan got a chance to codify, revise
and develop its laws in conformity with international principles of IHRL
immediately after the collapse of Taliban 1.0 in the late 1990s, but it could
not do so. Until now, only a few courts premises and several training
programmes have been developed in the provinces. Only one family court in Kabul
and some courts have been created in the adjacent provinces. Such a lacklustre
approach cumulatively resulted in a miserable level of public consciousness
regarding new rules, regulations, and laws about women’s rights at all AJS and
Afghan informal administration levels. Thus, women’s human rights cannot be
realized in Afghanistan without the representation of women in the AJS.
Women’s
Safety in A Fragile Transitional State
There
is a lack of psycho-physical safety and socio-economic security for women’s
NGOs and women’s rights defenders in all walks of life across Afghanistan. The
modes of women’s sartorial presentation, socialization thresholds, economic
engagements, and education exposure are the regnant determinant of honour in
Afghan society and culture. The writ of the patriarchal chief runs and is
responsible for protecting the family fiefdom’s reputation. By itself, these
are stark tests and trials in expanding the scope of accessibility to HRDA
Constitutionalism for sensitizing, educating, and devising programmes for
Afghan women. The scarcity of understanding the nuances of justice and judicial
institutions further impedes their access to public life mobility. However,
Islamic councils and religious leaders have allowed few well-connected NGOs to
operate to helping vulnerable women in the various communities. Despite all
socio-economic trials and tribulations for Afghan women, there is a principal
challenge of the rule of law and its application to traditional practices and
informal justice systems for achieving justice. In the absence of formal AJS,
informal justice systems have mushroomed in Afghanistan. The personnel
presiding over them also head the local councils that are perceived as the
primary source of traditional norms. Moreover, the lack of infrastructural
facilities and logistical support has crippled their faith in the AJS has
further deteriorated. The growth of the informal justice systems challenges the
AJS, and its prevalence in the future remains a material question.
U.N.
Security Council Resolution Principles
The
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 stipulated fundamental principles,
namely; protection, participation, and promotion of women’s human rights with
the HRDA roadmap and women’s rights NGOs have been doing the work for their
empowerment despite all odds as under:
-In
the context of protection, women NGOs have been operational with the Ministry
of Women Affairs (MWA) and the group ‘Women Living under Muslim Laws’ and other
INGOs in training, empowering, and preparing the drafts for new laws of family,
marriage, and crimes against women laws, etc. These NGOs and INGOs have also
been pushing and encouraging gender mainstreaming within other new laws at
household and community levels. Such laws are essential in ensuring the
restoration of AJS to enable women to claim their rights. Moreover, the NGOs
have been working with MWA to build women’s shelters, help centres for those enduring
violence and confronting abuse, and address the women’s most basic health and
economic requirements. Thus, the HRDA roadmap ensures protection by
facilitating new legislation and socio-economic security for Afghan women
enduring violence and promoting rights-based education.
-In
the context of participation, the participation of women in decision-making
bodies is a crucial step for securing their human rights. National and Global
agencies have been working hard to establish women’s Shuras (Decision-Making
Councils) among the tribal communities under the Afghanistan National
Solidarity Programme. These Councils intend to re-boot those traditional
structures already in place to ensure women’s participation in a pragmatic
orientation. Moreover, there has been a multitude of initiatives from the NGO
and political community to integrate the voices of women and promote their
participation through different arrangements like the Women’s Political
Participation Committee (WPPC) and the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN), etc. These
arrangements not only revive a sense of solidarity and cooperation for women’s
rights defenders, but they also build partnerships with female Members of
Parliament at the national stage. Furthermore, there have been active campaigns
for drafting women judges in the Supreme Court. Thus, the women’s rights
movement has been advancing different advocacy mechanisms for law reforms and
political participation at every stage of the AJS.
There
is No Conclusion
It
is axiomatic that Afghanistan represents an assortment of burning issues
germane to HRDA Constitutionalism in defending women’s rights in a necropolis
of human rights, particularly in conflict and post-conflict settings. Due to
the fragile dynamics of the Afghan State and the legal pluralism that has
followed, NGOs operating with HRDA Constitutionalism must consider several
factors, including functioning in an Islam-driven system in a culturally
sensitive trajectory. The participation of women in the existing AJS and their
potential drafting in the new judicial arrangements need to be ensured with
fair play. All the stakeholders must recognize the challenges of women’s
safety. The implementation of women’s human rights and their integration within
the local traditional decision-making institutions must be salvaged beyond the
interference of the Afghan State.
Source:
Modern Diplomacy
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UN
Dubai Forum: Women entrepreneurs call for greater access to financing
March
30, 2022
DUBAI
— The second full day of the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022)
on Tuesday, saw women entrepreneurs demanding better opportunities and better
access to financing to help ensure a more equitable, sustainable role in
business development in the Arab region.
Along
with this headline event focused on women, the Forum, taking place in Dubai,
also held a ministerial panel on the importance of Micro-, Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises, known as MSMEs, for post-COVID recovery. Discussions
also highlighted the power of Africa’s youth generation as crucial to
attracting future foreign investment in the continent’s development.
Addressing
the panel on uplifting women's entrepreneurship, Farida Al Awadhi, the
Chairperson of Emirates Businesswomen Council, said: “Unfortunately, women in
Middle East and the Arab countries have been undermined or media has
misrepresented them.”
Sonya
Janahi, CEO of RA’EDAT Arab Woman Portal, agreed, and added: “Arab women have
been unprecedented in many things, but unfortunately, there’s a lack of
international knowledge [about what they are doing]. So let us focus on letting
Arab women shine, creating opportunities together to work and collaborate, and
focus on how to train and develop women so their entrepreneurship journey can
also be an investment journey.”
However,
all the participants agreed that boosting entrepreneurship and achieving gender
parity in the business world required that women have more opportunities and
better access to financing, with the aim of putting women entrepreneurs on par
with their male counterparts.
“There
are many initiatives to bridge this gap, but we are not there yet,” said Dr.
Louiza Chitour, the HealthTech Programme Manager, Plug and Play Abu Dhabi – a
CSR initiative that helps female founders globally acquire funding for and thrive
in their businesses.
“So,
it’s more important for us to be involved in those investment conversations –
how to get women to invest, how to educate them – to give them the confidence
that they also can be a part of this investment world that’s escaping us.”
Moderator
of the session and the President of the International Women Entrepreneurs
Challenge, Ibukun Awosika, pointed out that the challenges of being a woman in
the entrepreneurial world are even tougher for African female entrepreneurs.
Speaking
later to UN News he said: “There are challenges based on our cultural system,
there are challenges common to all men and women entrepreneurs, based on our
infrastructure, financial [systems], the perception of a female as opposed to a
male, and sometimes the opportunity and the limitation.”
Although
there have been significant achievements in the last few decades, women’s
socio-economic disadvantage is still reflected in pervasive gender inequalities
in earned income, access to productive resources such as credit cards and
assets, education, liberty to pursue a profession and access to financing.
Jessica
Neumann, an Investment and Technology Promotion Expert and Gender focal point
at the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) said that the agency is in
the process of finalizing its gender lens investing and training e-learning
course.
“We
decided to design [this] virtual e-learning course with free access to really
stop focusing on women and trying to fix them because we are beyond the
conversation on what women should do to raise funding for the business, and
rather raise awareness [about] the [unfair] power dynamics that exist in the
finance industry,” she explained.
UNIDO,
she continued, had long been focused on gender analysis “and in every project
we do, we look at the power dynamics as to where women are excluded, and we
take steps and measures to see that they are equally benefitted from our
projects. So, this time we are not doing another woman accelerator, we are
talking to the men now and trying to make them understand that there is a real
business in investing in women.”
Governmental
support was seen as crucial in achieving gender parity and having more women
helm their own businesses.
As
Chairperson of Emirates Businesswomen Council of UAE, Farida Al Awadhi summed
up: “Yes. We can do it. But the journey is much faster if governments put in
place rules, regulations and policies to support women.”
Providing
government support to the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also echoed
among the speakers during the Ministerial level discussion on Tuesday.
Among
the panelists were: Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, UN Assistant Secretary-General and
Director-General of the African Risk Capacity Cluster (ARC), Dr. Ahmed bin
Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi; Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and
Small and Medium Enterprises in the United Arab Emirates; and Dr. Abdul Rahim
Younes Ali Minister of State, Economy, Development Planning and International
Cooperation of Chad.
The
Ministerial Panel highlighted the Role of SMEs in developing the world economy,
especially at a time of multiple severe global challenges. With the pandemic
creating unprecedented disruptions to global economies and labor markets at all
levels, supply chains grounding to a halt and lockdowns resulting in the forced
closure of many businesses, it is unsurprising that SMEs were the most heavily
impacted.
Diong
spoke about the challenges that Africans face in terms of investment, and what
needs to be done to support small and medium-sized enterprises on the
continent.
He
added that when addressing the SME sector in Africa, one thing on which all
agreed was that 80 per cent of jobs on the continent are provided by African
SMEs. “So, it’s imperative to take the small and medium enterprises seriously.”
The
UN official pointed to some of the challenges facing small and medium-sized
enterprises in the African continent: First, access to markets, he said, noting
that “it is not possible to establish projects in the absence of markets”;
second, enabling small and medium enterprises to access finance; and third,
providing the necessary resources for capacity-building.
After
the session, Dr. Abd al-Rahim Younes on the Minister of State, Economy,
Development Planning and International Cooperation of Chad told UN News that
Africa is the “continent of future investment” and noted that young people made
up more than 60 per cent of over the population. This massive young cohort was
now beginning to form companies or to find work in the private sector.
He
pointed out that African governments support young people, whether through
local, regional or international funding, and stressed that the continent is
rich in natural resources such as water, petroleum, minerals and all sources of
energy.
“Chad
has more than 120 million head of livestock, and more than 25 million hectares
of arable land, as well as newly discovered oil fields, in addition to gold in
large quantities. We look forward to the future and [the] investment that will
come from Arab, European and Asian countries,” he stated.
The
conclusion of the Advancement of Women's Entrepreneurship workshop also saw the
graduation of a number of Arab women entrepreneurs from Egypt and the United
Arab Emirates, who were trained on how to develop, sustain and grow their
projects.
This
training course, entitled ‘Economic Empowerment of Arab Women’, was conducted
virtually online by the UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office.
Held
under the aegis of Dubai Exhibition Centre at Dubai Expo 2020, the bi-annual
World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022), which is co-sponsored by the
UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)/Investment and Technology
Promotion Offices (Bahrain), will continue on Wednesday 30 March. — UN News
Source:
Saudi Gazette
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/618783
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Afghanistan:
UN special envoy holds dialogue with women representatives in Kabul
March
30, 2022
Kabul:
Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Mette Knudsen, on
Wednesday, held a dialogue with women students and representatives in Kabul.
During
the talks, Knudsen said no more time should be wasted for girls to be able to
return to high school.
"No
more time should be wasted for girls to be able to return to high schools. It
is in the interest of all Afghans that the rights of women and girls be
respected. UNAMA Deputy Head Mette Knudsen today held a dialogue with women
students and representatives in Kabul," UN Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a tweet.
Knudsen
earlier met University representatives in Kabul and urged equal access to
education for boys and girls.
These
meetings come as the Taliban has imposed an indefinite ban on allowing female
students above the sixth-grade access to schools.
Since
taking over power in August last year, the Taliban have rolled back women's
rights in virtually every area, including crushing women's freedom of movement.
The
vast majority of girls' secondary schools were closed. Universities recently
reopened, with new gender segregation rules. But many women are unable to
return, in part because the career they studied for is now off-limits as the
Taliban banned women from most jobs.
The
Human Rights Watch (HRW) women and girls are blocked from accessing health care
as well. Reports suggest that women and girls facing violence have no escape
route.
Allowing
girls into schools and other educational institutes has been one of the main
demands of the international community.
The
majority of countries have refused to formally recognise the Taliban amid
worries over their treatment of girls and women and other human rights issues.
Source:
Firstpost
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/female-saudi-cadets-military/d/126702