{"id":142,"date":"2017-04-10T14:24:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T14:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rdflwomen.org\/eng\/?p=142"},"modified":"2017-10-10T19:26:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T19:26:49","slug":"from-ministerial-conclusions-to-gender-equality-policy-making-in-the-euro-med-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rdflwomen.org\/eng\/from-ministerial-conclusions-to-gender-equality-policy-making-in-the-euro-med-region\/","title":{"rendered":"From Ministerial Conclusions to gender equality policy making in the Euro-Med region"},"content":{"rendered":"

The national roundtable \u201cFrom Ministerial Conclusions to gender equality policy making in the Euro-Med region\u201d<\/em>, under the patronage of the Minister of State for Women\u2019s Affairs H.E. Jean Ogasapian, and with the support of the European Union, took place on 6th<\/sup> of April 2016 at hotel Riviera. It was organised by the Lebanese Women\u2019s Democratic Gathering and Association Najdeh in partnership with the Euromed Feminist Initiative. The one-day event gathered representatives from civil society and stakeholders and discussed the policy recommendations for improving the status of gender equality, that have been developed during one year in the frame of the project \u201cGender Regional Platform\u201d<\/em> funded by the European Union. This national dialogue was part of the process to prepare for the 4th UfM Ministerial Meeting on women\u2019s rights, scheduled to take place in Egypt in the fall this year.<\/p>\n

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H.E. Jean Ogasapian, Minister of State for Women\u2019s Affairs, opened the event reminding the constraints of the regional context that have imposed new restrictions and suffering for women. However, he stressed that women continue to struggle for their rights and emphasized the importance of this roundtable in this regard. He expressed his expectation that this dialogue would contribute to the process of transforming the recommendations into practical measures, which is the next step. Mr. Ogasapian insisted that the priority is to take \u201cConcrete steps towards ending violence against women and enhancing women\u2019s political participation. \u201c<\/p>\n

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Ms. Julia Koch – Head of Political Section EU Delegation Lebanon, underlined the commitment of the European Union to women\u2019s participation gender equality: \u201cWe are now approaching parliamentary elections and I sincerely hope that women will not only vote in large numbers, but also be present as candidates in large numbers. It\u2019s the time for women to claim their place! We, the European Union will stand ready to support them in these efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mr. Samy Gemayel, Member of Parliament and a leader of the Lebanese Kataeb party, discussed the responsibility of the decision makers in annulling discriminative for women legislation, adopting legislation that criminalize violence against women. He emphasized that adopting gender quota is a needed step in order to enhance women\u2019s participation in decision making.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Leila El Ali, Co-President Euromed Feminist Initiative reminded the milestones of the one-year process of developing the Gender Regional Platform and stressed on the important role of the women\u2019s rights organisations in leading a dialogue with decision makers and having overall cooperation and coordination with all responsible parties in order to support the transformation of policies into action.<\/p>\n

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The speakers at first panel presented the Gender Regional Platform and the policy recommendations in the four identified priority areas:<\/p>\n