L to R: Khawla Mattar, Aida Bouras, Hanaa Souror, Fatma Khafaga and Samiha Abu Setiet during the roundtable discussion
The UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Cairo organized a roundtable discussion on the Status of Women in the Arab region 15 years after Beijing in light of the Consolidated Arab Report on the Beijing Platform for Action +15.
The roundtable was organized by UNIC in cooperation with ESCWA, the League of Arab States, NGOs, including the Alliance for Arab Women, as well as government entities including the National Council for Women (NCW), the National Council on Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), as well as the European Union (EU) and the Arab Labor Organization (ALO). The Discussion was dedicated to review the regional Report on Beijing + 15 and the Shadow Report.
Speakers at the panel discussion were:
Dr. Khawla Mattar, Director UNIC Cairo
Aida Bouras, Regional Advisor ESCWA, Lebanon
Ambassador Samiha Abu Setiet, Advisor to SG National Council for Woman
Minister Plenipotentiary Hanaa Souror, Head of the Women’s Affairs Department, League of Arab States
Dr. Fatma Khafaga, Advisor European Union, and author of the Report
Dr. Hoda Badran Chairperson Alliance for Arab Women, Author of the Shadow Report
Ms. Bahira Mokhtar, prominent columnist, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Al-Aram
More than 25 journalists from all major Egyptian newspapers and news agencies attended and covered the event. The event was also covered by the Nile TV International, which also conducted one-on-one interviews with speakers.
Issues discussed during the roundtable are the future challenges to achieve the Millennium Development Goals specifically the empowerment of Women as a main element in achieving MDGs.
Participants called upon the Untied Nations to convene International Conferences on Women related issues every ten years.