The national roundtable \u201cFollowing up on the 4th UfM Ministerial Meeting on Women\u2019s Rights\u201d, under the
\npatronage of Minister of State for Women\u2019s Affairs H.E. Jean Ogasapian, and with the support of the European
\nUnion took place on 27th of April 2018 at Hotel Riviera. It was organized by the Euromed Feminist Initiative
\nand its members in Lebanon, the Lebanese Women\u2019s Democratic Gathering, and Association Najdeh. The one-day
\nthe event gathered representatives from women\u2019s and human rights organizations and local stakeholders and
\ndiscussed the Ministerial Declaration from the 4th UfM ministerial meeting on women\u2019s rights (27\/11\/2017,
\nCairo) and the Declarations of Civil Society Conference (23-24\/11\/2017, Cairo) with policy recommendations to
\nbe implemented before the 5th UfM Ministerial Meeting. The event initiated a discussion on mechanisms to
\nfollow up the implementation of the Ministerial commitments as a part of the regional process to follow up the
\n4th UfM Ministerial Declaration, organized by Euromed Feminist Initiative and supported by the EU.<\/p>\n
H.E. Jean Ogasapian, Minister of State for Women\u2019s Affairs, underlined that \u201cGender equality can\u2019t be achieved
\nwithout the full participation of all members of society. It is important that both women and men participate in
\ndiscussions, policy-making, and implementation of measures to ensure women’s effective participation for
\nequality\u201d. The Minister further emphasized the responsibility men have in removing barriers, changing
\npatriarchal attitudes, and preparing the ground for full gender equality. He expressed his expectation that this
\ndialogue would contribute to the process of transforming the recommendations into practical measures during
\nthe coming roundtable dialogue between CSOs and stakeholders and on May 23rd. Mr. Ogasapian insisted that
\nthe priority is to take \u201cConcrete steps towards ending violence against women and enhancing women\u2019s political
\nparticipation.\u201d
\nMr. Rein Nieland, representing the EU Delegation, emphasized the importance of the roundtable in exchanging
\nexperiences and ideas and ensuring that all recommendations and declarations are translated into concrete
\nactions to strengthen the place and role of women in the region, notably in Lebanon. He underlined that:
\n\u201cGender equality is a principle, an objective and a mission for the EU in Lebanon. Advancing women’s
\nleadership and economic empowerment is an absolute priority for us.\u201d
\nMs. Roula Zaiter, Euromed Feminist Initiative, reminded the milestones of the process of developing the Gender
\nRegional Platform in preparation for the 4th UfM Ministerial Meeting and stressed the important role of the
\nwomen\u2019s rights organizations in leading a dialogue with decision makers and stakeholders in order to support the
\ndevelopment and implementation of policies through specific mechanisms and indicators.
\nThe speakers of the first panel presented the two Declarations. Ms. Leila El Ali, Euromed Feminist Initiative
\nCo-President presented the Civil Society Conference Declaration focusing on the five policy recommendations
\nand the mechanisms for the implementation of the gender equality in the region, while Ms. Mrs. Hayat Mershad,
\nthe founder of F-male underlined the areas of 4th UfM Ministerial Declaration on improving women\u2019s role in
\nsociety and addressed the implementation recommendations.
\nThe discussion during the second session tackled the issue of mechanisms for the implementation of gender
\nequality through the ministerial process. Attorney Mrs. Brigitte Chelebian, founding director of Justice without
\nFrontiers (JWF), presented some ideas on follow up mechanisms at the national and institutional level that could
\ncontribute to concrete actions for the improvement of women\u2019s rights in the identified priority areas, after which
\nan open discussion followed. The participants emphasized that holistic, comprehensive and inclusive
\nmethodologies and approaches must be prioritized to ensure sustainable gender equality implementation
\nstrategies, policies, and actions. They underlined the importance to reinforce the link between all international
\nand legal women\u2019s rights agreements and instruments, in particular, CEDAW, UNSCR 1325, SDGs in a common
\nframe. Participants highlighted the necessity of reaffirming the international and regional legal and institutional
\ncommitments by Lebanon to ensure the recognition and implementation of the women\u2019s rights in consultation
\nand participation with the women\u2019s rights agencies, associations, and experts.<\/p>\n
Some of the recommendations urge for forming a permanent coordination and consultation body of women\u2019s rights CSOs and national institutions and Stakeholders for supporting and following up gender equality strategies and policies. Annual national report on the implementation of the Ministerial Declaration with the participation of the CSOs was also seen as highly relevant.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, a common database of national bodies, ministries, and service centers on violence
\nagainst women and girls were seen as a necessity in order to reveal the situation of women. It was as well
\nrecommended to support the establishment of relevant governmental bodies on women\u2019s rights, as well as an
\ninter-ministerial committee as an observatory body to ensure an inclusive and comprehensive cooperation on
\ngender equality.<\/p>\n
The participants agreed to submit their recommendations to the national stakeholders and relevant ministries during the national dialogue with them scheduled for 23rd of May.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The national roundtable \u201cFollowing up on the 4th UfM Ministerial Meeting on Women\u2019s Rights\u201d, under the patronage of Minister of State for Women\u2019s Affairs H.E. Jean Ogasapian, and with the support of the European Union took place on 27th of April 2018 at Hotel Riviera. It was organized by the Euromed Feminist Initiative and its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\n