A Step Towards More Legal Protections for Egyptian Women:
The Egyptian Ministry of Justice adopted a number of commitments to increase the legal protections for women in the justice system including increasing women's representation in the judiciary and the police force, establishing a special prosecution circuit for cases of violence against women and girls and creating a committee to review and reform legal discriminations against women. The commitments were the recommendations of a conference organized by UN Women, the National Council for Women, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime and with the generous contribution of the Japanese Embassy.
A women's Caucus in the Iraqi Parliament:
In March, UN Women supported the launch of a Women Caucus bringing together 83 women parliamentarians to lead on the formulation of the legislative agenda for women’s rights within the Iraqi parliament and to push to translate this agenda into laws that further gender equality in the country. UN Women has been providing technical support to the women parliamentarians in developing their agenda and plans, and training to strengthen their coalition building and advocacy skills. Taking our support to the next level, UN Women will be supporting the new women caucus in operationalizing the caucus and developing their internal bylaws, membership criteria, committees’ structure and work plan.
Yemen Peace Talks:
In May, UN Women Yemen supported a representative and diverse delegation of Yemeni women on a mission of advocacy to the Kuwait negotiations. The group met with opposing parties and with regional and international stakeholders to build consensus based on common grounds. The UN Envoy received several positive messages and emails from international and national organizations and individuals encouraging this initiative.
At the end of the visit, the Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs renewed his commitment to increase women's representation on negotiation teams to 30% as per the agreement of the National Dialogue Conference.
Photo: UN Women/Emad Karim
Photo: UN Women/Emad Karim
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