UN HAS KEY ROLE IN EMPOWERING WOMEN IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY MIDDLE EAST, EXPERTS SAY

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 17 Apr 2013 17:00:01 -0400
Subject: UN HAS KEY ROLE IN EMPOWERING WOMEN IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY
MIDDLE EAST, EXPERTS SAY
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

UN HAS KEY ROLE IN EMPOWERING WOMEN IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY MIDDLE EAST,
EXPERTS SAY
New York, Apr 17 2013 5:00PM
Amid the reverberations from popular uprisings known as the "Arab
Spring," the United Nations has a key role to play in supporting women
in the Middle East by convening disparate voices and identifying new
modes of cooperation, experts on women's rights said during a
"Classroom Conversation" with university students from around the
world.

"What the revolutions that have been unfolding since 2011 have forced
us to realize is that we have to look at the partners again," said
Azza Karam, Senior Adviser at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), noting
the vital roles of women, youth and civil society in the overthrow of
standing regimes in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen.

"What we need to do is identify new voices, convene and re-evaluate
our partnerships and lastly, identify new ways of working together.
Which may force us to reconsider how we do development as a United
Nations system," she added.

Ms. Karam spoke alongside author and Senior Fellow at the Council on
Foreign Relations, Isobel Coleman, on a panel organized by the UN
Academic Impact on Monday on the ways that women are transforming the
wider Middle East region in the wake of the Arab reawakening. The
audience of more than 100 at the UN Headquarters included students
from universities in the New York area and others via webcast.

Noting that women joined men in the front lines of protests, the
speakers said that they were now asserting themselves in areas such as
higher education, along with their higher literacy rates and increased
participation in the workforce. As the revolutions transitioned to
political struggles, the roles and status of women continue to evolve.

"We are experiencing an arc of history that will take a long time to
play itself out. Overthrowing dictatorships is easy. Building
something new in its place – creating – is the hard part," Ms. Coleman
said.

In her book, 'Paradise Beneath Her Feet," Ms. Coleman explores how
activists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are
working within the tenets of Islam to create economic, political and
educational opportunities for women.

Those activists often use the same religious writings used by
conservatives to challenge women's rights as the "ticket to
empowerment" and push for more equal treatment, Ms. Coleman said.

"It's not about America or Al Qaida. It's about freedom and economic
opportunity," she told the students.

In his speech at the Herzliya Conference in Israel on 2 February 2012,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised young people and women for their
role in sparking and fuelling the region's democratic reforms.
"Young people have been in the vanguard, as have women – standing for
their rights against those who would deny them… We should welcome this
inevitable evolution of history. We should not perpetuate the fallacy
that the Arab world is somehow not ready for democracy."

Turning to the role of youth and social media in the movements, Ms.
Coleman cautioned against ascribing too much importance to Twitter and
Facebook which she described as "a means but not an end."

She retold a story from Saudi Arabia where she said social media is
giving a voice to a generation which is not necessarily recognized in
political parties or organizations, but "you can tell the world what
you think and get a few million followers on Facebook and Twitter, and
people notice."

Ms. Coleman added that government responses range to the awakening
among people, particularly women and youth: "Some countries are
reacting to that in a way that they can absorb it and others are not.
You see that gap result in civil war, tremendous political gridlock,
you see other countries are navigating their ways through it. How it
will turn out, none of us know for sure."

Ms. Karam agreed that the role of social media in the emerging
consciousness articulated in the Arab region is important but should
not be overstated, "If you look in the context of Syria, it's not
social media that is fighting the war. It is people dying and their
blood being spilled."

With over half the world population under 25 years of age, according
to UN figures, Ms. Karam noted the importance of youth, particularly
young women, in agenda setting and allocation of resources calling
them "critical agents of change."

"It's not about working for youth but about being informed by and
working with youth on what needs to happen," she stressed.

She said that youth must be integrally involved in setting the
development agenda for the future, after the 2015 deadline for the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is reached. Of the eight
anti-poverty goals, one focuses on universal education and one on
promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, which she said
was not adequate.

"Human rights, gender equality and culture are so completely subsumed
at best in the MDGs," Ms. Karam said. "Where are the human rights that
are being asked for in the Beijing Conference? Where is the desire for
freedom that people are spilling their blood over? It wasn't an MDG."

In addition, culture needs to play a bigger role in the development
goals and priorities, including in relations to religion, Ms. Karam
said, "We've been doing secular development all these years. In fact,
many people are aspiring to religious identities. Can we afford to
ignore that as inconsequential to human development?"

Particularly relevant for the Middle East, the speakers said, is the
Arab Human Development Report series, published by the UN Development
Programme (UNDP).

The first series of reports in 2002 identified three critical
development deficits in the Arab world: the acquisition of knowledge,
political freedoms and women's empowerment.

Ms. Coleman recalled that the reports were highly controversial when
they were first published, "There was criticism for echoing simply a
Western line, but the UN held firm saying, "No, this is a report
written by Arabs for an Arab audience and we're not going to back away
from it."

"I think that report had a very big influence on people saying let's
look at this, let's look at some of the statistics in it about the
lack of knowledge or the lack of women's rights. I think it was a
useful mechanism for bringing the big issues up front," she added.

The UN, Ms. Coleman said, continues to support the awakening of women
in the Middle East through its research mechanisms and by doing
advocacy along with dissemination of the findings, Ms. Coleman said,
as well as by convening leaders to focus on a specific set of issues
that often do not receive enough attention.

Ms. Coleman and Ms. Karam spoke as part of an ongoing series organized
by the UN Department of Public Information's Academic Impact
initiative, which brings together experts from leading think tanks and
academic institutions in the New York area to exchange ideas with
senior UN officials.
Apr 17 2013 5:00PM
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

Follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/UN.News.Centre) and
Twitter (http://twitter.com/UN_News_Centre)

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/


--
President of The United States
Guy Ralph Perea Sr President of The United States
Weatherdata1046am0426 a Discussion Group of
Weatherdata<http://groups.google.com/group/weatherdata1046am0426>
USFMSC
http://www.cityfreq.com/ca/avalon/>
QUALIFY QICP
OCCUPS
http://www.occupationalinfo.org/02/025062010.html
goldlandabstracts; link check
own search engine - The United
States International Policies
http://apps.facebook.com/faceblogged/?uid=1340855784
http://lnk.ms/8d5gl aol
http://groups.google.com/group/united-states-of-american
http://twitter.com/ptusss Federal Communication
Commission<http://columbiabroadcast.spaces.live.com/>

Ambassador Chevy Chase; Kevin Corcran; Jack Nickolas; Cher; Shirley Temple
Black; Liza Minnille; Ansari; Ernest Tascoe; Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
Agent Jodie Foster; Department of Veterans Affairs Director George H.W. Bush
Title 22 USCS section 1928 (b) The e-mail
transmission may contain legally privileged information that
is intended only for the individual or entity recipient, you are hereby,
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance upon the
contents of this E-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
E-mail transmission in error, please reply to the sender, so arrangements
can be made for proper delivery. Title 42
USCS section 192 etseq Margie Paxton Chief of Childrens Bureau
Director of The United States Department of Human Services; Defendant
Article IV General Provisions Section 2
(Supreme Law of The Land) The Constitution of The United States "Any thing
in The Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary Notwithstanding"
Contrary to Law (of an act or omission) illegal;
https://twitter.com/presidentus1