UN puts women on path to success…
By REBECCA TORR
Published: 24 Ocotber 2006
BAHRAIN is among more than 190 countries marking United Nations (UN) Day, which is celebrated every year on October 24, since 1948.
The UN has had a presence in Bahrain since 1972 and during this period has operated various environmental, industrial, political, health and other development programmes in the country.
One of its main focal points in Bahrain, under the UN Development Programme (UNDP), is political empowerment of women.
Bahraini women are increasingly having a presence in the political arena, which is evident in the appointment of Bahraini Shaikha Haya bint Rashid Al Khalifa as the first Arab woman to preside over the UN General Assembly and Bahraini Latifa Al Gaoud’s achievement in becoming the Gulf’s first woman MP.
UN puts women on path to success…
By REBECCA TORR
Published: 24 Ocotber 2006
BAHRAIN is among more than 190 countries marking United Nations (UN) Day, which is celebrated every year on October 24, since 1948.
The UN has had a presence in Bahrain since 1972 and during this period has operated various environmental, industrial, political, health and other development programmes in the country.
One of its main focal points in Bahrain, under the UN Development Programme (UNDP), is political empowerment of women.
Bahraini women are increasingly having a presence in the political arena, which is evident in the appointment of Bahraini Shaikha Haya bint Rashid Al Khalifa as the first Arab woman to preside over the UN General Assembly and Bahraini Latifa Al Gaoud’s achievement in becoming the Gulf’s first woman MP.
“I think this is a great achievement for Bahrain – to have the first elected woman parliamentarian in the Gulf,” UN resident co-ordinator and UNDP resident representative Sayed Aqa told the GDN.
“We are confident more women will be elected in forthcoming elections.”
Mr Aqa said the UN in partnership with the Supreme Council for Women was working to support women candidates.
Two months ago the UN and the council held workshops for 40 women candidates to train them on how to form and market an effective election campaign.
He said a women’s centre at the council had been established as part of the partnership.
Women candidates, he said, were also being offered exceptional financial support to help their campaign.
“It is a great help because women need support in terms of experience since they have not been involved in this before.
“Society as a whole is not experienced about women’s role in politics, but it’s not against the norm.
“Prophet Mohammed was employed by a woman trader, who he later married, so women’s leadership roles are enshrined in Islamic traditions.”
Male candidates are also benefiting from UN support, said Mr Aqa.
The UN, in partnership with the Bahrain Institute for Political Development, is holding workshops to train candidates how to package their campaign messages and communicate them to the media and voters.
“During the elections we will have media, political and technical experts who will be available to monitor trends for all parliament and municipal candidates and advise them,” said Mr Aqa.
“We are working with parliament and once members are elected we will have a workshop teaching them how to conduct parliament proceedings.
“We will send some of them to see how parliament works in other countries such as Malaysia, or Australia.
“We have put together a guide for parliamentarians and we are working with the Shura Council and parliament on this.”
Mr Aqa said the UN was also working with civil societies, educational institutes and religious bodies to help increase the public’s understanding of their civil rights and how they can exercise them democratically.
In addition, he said, the UN would be holding four workshops to train print and TV media how to successfully cover elections and follow up with women candidates in particular.
The workshops will be conducted in Bahrain by the Reuters Foundation, from November 5 to 15.
“Overall, we want to see gender equality and political empowerment for women, which is a human right,” he said.
“Women should play a major role in issues affecting them.
“We believe they have a direct role to play in social and economic development and democratic governance.
“We see it as a right, an important principle and a development issue.”
The UNDP is also working with the government on the development of a National Youth Strategy and the Youth Parliament.
Dr Aqa said the Youth Parliament had already put forward several ideas which would help to form legislation in Shura and parliament and that later this year it would hold its first ever elections.
Therefore, it focused on capacity development and worked with local ideas and priorities.
Dr Aqa said the UNDP’s main objective was to promote sustainable human development.
To this end, he said, the programme focused on democratic governance, poverty reduction, sustainable energy, HIV and Aids programmes and crises plans for man-made and natural disasters.
“Poverty reduction is an area we focus on because increasingly around the world there is a gap between rich and poor,” he said.
“In Bahrain we see a lot of wealthy people, the gross domestic product is very high, but there is still unemployment and needy families, so that gap is there.”
Dr Aqa said the UNDP in collaboration with Education Ministry had just completed a major study on educational reform for students aged five to 18 and the government would be using this as a tool.
In partnership with the Health Ministry, the UNDP has also been working on developing a national strategy for HIV and Aids, and it has helped to set up a database for hereditary blood diseases.
In addition to the UNDP the UN has three other agencies operating in Bahrain – UN Environment Programme (Unep), UN Industrial Deve-lopment Organi-sation and the UN Information Centre.
Non-resident agencies include World Health Organisation, International Labour Organisation, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UN Children’s Fund, UN Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Population Fund.
Mr Aqa said the UN was trying to combat drug use and abuse because it was becoming a major issue in Bahrain.
“The scale of the problem three years ago was a matter of confiscating hundreds of pills, but now it is tens of thousands of pills and the number of users has increased from hundreds to thousands, especially among the youth,” he said.
“We have signed a partnership agreement with Interior Ministry to reduce the supply of drugs and we are working with civil aviation and customs control.
“Experts will also be brought over to give training to help stop the transportation and trafficking of drugs.”
He said the UN in co-operation with the health, interior and education ministries, as well as universities and religious bodies had designed a strategy and campaign to help reduce the number of drug users.
Mr Aqa said the UN had recently completed a major study on urban governance, which focused on the boom in construction industry and the disappearance of historical houses and sites.
The study mainly focused on Manama and Muharraq.
“We were able to identify 13,000 traditional and historical sites and buildings and we have registered the co-ordinated with the municipalities,” noted Mr Aqa.
“There are plans to develop traditional sites into parks and museums.”
Mr Aqa said with regard to environment issues the UN was working with the government to finalise a National Environment Strategy, which was due early next year.
“This is important because in development projects environment issues are not usually taken into consideration,” he said.
“We are also looking at conservation of marine life and diversity and we are working with the government on the management of Tubli Bay.”
Mr Aqa said there were several other environment projects operating in Bahrain under the Unep.
The Unep assists government and other bodies in the implementation of activities towards sustainable development and the protection of the environment.
It is involved in both technical and organising committees of several key regional and international conferences, including Green Industry, which is co-organised with the Bahrain Society of Engineers and will be held in Bahrain next month.
Within the field of land degradation and biodiversity, Unep works closely with the governments of the region in the development of their National Action Plans under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
In Bahrain, this has seen the provision of technical guidance to the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry in the development of Bahrain National Action Plan, which has been carried out jointly with our colleagues from UNDP. Work is also underway to translate the Conv-ention on Trade in Endang-ered Species (Cites) text to Arabic.
With funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Unep is assisting the government to prepare its second national communication to the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change.
The objective is to enable Bahrain to fulfil its obligation under the climate change convention and to enhance national capacities to deal with climate change issues.
The project will prepare an inventory of Green House Gases (GHG) by source of emissions and type of GHG following international methodologies and standards.
The vulnerability to climate change of major economic sectors and ecosystems of Bahrain will be assessed utilising high-tech forecasting, computer modelling and mapping tools.
National adaptation as well as mitigation strategies and measures will be proposed.
Preparation of the report will take up to three years and it will involve government and non-government stakeholders.
Unep also works closely with civil societies and children’s and youth groups throughout the region.
It is organising an annual regional consultation for civil societies, which will take place this year in Bahrain from October 31 to November 1.
At the event civil society organisations will discuss the themes of the forthcoming Unep Governing Council and prepare statements to be submitted as part of the Governing Council discussions.
The UN Bahrain will hold a reception to mark UN Day during mid-November. Details will be announced in the local Press.
© Gulf Daily News
