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Egypt/Machreq
The Gender Unit within the National Council for Women and Children in Egypt organized a national conference to discuss violence against the girl child. The newly set up unit chose this particular topic to be the main theme of its first public event in view of the its importance and as a entrée to address critical issues related to gender equality and the role of families in supporting the rights of the girls child. The Conference applauded the acknowledgement of the existence of gender based oppression and discrimination against the girl child as a step forward towards addressing the problems. However, the Conference reiterated that all forms of direct and insidious forms of violence are practiced against girl children in the form of discrimination in nutrition, forced early marriages, early pregnancies and multi-parity, female genital mutilation and the imposition of barriers on education and mobility. Girl children are forced to do housework and care for members of the family to the extent that this acts as a barrier towards their access to education and other basic services.
The Conference mourned the innumerable children in Egypt who have mortally succumbed to various forms of violence within and beyond their families.
The Egyptian woman candidate Jihane el Hilfawi, nominated by the Muslim Brotherhood for the Parliamentary elections in Egypt has resorted to the law to force the government to decide and declare the dates for the second round of parliamentary elections in Alexandria. These elections were postponed as a result of a court ruling put forward by Ms. Hilafoui herself who following the arrest of her representatives. Halfaoui accuses the Egyptian government of violating the principle of equal opportunities so as to undermine the Muslin Brotherhood's growing chances of winning the majority seats.
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The Lebanese Family Planning Association organized a seminar on "violence in the family" on the occasion of the international day of the family. The seminar which was attended by NGO and government representatives raise the issues of increasing practice of violence against women and children in the families and the need to encourage further empirical research on the subject as well as mobilize government structures on this issue.
The NGOs- Post-Beijing Follow-Up Committee organized in collaboration with UNIFEM a three days gender training workshop targeting gender focal points assigned by local NGOs within the framework of UNIFEM's post-Beijing follow-up operation phase II.
The Arab Institute of Human Rights organized a regional conference "Documentation and Information Technology on Women Rights and Human Rights". The conference covered the topics of women rights, concepts and international instruments, the status of women in Arab countries, violence against of women, and the role of NGOs and of an adequate legal framework to combat violence against women.
Morocco/Maghreb
Meetings started in Rabat on 12 May grouping the 20 members of the newly formed committee to review the National Action Plan for the Integration of Women in Development. The committee groups numerous experts, representatives of women NGOs, of the government and of the clergy. The main aim of setting up this committee is to enable all stakeholders to identify "compromise solutions" and common grounds to take the plan forward. Official sources expect that this move will facilitate the consultative process around the substantive content of the plan and will defuse the tension which has built up around that issue. Islamist sources however, have expected that the discussions within the committee will be protracted in view of the wide gap in views and opinions. To be reminded that the main points of dissent revolve around the proposal to curtail polygamy, raise the minimum age of marriage of women from 14 to 18, and limit men's prerogatives in relation to divorce and its aftermath. Meanwhile, the current Moroccan Prime Minister indicated in an interview with the French weekly "Le Nouvel
Observateur" that the government hopes to implement this plan by the year 2002.
Tunisia/Maghreb
The Tunisian Association of Mothers (L'Association des Meres de
Tunisie) organized on 23 May an international conference on the role of women and families in building a culture of peace. The event was organized within the framework of the international day of the family.
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