Manama: Bahrain spoke out at the United Nations headquarters in New York yesterday in support of women’s rights.
Social Development Minister Faeqa Al Saleh delivered a speech during a discussion session on combating inequalities and the empowerment of women and girls held as part of the UN summit adopting a developmental plan post-2015.
She affirmed during her speech the keenness of Bahrain to bolster the achievements and status of women in all aspects to further empower women and support their role in the comprehensive development under the reform project of His Majesty King Hamad in line with all the developmental dimensions adopted by the UN that it seeks to achieve.
The minister stressed Bahrain’s many accomplishments in the field of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, whereby Bahraini women take part on an equal footing with men at all levels of decision-making in the political, economic and public life, and enjoy a respectable status in society.
Their high efficiency qualifies them to play leading roles in various work fields, she said.
The minister reviewed the pillars of the kingdom’s support to women, including its Constitution, which stipulates in its first article that “citizens, men and women, have the right to participate in public affairs and enjoy political rights, including the right to vote and to be elected,” and the establishment of the Supreme Council for Women headed by His Majesty’s wife, Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa.
This is in addition to tireless efforts to promote equality, the integration of the needs of women in the public sector and private institutions, promoting a culture of integration and increasing awareness on the principles of equal opportunity, in addition to the establishment of national mechanisms to establish and support women’s rights.
A number of laws are in place to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in public and private spheres and harmful practices such as child marriage and early marriage.
The summit work session was chaired by Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. It officially adopted on its first day a new ambitious plan for sustainable development that will be the focus of the international community and governments in the next 15 years.
Work will concentrate on attaining 17 goals, including eradication of poverty, promotion of food security, guarantee of good health and education and bolstering of sustainable economic development.
Ms Al Saleh while reviewing Bahrain’s efforts in achieving the sustainable development goals, stressed that Bahrain was able to achieve most of the goals of the millennium agenda for 2015 in various fields thanks to a strategic comprehensive development scheme and royal reforms.
She also pointed out that His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has been granted the Information and Communication Technology in Sustainable Development Award by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), stressing that Bahrain is going ahead with mapping out plans to achieve the post-2015 sustainable development goals in the social, economic and environment fields.
She said the kingdom will host a ministerial meeting on December 6 and 7 on implementing the sustainable development plan for 2030 in the Arab countries.
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