OIC's Women Development Organization conference tackles gender equality

CAIRO – 22 October 2020: The activities of the first regular session of the Organization for the Development of Women, affiliated to the Organization of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), began with the virtual meeting of senior officials of the organization's member states on October 21.

Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Human Rights and International Social and Humanitarian Issues, Ahmed Ihab Jamal El-Din, emphasized that the development equation is not complete without activating the role of women and providing them with the necessary skills, capabilities, opportunities and support to play their role in the development of their societies.

"The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation decided in 2010 to institutionalize the OIC efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women, through the adoption of the statute of the Organization for the Development of Women," Jamal El-Din added.

The director of the Women's Department at the Ministry of Women, Family and Solidarity in Burkina Faso praised the great effort exerted by the Egyptian government and the OIC General Secretariat for the organization to start its activities.

The meeting discussed several important issues and documents that will help launch the work of the organization, and they were agreed upon and referred for approval by the ministers of women in the member states of the organization, today.

Egypt also participated in the meeting with a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Council for Women, headed by Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Social and Humanitarian Affairs, Mahmoud Afifi.

The Organization for Women’s Development is a specialized organization affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and its headquarters is in Cairo. The organization includes 15 Islamic countries so far, namely Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and UAE.

A large number of Islamic countries signed the statute of the organization and the completion of internal procedures for ratification by the legal system of each country is underway.