WomenGateway - Committee on elimination of discrimination against women reviews UAE report

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women reviewed yesterday at the UN Headquarters in Geneva the United Arab Emirates' first periodic report after becoming a member state of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The UAE delegation was headed by H.E. Reem Al Hashemi, Minister of State, while its members included Dr Abdul Rahim Al Awadhi, Assistant Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs and International Organisations, Obaid Salem Al Zaabi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative in Geneva, as well as representatives for different ministries, authorities and civil societies.

Presenting UAE's report before the committee, H.E. Reem Al Hashemi highlighted the country's achievements in the fields of women empowerment.

The Committee praised the progress made by the UAE in empowering women.

Following is the full text of her speech: Madam Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the Government of United Arab Emirates and the members of it's delegation, I have the honor to be with you today to consider the initial report of the United Arab Emirates in line with the terms of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and to present the efforts and achievements of my country to implement the Convention and to identify our deficiencies in this respect. I sincerely hope that the report which we are presenting to the honorable members of the Committee along with our responses submitted in relation to the list of questions, will reflect the positive image of the empowerment of woman in the UAE in recent years. As it will be seen during our dialogue today, the UAE government has elaborated consistent strategic plans towards the development of a national legislation so as to ensure a full integration of women's rights and their positive participation in the process of the economic development of the country.

These plans come to fulfill our vision of women's equality and rights which meets our international obligations to implement the provisions of the Convention which is given by the UAE Constitution a binding legal force that is equal to national laws, as is the case to all other similar human rights conventions to which the UAE is a member such as the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children, the ILO Conventions to combat all forms of discrimination against women such as Equal Remuneration Convention of 1957, the Convention on the Prevention of Discrimination in Employment and Occupation of 1958, and the Night Work Convention (Women) Revised of 1948.

In the field of regional cooperation on issues concerning women, the UAE hosts the office of the Arab Family Organization which was established in 1977 which includes in its membership almost all Arab countries. In addition, the UAE is an active member of the Arab Women Organization which was established in 2000, and which carries out its activities through the League of Arab States, as a body for the empowerment of Arab women and strengthening their capacities in all fields as a crucial component for social progress.

Madam Chair From my position as a Minister in the Government and with all the members of my delegation which represent the main institutions concerned with women's issues we came here today to look forward to a constructive dialogue which I hope, will contribute to give a clear image of the great strides made by the UAE woman, and her growing role in the society. We hope that your observations and proposals as experts will contribute as well to the illumination of our road and to support our efforts towards the progress of women. We come to you in that spirit - and with the desire to work in transparency and accept challenges and work diligently towards finding solutions to these challenges on the basis of the reality of our society and in consistence with our beliefs and our cultural heritage.

Madam Chair We can say with pride, that what had been realized in the field of women empowerment in the UAE for a period as short as 38 years, which is also the time of the existence of the UAE, can be considered, by all standards, an important and remarkable progress. The UNDP reports on human development for 2007 and 2008 have classified the UAE in the 44th rank out of a list of 177 countries and on the 29th rank in terms of woman development worldwide, and in the first rank in the Arab World and GCC countries in the field of women empowerment.

Madam Chair Since the time the UAE has ratified the CEDAW Convention and therewith the promulgation of the Federal Law number 34 of 2004, we have worked on the preparation of the initial report with collective efforts from the concerned institutions which composed a committee headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government representatives, local institutions and public associations which participate actively in the field of women empowerment. Many of them are here with us today.

Even though we have been delayed to present our report, the period between 2004 and 2008 have carried with it considerable positive changes to the benefit of women in the UAE, with respect to national legislations and in relation to woman empowerment, since the accession of women to new fields of activity, such as membership in the Federal National Council and even the Ministerial Cabinet. The Committee which has prepared this report had to take in added burden to cope with the new successive events and draft all the information into the report in its final text which was presented to your honorable Committee.

Madam Chair Since the founding of the UAE in 1971, the Founding Fathers have never overlooked the importance of women's rights in society, which have been enshrined in the National Constitution. Two months ago, we celebrated our 38th National Day which marked important achievements and milestones of the country. I am honored to say that the role of women has featured prominently in this journey. There are, honorable committee many misconceptions about the role of women in the UAE whereas in fact, we are at the forefront of both government and private sectors, and their prominent role in the society is seen as a normal almost expected developmental process and not as an exceptional event.

We acknowledge that there are several challenges which the Convention confronts us with, but we have worked during the last period at more than one level to meet these challenges. Therefore, let me review our efforts in all areas, in our quest to create a positive record in the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

Madam Chair With regard to political rights, the whole Chapter Four of the UAE Constitution deals with the Federal National Council which represents all the people of the UAE as stated in article 77 of the Constitution. The Federal Supreme Council decision number 4 of 2006 and the Presidential Decision number 3 of 2006 relating to modalities of election of the Federal National Council (FNC) members states that half of the members of the FNC be directly elected by an Electoral College and that a National Committee be created to supervise the elections.

For the first time the UAE has witnessed a new and unique experience which is the election of the Federal National Council which took place from the16th to the 20th of December 2006 and which opened a wider space for citizens to express their views and opinions on several development issues. The Electoral College consisted of 6688 members of which 1198 members were women. As a result, the first Parliamentary Council came to being with half of its members chosen through election.

The Federal National Council also witnessed a strong representation of women, as it included 9 women members of which 8 were appointed and one was elected, thus accounting for 22.5% of the whole Council. The representation of women in the Council for the first time reflects a political wisdom of the leadership of the UAE and the importance it gives to the political participation of women. I seize this opportunity to point out that there is one female Member of the Federal National Council among our delegation.

The culmination of the growing role of women was the appointment of 4 women Ministers in the current Government namely: Minister of Foreign Trade, Minister of Social Affairs, and 2 Ministers of State, of which I have the honor to be one of them and to represent my country here in front of zour esteemed Committee. The entry of women into the political arena is a qualitative turning point in the process of democratic action which the UAE is experiencing, since UAE women have been able to take a prominent status in the society and to assume leadership positions which enabled them to make valuable input and give theirthoughts and perspective, and advice in decision making.

The UAE women also joined the diplomatic corps within the Ministry of foreign Affairs, as two of them were nominated Ambassadors in the Kingdom of Sweden and the Kingdom of Spain, and a third as a General Consul in Shanghai. In the justice system, a number of women have been appointed at different levels of the judiciary such as Attorney General and judges. The first female judge and the first Public Prosecutor nominated in the UAE are also present here as member s of our delegation. There are also women who joined the military and the police and assumed the rank of Brigadier in the armed forces. Women have also been appointed as Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, and 12 of them are presently in the governing bodies of chambers of commerce and industry.

Madam Chair The United Arab Emirates is keen to promote women's economic participation and their involvement in the labor market, as there is no more restrictions on the jobs that can be filled by women. In this context, may I refer to the latest statistics published by the Ministry of the economy which show an increase in the number of female citizens (15 years and over) in the workforce, from 15.729 in 1995 to 49,000 in 2006 thus representing an increase of more than 22% of the total labor force of the citizens in 2006.

The percentage of the contribution of the female population in the total labor force increased from 5.4% in 1995 to 11.8% in 2006. The statistics indicate the predominance of women in some institutions such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

The Government has launched a set of initiatives aimed at strengthening the role of women in business and in all economic areas through the development and promotion of women's capacity in order to enhance their contribution in the economic development through the establishment of boards of businesswomen, as well as the launching of a Business Women Award in the UAE.

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WAM