PAM – Women’s role in region’s development fundamental

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MEDIA INFORMATION: 01/2013
ISSUED ON: 10/01/2013

Gender equality and the role of women in society have been among the priority issues within the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean 3rd Standing Committee, since the very beginning of the debates among the Mediterranean parliamentarians.

The achievements in the development of the most basic civil rights for women have been historically slow to be acquired. Only in the last fifty years or so, there has been a sign of concrete improvement. Most of the problems were represented by deep rooted cultural barriers within our societal traditional frameworks but in the third millennium these are being challenged with more determination.

PAM has undertaken to stimulate the parliamentary debate on a regional level and has made various proposals to both the United Nations General Assembly and National Parliaments, through its reports and resolutions dedicated to such issues, among which violence against women, womens participation in the political and economic sectors, women refugees and immigration, and genital mutilation.

In view of the five resolutions on the advancement of women passed unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in mid December 2012, PAM reiterates its commitment to dedicate further efforts towards the respect of womens fundamental rights.

Through its parliamentary network it will push for advanced legislation, national and regional action plans, social mobilization and data collection, in order to bring forward its agenda for more equality within the families and in the public and private spheres.

The PAM Bureau, in appreciation of the work done so far by the 3rd Standing Committee, and in particular to the commitment shown by the Turkish Vice Minister, Hon. Askin Asan, the Portuguese MP, Hon. Maria Conceicao Pereira, the Maltese MP Hon. Justyne Caruana, Italian MP Hon. Angela Napoli and former Greek PAM Vice President Elissavet Papadimitriou, has decided to dedicate the Mediterranean Day 2013 (21 March) to women, in order to mobilize all the National and Regional institutions and organizations in the productive and the civil society sectors, in a more concerted awareness effort to highlight and recognize the role and the equal rights of women in a modern, more open and inclusive society.

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