Social development minister calls for cooperation in Euro-Mediterranean region for gender equality

NICOSIA — Minister of Social Development Wafa Bani Mustafa on Thursday reiterated the Kingdom’s commitment to work with the Union for the Mediterranean and member states to empower women and achieve gender equality in the region.

“I would like to stress the importance of cooperation and solidarity among the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region to achieve these common goals,” the minister was quoted as saying in her speech that was delivered on her behalf during the opening session by Jordanian Ambassador to Cyprus Basheer Zoubi.

“Let us work together for a better, more equitable future for women and girls in our region,” Bani Mustafa stressed in her speech.

The minister’s comments were made at the Union for the Mediterranean’s biennial High-Level Conference on Women for the Mediterranean, co-organised in 2024 with the Office of the Commissioner for Gender Equality of Cyprus, which began today in the Cypriot capital Nicosia.

Some 120 public officials and private sector, institutional, and civil society representatives as well as journalists gathered for a two-day to assess the economic empowerment of women, gender-just responses to the climate crisis, violence against women and girls, and gender inequality in the media across the EuroMediterranean region.

The conference aims to facilitate debates surrounding the central themes of the 2022 UfM Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society and help operationalise its 2024-2025 Roadmap for Implementation.

“The ministerial declarations on enhancing the role of women in society and their recommendations form the basis of our continuing efforts to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women in all aspects of life in the Euro-Mediterranean region,” Bani Mustafa said.

“These declarations highlighted by the Fifth Ministerial Declaration [Madrid 2022] are the roadmap of enhancing the role of women in society,” Bani Mustafa added.

The conference attendees will discuss the 2022 UfM Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society’s central themes: women’s economic empowerment, violence against women and girls gender and climate change, according to a press release by the organisers.

These sessions will help guide actions to safeguard women’s rights, thereby operationalising the declaration’s 2024-2025 Roadmap for Implementation, the press release stated.

Commissioner for Gender Equality of the Republic of Cyprus Josie Christodoulou said the event's main goal is “to safeguard women’s rights and promote gender equality in the Euro Mediterranean region”.

Gender equality and women’s rights are not a national issue but a global issue with national interest. Securing women’s rights and promoting equality between women and men is a one-way road, Christodoulou stated.

“When women are empowered, the whole society will flourish,” Christodoulou told the gathering during the opening session.

Christodoulou stressed that the approach to gender equality should be holistic, adding that “equality between men and women is not a problem to be solved but a solution to be implemented”.

Meanwhile, UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel also addressed the gathering saying that advancing women’s empowerment in the region is one of our greatest priorities.

“By embracing a gender-just climate transition, investing in women's economic empowerment, supporting policies ending violence against women, enhancing policy accountability, and challenging deeply entrenched social norms against gender equality, we can build resilient societies that benefit all individuals regardless of their gender,” Kamel said.

“Gender equality and women’s rights is not a national issue. It is a global issue with national interest. Securing women’s rights and promoting equality between women and men is a one-way road,” Kamel added.