Middle East

Women’s rights and gender equality have been at the heart of the international agenda over the past few years. This intensification of the movement for women’s rights has been driven, in part, by the anniversaries of some of the core international instruments on gender. As such, 2015 marked the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the road map for gender equality for the past two decades. The year 2015 also marked the 15^th Anniversary and the Global Review of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the main UN resolution dealing with women’s participation in peace and security and their protection from violence during conflict. These processes coincided with the elaboration of the new global development agenda and Sustainable Developments Goals, placing gender equality at the core of concerns for the next 15 years, through SDG 5.

From 16th to 19th November, the Geneva Centre held a training course entitled Promotion and Protection of Human Rights: Strengthening the Rule of Law. The 13 young professionals that took part in the training programme included members of the Emirates Association of Lawyers and Legal Experts, of the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, diplomats from the League of Arab States in Cairo, as well as UAE diplomats working at the UAE Permanent Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva.

In July 2011, representatives of the international community gathered in Istanbul and initiated an intense process to expedite full and effective implementation of Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18 (2001), entitled Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief. It was the beginning of the so-called “Istanbul Process”.

At the side-lines of the 28th session of the Human Rights Council, which took place from March 2nd to 27th, 54 panel discussions were organized by Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva, and 154 side-events were hosted by NGOs as well as national human rights institutions (NHRIs).