Women’s rights must not be traded away at EU-Middle East ministerial conference warns CARE International
September 12, 2013 - Aid agency CARE International urges ministers from the European Union, meeting with ministers from the Middle East and North Africa in Paris on 12 September, to safeguard women’s rights by making them central to trade and aid policies with the region.
The Ministerial conference on ‘strengthening the role of women in society’ coincides with EU negotiations to review and revise aid and trade relations with the countries of the MENA region. While the EU has committed to promoting a ‘More for More’ approach whereby aid recipient states receive funding if they implement democratic reforms, the approach does not explicitly mention women’s rights. CARE is calling on the EU to outline how it will hold recipient countries to account if they fail to respect the right of women to take part in decision-making institutions and processes.
Sherine Ibrahim, CARE Middle East Deputy Director, said: “Implementation of the ‘More for More’ approach has been weak. This year we saw the EU declaring it would terminate funding to Egypt because of the worsening human rights situation but money has continued to flow. The Ministerial conference is an opportunity for the EU to demonstrate how serious it is about prioritising women’s rights by outlining how it will hold governments across the MENA region to account if they fail to allow women to participate in the decisions which affect their lives.”
CARE is also calling on the EU to involve women in the monitoring of aid and trade policies and to increase its funding for gender equality programmes. Despite the EU launching the €8.2 million Spring Forward for Women initiative with UN Women, the EU’s Democracy and Human Rights budget decreased the amount it spent on gender in the MENA region by 3% in 2011.
These and other recommendations are published today, by CARE, in a report outlining how international donor policy needs to adapt to the changing context across the region in the wake of the Arab Spring. The report draws on interviews with more than 300 women and men in Egypt, Morocco, Yemen and the occupied Palestinian territories.
It finds that the outlook for women in the region remains uncertain. Nearly all Middle Eastern countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report scored more poorly in 2012 than they did in 2011. Yet, at the same time, the uprisings created an explosion of new activism by women and they are making themselves heard in transition processes such as the National Dialogue Conference in Yemen. The report suggests that donors should invest in longer-term development programmes that will change the attitudes and practices that are a barrier to women’s participation in public life and support initiatives that will bridge the religious-secular divide that is becoming increasingly polarised.
Sherine Ibrahim, CARE Middle East Deputy Director, said: “For too long women’s rights across the Middle East and North Africa has been seen as a tick box exercise. We call on European governments and governments across the Middle East to not forget or side-line women as a new kind of politics and society if formed.”
Note to editors
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, CARE commissioned a study in 2012 and 2013 to understand the new context and identify ways in which we need to adapt and respond. More than 300 women and men were interviewed in the course of this research in Egypt, the occupied Palestinian territories, Morocco and Yemen. The report: ‘Arab Spring or Arab Autumn? Women’s political participation in the uprisings and beyond’ outlines the key findings and recommendations of relevance to international donors, as well as national authorities and other actors involved at the regional and country level.
Click here to download the full report.
Media Contacts and to arrange interviews:
Deborah Underdown (London): [email protected], 020 7091 6063
Sherine Ibrahim, CARE Middle East Deputy Director, is available for interview
Sherine Ibrahim has worked in international development for eighteen years, starting her work as a researcher in Egypt on women’s sexual and reproductive health rights. Since then, Sherine has worked extensively in Egypt, South Asia, the US and Middle East. Sherine holds Masters Degrees from the American University in Cairo and from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Currently holding the position of Deputy Director for Regional Programmes for CARE International across the Middle East and North Africa she is responsible for ensuring the quality of CARE’s programmes in the region and she works extensively on promoting gender equality and girls and women’s empowerment.
About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a humanitarian organisation fighting global poverty and providing lifesaving assistance in emergencies. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to help lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty.
For more information, visit www.careinternational.org.uk