New York, March 14 (QNA) - HE Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhroo reviewed the steps taken by the State of Qatar on the empowerment of women and their relevance to sustainable development before Member States participating in the sixty-third session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which began its work on Monday in New York.

HE Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, in Qatar's presentation to the Member States participating in the session, stressed that the Government of the State of Qatar paid particular attention to the humanitarian perspective in the formulation of sustainable development strategies as well as in all government programs and policies. In this context, HE referred to the labor market sector strategy and the social protection sector strategy.

His Excellency said that the Government of the State of Qatar is keen to ensure gender equality and fair representation of women in the formation of national committees and boards of directors and task forces in ministries and public institutions, indicating that sometimes women lead active ministries and institutions in the state.

His Excellency added taking into consideration the social situation of women had seen an increase in the legislative context and the permanent constitution of the State stipulated that people are equal before the law, without distinction in race, origin, language and religion. The Constitution also guaranteed the right to health, education, election and candidacy, and several resolutions and laws guaranteeing women's rights were issued.

His Excellency added that the State of Qatar has achieved in a short period a distinct social and economic transformation to improve the status of women, pointing out that the most important programs that were launched to integrate women to the labor market in the government scholarship program and the job seekers program of both sexes.

HE Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs stated that the Government had paid great attention to the economic and professional empowerment of women and to strengthening their capacities, ensuring their right to work, providing decent work and promoting social protection in all national strategies and plans, pointing out that the participation of Qatari women in the labor force is about 37% for women aged 25-29 years, and it is close to 49% for the 30-34 age group, adding the percentage of women in decision-making positions is 30%, according to official statistics.

His Excellency added that Qatari women have become a key partner in economic development, with the State of Qatar ranking first in the index of equal business opportunities between the sexes in the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

His Excellency pointed out to the creation of an annual prize for businesswomen to be awarded to the most prominent businessmen who contributed to the Qatari society and the national economy.

His Excellency added that in order to ensure the promotion of the human rights of women, Qatar worked to achieve gender equality by giving priority to initiatives to promote the economic and social empowerment of women, noting the significant steps taken by the State towards achieving these goals, particularly in the area of universal education and health care and improving the individual living standard.

His Excellency added that the State of Qatar ranked 33rd in the Human Development Report, the first in the Arab world, and in the 25th position worldwide, the second in the Arab countries in the Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018, the first in the Arab world and fourth in the quality of education, and among 140 countries worldwide, according to the Education Quality Index of the World Economic Forum in Davos 2017.

The State of Qatar has also been able to close the gender gap in relation to the different educational stages, according to the report issued by the Forum.

HE pointed to Qatar's participation at a high level in the Third forum of the United Nations Economic and Social Council in April 2018, and to inform the participants of the results of the meeting hosted by the State, which resulted in 'Doha letters' that underlines the importance of strengthening cooperation for the implementation of the 2030 Plan and Addis Ababa Plan of Action.

HE Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhroo praised the "Educate a Child" initiative, which recently helped 10 million marginalized children drop out of school to receive quality primary education as it included 82 partnerships in 50 countries, amounting to $1.8 billion, pointing to Qatar's contribution of one third of this amount to help global efforts between the private sector and civil society organizations.

His Excellency also referred to the initiative of HH the Amir of Qatar to provide quality education to another 1 million girls by 2021 within the framework of the "Charlevoix Declaration on Quality Education for Girls, Adolescent Girls and Women in Developing Countries which was issued at the G7 Summit -2018. This was on the margin of the United Nations General Assembly at its seventy-third session in September 2018.

His Excellency pointed to several measures adopted by the State of Qatar at the political and procedural levels to ensure the development of women., noting the establishment of national mechanisms on women's issues, which contributed to the promotion of equal opportunities and equality at the policy-making and implementation levels, providing shelter for women victims of violence and increasing attention to gender-disaggregated statistics.

HE the Minister added that these measures have led to the capacity building of institutional mechanisms for official statistics.

He pointed out that the State of Qatar supports the assumption of women to leadership positions and their participation in the public administration of the State, including directly political rights such as the right to vote and run in the municipal council. The law guaranteed women equality with men in the right to register, vote and to stand for elections, pointing out that the participation rate of women in the vote was 47%.

He added that the State of Qatar was keen on the political and administrative empowerment of women, as Qatari women have been appointed to the posts of minister, ambassador, directors in government and private sector and civil society organizations, adding Qatari women also appointed in judicial positions in courts and appointed the first prosecutor, and they are members of the Shura Council, as well.

His Excellency added that the State of Qatar is undertaking efforts and initiatives at the national and international levels in the field of education and the advancement of women to contribute to the promotion of peace and security in societies and has contributed to the international study on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325/2000 on women, peace and security, as well as in mediation efforts to resolve conflicts in many regions of the world, which have been welcomed by the international community.

HE the Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs said that the State of Qatar attaches special importance to this issue through its active membership in the Group of Friends of Gender Parity in the United Nations system and its support for programs and activities aimed at recruiting more women to senior positions in the United Nations.

He also highlighted the support of the State of Qatar for the active role of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in achieving gender parity, ending the exploitation and sexual abuse in the organization as referred to in his report, and also welcomed his new strategy for achieving gender parity within the United Nations.

HE the Minister said the State of Qatar has taken a number of policies and measures to support women's participation in public life by recognizing partnership in work and parental responsibilities, including the balancing of women's professional and family responsibilities, including the harmonization of family responsibilities and work as one of the most important goals of women's empowerment.

He stressed that Qatar's Planning and Statistics Authority applies the latest internationally recognized methodologies to measure the progress required in implementing sustainable development goals and the objectives of each goal.

At the conclusion of the national voluntary presentation, His Excellency said that Qatar supports national mechanisms aimed at achieving gender equality, whether in governmental bodies such as various ministries, government institutions or in other institutions, pointing to the Department of Family Affairs in the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, Qatar Foundation for Social Action and its affiliated centers. (END)