New York, March 20 (QNA) - The State of Qatar has participated in a strong and effective manner in the work of the sixty-third session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which began on Monday (March 11th) and is due to end on Friday.

The delegation of the State of Qatar was led by HE Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhroo.

In this regard, the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar to the United Nations organized a number of events on the sidelines of the session, including a High-Level Roundtable on Gender Parity and Security Sector Reform: Promoting Peaceful and Inclusive Societies for Sustainable Development, at the initiative of the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar and the delegation of Ghana, who co-chaired by the Group of Friends of Gender Equality in the United Nations and in cooperation with the delegations of Slovakia and South Africa, who co-chaired by the Friends of Security Sector Reform Group.

The roundtable discussions assessed options for strengthening linkages between gender equality and security sector reform programs as a means of promoting Goal 16 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and implementing Security Council resolution 2151 (2014), which calls for "equality in the effective and full participation of women in security sector reform, given the vital role of women in conflict prevention and resolution and peace-building.

HE Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations; HE Ambassador Michal Mlynar, Permanent Representative of Slovakia; HE Ambassador Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Permanent Representative of Ghana; HE Ambassador Jerry Matthews Matjila, Permanent Representative Republic of South Africa; HE Marta-Lucia Ramirez, Vice-President of the Republic of Colombia; HE Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Small Business Development of the Republic of South Africa; Bineta Diop, Special Envoy of the African Union on Women, Peace and Security; and Katarina Csefalvayova, chairwoman of Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of the Slovak Republic.

There was also active participation from Qatari women figures in the work of the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women, where HE Sheikha Hessa bint Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Thani, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the Arab League for Humanitarian Affairs, was a keynote speaker at the event organized by the Arab League delegation on "Strengthening the role of women in peace processes and in the building of peace and security". She also spoke at the event organized jointly by the Arab League, the United Nations Women, the National Commission for Lebanese Women, the Jordanian National Commission for Women and ESCWA on "National Plans in the area of women, peace and security in the Arab region: Lebanon and Jordan".

In addition, she welcomed the invitation to open the event organized by the Permanent Mission of Iraq and Germany to the United Nations, the United Nations Women and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict on the role of Iraqi women in the reconstruction of Iraq and in the achievement of peace and security.

HE Sheikha Hessa bint Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Thani also participated as a keynote speaker at the event organized by the Permanent Delegation, along with the Permanent Delegation of the Gambia and Pakistan, on "Social Protection to Help Families Achieve Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls". 

Dr Hend bint Abdulrahman Al Muftah, Member of the Shoura Council, Vice President for Administrative and Financial Affairs and Associate Professor at the Doha Institute for Postgraduate Studies, participated in a number of events related to enhancing the role of women in parliaments and legislatures and enacting laws and legislation. She participated as a keynote speaker at the event organized by the Permanent Delegation in cooperation with the International Development Law Organization on "Women Delivering Justice: Investing in Women Justice Professionals for the Achievement of the 2030 Agenda" where she reviewed the experience of the State of Qatar on women's involvement in justice and justice

Dr Hend Bint Abdulrahman Al Muftar also participated in the UNDP event on the role of parliaments as partners in the agenda of women, peace and security. She also made a presentation at the annual meeting organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the role of women in parliaments, which dealt with the theme "Data on women in politics", and was also present at the event organized by the permanent delegations of Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Indonesia to the United Nations on "Breaking Stereotypes: Muslim Women as Agents of Change".

Najat Al Abdullah, Director of the Family Affairs Department at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, represented the State of Qatar in a number of official events of the session. She participated in an interactive panel discussion on the priority topic of the session, focusing on the importance of solidarity and securing funding for social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. She participated in the Women's Empowerment Forum for 2019 organized by UN Women.

Amal bint Abdullatif Al Mannai, Executive President of Qatar Foundation for Social Work, highlighted the achievements of the State of Qatar in the area of women's economic and social empowerment in several meetings and events held on the sidelines of the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women. She was the keynote speaker at the event organized by the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the United Nations on "Role of Women Friendly Policies to Achieve Empowerment of New Generations".

She also took part in the ILO's event on the future of women in action, in which gender equality and decent work were discussed, as well as participated in the event entitled "From the Stockholm Forum on Gender Equality in 2018 to the Tunis Forum on Gender Equality 2019 to Beijing +25 in 2020".

Given the importance that the State of Qatar attaches to the role of the family in social development as the basic unit of society, Dr Sharifa Al Emadi, Executive Director of the Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), participated in a number of related events. She participated as a facilitator in the event organized by the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the United Nations on "The Role of Institution of Family For Sustainable Social Protection", as well as in the event that discussed ways of unlocking the capacity of social protection for women and girls, organized by the Permanent Delegation of the United Kingdom and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Gender-Responsive Social Protection for Adolescent Girls.

As part of the ongoing strengthening of relations between the State of Qatar and the Arab States, the Qatari women delegation participating in the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women participated in the events organized by a number of Arab countries, including the event organized by the Permanent Delegation of Jordan, Tunisia and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on the harmonization of sustainable development goals with the local context, and in the vent organized by the Permanent Delegation of the State of Kuwait on achieving the goals of sustainable development through the empowerment of women and in the event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine in cooperation with ESCWA and the United Nations Women on the comprehensive response to violence against women in Palestine, and in the event organized by the Permanent Delegation of Jordan on investment in social protection systems.