HM King’s reform project promotes gender equality

Cairo : His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s Reform Project has enabled Bahraini women to enjoy the status they well-deserve in various sectors, said Second Deputy Chairperson of the Shura Council, Jameela Ali Salman. She was heading the kingdom’s parliamentary delegation to the Regional Seminar on the Sustainable Development Goals and Gender Equality for Parliaments of the Middle East and North Africa, held in Alexandria, Egypt. Bahrain’s constitution and the National Action Charter,  Salman told the conference, guarantee the protection of women’s right enabling their role in nation-building and development process. 

Bahrain, she explained, has achieved remarkable progress in lifting some reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), as well as in enacting many laws aimed at protecting the family from violence and regulating the personal status. The constant support of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of HM the King and SCW President, and her follow-up on the issues of Bahraini and Arab women, Ali Salman said, have contributed significantly to the kingdom’s success in reaching advanced levels at the international level.

Ali Salman also pointed out that the existing fruitful cooperation among the Shura and Representatives councils, the government and the official entities, particularly the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), has resulted in enacting many laws that regulate women’s rights and enable them to enjoy their role in the nation-building and development process to the fullest. The Regional Seminar on the Sustainable Development Goals and Gender Equality for Parliaments of the Middle East and North Africa is organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union and Egypt’s House of Representatives.

The seminar, bringing together Arab and GCC parliamentary delegations, offers a platform for participants to discuss concrete solutions from the region to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and especially gender equality and women’s empowerment.