Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were striving to improve conditions for women, Alya Ahmed bint Saif Al Thani, counsellor at Qatar’s UN mission, told a meeting of the world body in New York.
Al Thani said the proposed committee would oversee bodies in all GCC countries that tackle domestic violence and work towards improving job and educational prospects for women.
"A study is currently under way for the establishment of a Council ministerial committee that would coordinate and organise the work of the councils and entities relevant to the issues of women, children and the family in the GCC states," Al Thani said at UN headquarters in New York this week.
Representing all members of the GCC — Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — Al Thani addressed the General Assembly’s third committee during a debate on the role of women in
development.
The diplomat said Gulf governments had already set up refuges and telephone hotlines to assist victims of domestic violence as part of national strategies to combat the scourge.
"They have also undergone a stage of legislative reviews to ensure the explicit criminalisation of such offences, and are currently engaged in augmenting the database for domestic violence and violence against children and women, while focussing on training professionals working in the fields relevant to cooperation with international organisations," she said.
A GCC panel has already improved female access to the Gulf job market and improved social security and retirement programmes to give women a better chance in the workplace.
"Emphasis has been placed on the importance of improving the situation of limited-income women and assisting with their integration in social life, protecting women from all forms of violence and sustaining efforts to eradicate illiteracy among girl children and women," added the diplomat.
Al Thani told the UN’s committee for social, humanitarian and cultural issues that governments should develop divergent strategies towards female empowerment.
"It is necessary also to emphasise that there is no single model that can be applied in all countries, but, rather, every state must find the appropriate basis and the convenient plans to confront this violence," said Al Thani.
Within the Gulf, Al Thani spoke of the need to develop laws and guidelines "in line with the tenets of the Islamic Shariah" and highlighted the "importance of sensitising society to the significance of the role of women in the family and in society".
