SECURITY A TOP AGENDA IN ARAB WOMEN ORGANISATION CONFERENCE

ABU DHABI, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- When the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital Abu Dhabi, hosts the second Arab Women Organisation (AWO) conference Tuesday, the status of women and human security from an Arab and international perspectives will be a top agenda amid the conflict-ridden Middle East region.

Although at the moment the concept of security which was redefined to mean
"freedom from want and freedom from fear and the necessity to live in dignity,"
is the centre of great debate but absent from the debate is a concrete and
noticeable Arab contribution.

The conference feels that a potential Arab contribution to the
conceptualisation and practice of security is the development of
multidimensional approach to security based on the needs of both state and
Society.

Taking these two into account, and focusing especially on women, the list
of threats discussed and analysed by the three-day conference are widened to
include eight topics.

The topics include Redefining Security: From National to Human Security:
How Far have women been taken into consideration?. This paper will have a
critical assessment of the two opposed paradigms, National versus Human
Security, and their operationalisation /applicability to the world of the 21st
century, especially in the Arab World.


Other papers to be presented are Women's security: Culture and its Impact;
Economic Globalisation: How far and in what way has it impacted women's security
and Education and Awareness: The effective way to heighten women's
security.

A paper on Wars, Conflicts and Women's Human Security" will also be
presented. It will discuss the cost of war, violent conflict and post conflict
situations to women's physical and mental health.

Last year during the AWO supreme council meeting in June, AWO chairperson
Sheikha Fatima Mubarak felt that conflicts and violence could only have the
effect of bringing plans for development to a halt.

"We need to consider how it's possible to look forward to real development
in societies where there's no security for their inhabitants," she had said.

She also felt that women were those who were the most affected by these
critical circumstances and wars, even if they were not on the frontline.


Early this month Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported Sheikha Fatima as
saying that she has great hopes on the outcome of Tuesday's conference as it
will emerge with plans for ensuring decent lives for all Arab women living in
various countries.

Meanwhile, in her remarks in the "Women in the United Arab Emirates" a
Portrait of Progress" issued in conjunction with the conference, she said that
the UAE women had shown great determination to vigorously shoulder the
responsibility of serving the UAE.

Since the UAE was founded in 1971 by the late President Sheikh Zayed bin
Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE women have enjoyed a remarkable position in the
community, she noted.

Sheikha Fatima who is also chairman of UAE Women's Federation and Supreme
Chairman of the Family Development Foundation, said that the UAE women had
performed effectively alongside men in various sectors and positively
contributed to the economic, social and cultural transformation of the country.

"We hope to use the progress achieved during the last three decades to
provide more incentives for the UAE women so that they can be a significant
partner in the sustainable development of the UAE and continue the march of
development of the women community around the world as well," she said.

The first ladies of the Arab countries, delegates and representatives from
regional and international women organisations are expected to participate in
the AWO conference. The AWO is an intergovernmental organisation established
under the umbrella of the League of Arab states and is headquartered in
Egypt.