P.R. 2 Women Section. 7/3/2005 Doc: 1/3/2005
Dr. Morad Ghaleb, President of AAPSO
Issued the following Statement on behalf of the Permanent Secretariat
World Woman Day
Every year the world observes 8 March as Women Day. Regardless of race, ethnicity group or habits, women all over the world mark the day as a symbol of solidarity among peoples.
On that day we need to express our highest esteem to women for the tremendous effort they are making amid crucial international changes. Arab women, for example, are suffering from double discrimination, once on grounds of gender as a result of obsolete laws and societal norms, and the other as a result of the situation in the region involving tension and the Arab-Israeli conflict, foreign presence in the region, and the threat to launch pre-emptive wars on some Arab countries. As a result, the Arab countries are opting for programs and policies in favor of expenditure on armament more than on improving the societal institutional infrastructure concerned with improving the status of women and the prevailing conditions in society as a whole.
This year the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization is dedicating that day to the Iraqi women for their heroic role in liberating their homeland from colonialism and dictatorship in the past, and who are now valiantly carrying out their role for the formation of a new Iraqi government with strong institutions and with an agenda that has as first priority demanding the withdrawal of the occupation forces from their land within a time framework and completing the drafting of an Iraqi constitution that insures the rights of all Iraqis without discrimination on grounds of ethnicity or gender.
Within the framework of the convening of the Beijing women conference during that period, AAPSO calls on governments and governmental and non-governmental organizations to support women in their march as a partner to community development and to improving women's status where they are suffering from a flagrant violation and where the violation is expected to further increase with the deterioration of economic, political and social conditions in the world despite all the charters and conventions which provide for equality among humankind and insure their freedom, safety and dignity.