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'The Dignity of Women' brings us the voices and views of women working to end violence against women in the Arab region. In collaboration with Karama organisations, the 5050 section of openDemocracy is providing a platform for their knowledge and experiences, increasing Arab women's participation in global debate through articles, podcasts and blogs. We are grateful to Hivos for funding this editorial project.

Empowering women in the middle east

Hibaaq Osman on dignity and violence in the middle east.Listen Now

Karama prepared this Fact Sheet on women as decision-makers in the Arab World as part of its presentation at the UN's 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women.  For more information click here.

This policy paper was prepared by Karama, an initiative of women leaders from nine countries of the Middle East and North Africa committed to ending violence gainst women and girls, for the 53rd Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held in New York, March 2-13, 2009. At this Session, the Commission evaluates progress made by governments on the implementation of the agreed conclusions "Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels" adopted at the 50th Session of CSW.

This paper aims to:

• Provide recommendations to governments, the international community, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to accelerate women’s equal participation with men at all levels of decision-making;

On December 13-14, 2009, in Cairo, Egypt,  Karama, UNIFEM Egypt, and the Alliance for Arab Women will convene a two-day 22-country consultation to issue the Regional NGO Shadow Report on the Arab States' fulfillment of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA), fifteen years after it was adopted at the UN World Conference on Women in 1995.

NGO representatives from across the Middle East and North Africa will gather in Cairo on December 13th and 14th to assess the regional progress of the BPFA, what has been implemented, challenges and obstacles to implementation, and the role of NGOs.  Building from this analysis, the representatives will also issue recommendations and targets related to the Millennium Development Goals, which all UN member states adopted in 2000 and will continue to pursue through 2015.