Joint communiqué: MPs of three states to focus on women issues

Parliamentarians from Pakistan, UK and Afghanistan conclude three-day meeting.

ISLAMABAD:

Women parliamentarians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom on Saturday promised to work towards addressing women’s issues, particularly those related to mental health and education in their countries.

The commitment was expressed in a joint communiqué issued at the end of a three-day meeting of the women from parliaments of three countries on Saturday.

This was the third such meeting organised under the Parliamentary Partnership Programme between Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) of Parliament of Pakistan and Britain’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

The Afghan delegation comprised two women parliamentarians and was led by Dr Gulalai Nur Safi. The five-member CPA UK delegation comprised three members of parliament and two members of the House of Lords, and was led by the Lord Speaker Baroness D’Souza. The Pakistani delegation, meanwhile, comprise 13 members and was led Dr Fehmida Mirza.

The key objective of the three-day programme is to enable women parliamentarians to discuss issues, opportunities and challenges in legislation policy-making in their respective countries to promote social reform across party lines.

While sharing knowledge and experiences, the participants discussed various dynamics and perspectives on the state of women’s health and education within their respective countries. According to the communiqué, the meeting shared the common aspiration for women to live in peace, harmony and prosperity through socio-economic and political empowerment.

The women lawmakers agreed to develop strategies to address the challenges in implementing education legislation to ensure that both boys and girls have equal access to primary, secondary and higher education.

The parliamentarians of the three countries also pledged to promote discussions on family planning through parliamentary debates, hold governments to account, and draw media attention to the importance of family planning services.

They agreed to focus on the development of strategies to address issues around improving reproductive, maternal and child health through effective legislation.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2014.