UN Human Rights Council adopts UAE draft resolution on girls' education

GENEVA, 3rd July, 2016 (WAM) -- The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) yesterday approved a draft resolution presented by the United Arab Emirates on girls' education, in its meeting in Geneva. Ambassador Obaid Salem Al Zaabi, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva in his speech before the Council extended thanks to all delegates that supported the draft resolution, wishing that the resolution will be a cornerstone to enhance the right of every girl to receive education. He also said that the draft resolution which shed lights on the importance of the right of education for girls will have a genuine multiplier effect that contributes to the empowerment of women and guarantees them to play a full and active role in the political, economic, social and cultural fields in the future, including taking part in the public life, particularly in decision-making. Al Zaabi also said that the draft resolution focuses on eliminating the structural obstacles and policies that hinder the advancement of the right to receive education for girls and also calls upon countries to contribute to removing all the existing differences between genders based on religious beliefs or social basis, and rejecting intentional discrimination as well as all obstacles that prevent the implementation of the girls' right in education. He reiterated that the draft resolution highlights that in spite of the remarkable progress that has been made through the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations in which members states expressed their determination to ensure that all children, male or female, anywhere in the world would be able to access all levels of education on an equal footing by 2015, however, the reality shows that there are still gaps in the list that would undermine girls right to receive education. In this context, the draft resolution also calls on the countries to take all the appropriate measures to help girls and mitigate barriers that may prevent them from receiving education in schools by providing suitable environment inside and outside the educational institutions, providing transportation, and giving attention to securing a safe environment to protect them from all forms of violence including sexual violence. Al Zaabi also indicated that the draft resolution shows that there are a number of countries that have been unable to achieve the objectives of the current development goals in the field of girls education due to some challenges, including low level of development and the absence of material and human resources and lack of professional training for teachers and insufficient educational facilities. He also reaffirmed that the draft resolution calls for supporting those countries so that they can implement educational programmes which include equality of genders in accordance with the framework set by the UN General Assembly for sustainable development by 2030, particularly with respect to the fourth goal of this agenda. The UAE draft resolution emphasised the importance of strengthening dialogue between the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Special Rapporteur on the right to education and others in this regard. The draft resolution also requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on equality of girls' right to receive education, constraints that hinder them to receive education. It also calls for making recommendations on the appropriate measures to eliminate gender disparities in education by 2030. - Emirates News Agency, WAM - http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395297383833.html