Mourad Wahba
United Nations Assistant Secretary General
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Arab States, UN Development Programme
Chair, Regional UN Development Group for Arab States, Middle East and North Africa
Opening of International Conference on
Promoting women's political participation, essential support for political reform processes and sustainable development
People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
17-18 March 2018

Your Excellency, Minister of Justice, representing HE President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Your Excellency the Minister of Interior, Local Communities and Urbanization

Your Excellencies Cabinet Members

Distinguished Members of Elected Councils and Representatives of civil society

Excellencies Ambassadors and Members of Diplomatic Missions,

Distinguished guests,

Let me begin today by expressing my gratitude for your kind invitation to me to participate in this important conference that highlights one of the most important priorities for reform and pillars of sustainable development, namely, the promotion of women 's political participation.

We are honoured to have this forum convene under the generous patronage of the President of the Republic, HE Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was also keen to give the special opening address that we just listened to.

I also wish to pay tribute to HE the Minister of the Interior, Local Communities and Urbanization for his deep commitment to enhancing the political participation of women at all levels of elected councils and his close cooperation with us in this field .

Ladies and gentlemen.,

If I had the choice, I would not have selected for this conference a better time or place to convene

Every year March, most countries of the world come together to celebrate women 's achievements and venerable contributions in all walks of life, and through the United Nations, they have chosen, the eighth of March as the International Women’s Day, to pay tribute to women, value their economic, political and social achievements, and honour their struggle for equity and equal rights.

Last week, at the meetings of the current session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York, I was honoured to meet the Algerian delegation headed by HE the Minister of National Solidarity, Family and Women's Issues, who presented Algeria's most recent achievements in pursuit of equality, empowerment and solidarity, all key to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals in this dear country.

I would like to quote the UN Secretary-General's message for International Women's Day 2018, where he emphasized that: “Women’s empowerment is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals means progress for all women, everywhere. The Spotlight initiative launched jointly with the European Union will focus resources on eliminating violence against women and girls, a prerequisite for equality and empowerment.”

And I wish to also highlight part of the message of UNDP’s Administrator for the same occasion, where he asserted that: “The Time is Now to promote women’s political participation. Women make up only 23.5% of the world’s parliamentarians. The world needs women to have an equal voice in decision making. The Time is Now to end violence against women. 49 countries lack laws protecting women from domestic violence, and in 37 countries perpetrators of rape are exempt from prosecution if they are married to or subsequently marry the victim.”

Our meeting today in Algeria, the homeland whose struggle for liberation has inspired the whole world, comes an recognition of Algeria’s leading experience in supporting women’s struggle for greater and more effective participation in the public sphere, especially as voters and candidates in political processes. Algeria was the first Arab country to exceed the threshold of 30% in the representation of women in its Parliament, a threshold that is considered "critical" for effective participation of women in decision-making .

And here in Algeria, the United Nations Development Program is proud to cooperate closely with the government to support its progressive policies to promote gender equality, based on results that have been achieved in previous stage of cooperation in this area. We will support efforts to strengthen women 's full and effective representation and participation in Algeria’s National People's Assembly, as well as at local levels. We will also promote the articulation of legal, economic and social frameworks that ensure women 's equality with men in access to leadership positions at all levels of decision-making, in pursuit of the social, economic and political empowerment of all women and girls in Algeria and to increase their prospects for a better life .

Ladies and gentlemen.,

Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is not only one of the goals of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, but it is one of its governing principles as well and an essential prerequisite for the achievement of all other goals.

In the United Nations we put the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women and the achievement of equality and equal opportunities between women and men, especially in the area of political participation among our top priorities. The UN General Assembly has encouraged all Member States to eliminate discriminatory practices that might hinder the political participation of women and mandated various UN agencies to promote women's rights and equal participation in national political processes.

That is why your conference today is of great importance to us in UNDP and other relevant UN bodies, and the UN Development Group, which I have the honour to chair at regional level, as we focus primarily on supporting efforts of Member States to mainstream the fulfilment of women’s rights in their national development strategies, ensure the representation of women 's voices in national public dialogues, support their participation in the democratic process, accelerate the pace of legislative, electoral and judicial reforms that promote women's participation in the public sphere; and guarantee and protect their rights in law and practice.

We are counting on Algeria to make a leading contribution to the promotion of women 's participation in the political sphere across the entire Arab region, and beyond, based on it its pioneering achievements in promoting the empowerment of women, especially in this critical area.

Such an achievement would not have been possible had Algeria not adopted enlightened constitutional amendments in 2008 that confirmed in Article 35 of the amended Constitution the commitment of the State to take all necessary measures to promote the participation of women in elected councils; and to follow-through in 2012 with bold legislations that identified legal mechanisms and tools to translate this commitment into reality by applying quotas on electoral lists for female candidates. This was further strengthened in the subsequent constitutional amendments of 2016, which enshrined in article 36 of the amended Constitution the obligation of the State to achieve parity between Men and women in the employment market and encourage women’s access to positions of responsibility in public institutions.

Please allow me here to record our appreciation of the close cooperation that we have seen from many of our international development partners, especially in the British and Swiss governments, and for their invaluable support –in cooperation with United Nations agencies—of efforts of the Algerian Government in this area, in particular, to strengthen the capacities of elected women so that they can perform their representational roles to the fullest.

In this context, we have embarked in UNDP on an effort to conduct extensive research covering all of the Arab region, Algeria included, in order to better appreciate the obstacles that prevent women’s effective participation of women in decision-making in the public sphere in general, and in the political sphere, in particular. We strive to establish a knowledge base, upon which to ground our actions in support of national efforts aimed at addressing such obstacles and to better design mechanisms and tools that will help achieve sustainable development across our entire Arab region .

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish you a productive conference that achieves all of its ambitious objective and noble goals.

Thank you.