A meeting of Ministers of the 43 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) responsible for women affairs will be held on the 27th of November in Cairo, under the leadership of the UfM Secretariat. This event follows previous UfM ministerial conferences on strengthening the role of women in society held in 2006 in Istanbul, in 2009 in Marrakech and in 2013 in Paris. For its part, the European Commission announced the holding of a correlated meeting of civil society, also in Cairo on the 22nd and 23rd of November.

The Euro-Mediterranean Women’s Foundation (FFEM) will take part in these meetings in order to spread the word of  the associations that we’ve been mobilizing since 2014. The FFEM has supported the work of the associations in the Euro-Mediterranean region and encouraged them to monitor gender equality policies by partnering with universities, research centers, media and local governments, as well as to prepare recommendations to advance women’s rights in Arab and European countries. In Cairo, associations, gender experts and opinion leaders will have to unify their demands so that the Declaration of Ministers reports progress and setbacks in recent years that require strong commitment from them in the years to come. It should be noted that a meeting of financial institutions and other stakeholders is planned, and expert working groups are also being organized on the 27th of November in the margins of the Ministerial Conference to increase visibility and implementation of the measures adopted by the Ministers. The FFEM will also be represented at these meetings.

The conference and all side events are organized by the UfM Secretariat and UN Women, and can only be accessed by invitation.