The existence of bilateral and multilateral co-operation mechanisms or programs to combat violence against women is helpful in combating violence against women and girls, not only because it makes it possible to learn from comparative experiences, both successes and failures, but also because it makes it possible to highlight leading experiences and best practices which can encourage other States to adopt efficient policies and/or strategies.
One of these multilateral mechanism in the Arab Region is the Arab League. Most of the States members adopted the five years strategy for identifying the priorities launched by the Arab League.
One of the most active mechanisms is the Union of the Mediterranean (UfM) which, due to the variety of its components, allows the countries of the Arab region to complement the existing Arab-Arab framework with additional experiences with different history, different back-grounds but similar challenges.
The Union for the Mediterranean
The Ministerial Declaration of the 4th UfM Ministerial Conference on enhancing the role of women in the society has a specific area on combating VAWG, PVE and WPSA. The 4th UfM Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society that took place on 27 November 2017 in Cairo, Egypt gathered ministers of the 43 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean responsible for women affairs and gender equality, under the Co-Presidency of the European Union and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The Ministers agreed to promote the following 4 actions:
- Raising women’s participation in public life and decision-making.
- Raising women’s economic participation.
- Combating all forms of violence against women and girls.
- Challenging cultural and social norms and eliminate gender stereotypes, particularly in and through education and media.
The Arab League
The Arab League established the Arab Women Committee. Under this committee, the Arab League launched on 10/2/2020 a 5-year strategy for identifying the priorities in the Arab countries according to the Beijing convention. Also, on 9/2/2020, the Arab League approved the establishment of the “Arab Network for Women Peace Mediators”, as one of the regional mechanisms of the Arab Women Committee.
Informal regional networks
Informal networks include:
- The Coalition of Women MPs form Arab Countries to Combat Violence against Women aims to combat violence against women as well as spreading awareness among parliamentarians, people, and the public opinion; place the issue of violence against women among the legislative priorities; exchange information and coordinate joint actions among parliamentarians with the participation of relevant civil society organization.The Coalition launched in 2016 a “draft Arab Convention to Combat Violence against Women and Girls and Domestic Violence” which was adopted by the Arab Women’s Committee in February 2017. It is currently in the final stage of approval and ratification.
- The Arab Women Parliamentarians Network for Equality (Ra’edat) advocates gender equality and combating VAWG as well as advocating for comprehensive laws in the Arab region.
- There are no bi agreements for addressing VAWG.
All index States are members of the two regional bodies. i.e. the Arab League and the UfM.