The two-day meeting of the Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Gender Empowerment for Green Economy concluded on Tuesday with the affirmation of making all-out efforts and moblising political will for addressing gender inequality and empowring women to achieve green economy goals in Asian countries. Chair of the meeting and Coordinator to Prime Minister on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam, in a statement issued from the climate change & environmental coordination ministry after conclusion of the meeting of the 20 parliamentarians from different Asian countries, said: “Tackling causes of gender inequality and addressing them through political collaboration and cooperation among the parliamentarians of the Asian countries and development of regional policies and their implementation in true spirit is inevitable to boost women’s empowerment for achieving green economy goals,” All participating parliamentarians from 20 Asian countries including Japan, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Cambodia, Jordan, Mongolia, Maldives and Egypt reiterated their support for the PM Shehbaz Sharif’s climate aide Romina Khurshid’s call to work together and assured their respective government’s the fullest support to improve socio-economic empowerment in all spheres of the life. The two-day regional meeting was co-organised by the Ministry of Climate Change & Environmental Coordination, M/o Foreign Affairs Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) and the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA), with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the Japan Trust Fund (JTF). The meeting also brought together more than 300 participants from, governments, international organizations, NGOs, youth organizations and academia, involving 20 countries, to share and discuss good practices in policies, legislation and programmes on The International Conference on Population and Development-30 (ICPD30), aiming to address gender equality, women empowerment and climate change. The meeting agenda included deliberations on the policies, systems and services that could strengthen investment in youth and eliminate gender inequality, including through empowering women and girls and engaging them in decision-making processes. Addressing the media, PM’s climate aide Ms Alam said, “It is deeply heartening to note that participating parliamentarians from the 20 Asian countries unanimously voted for the declaration, demonstrating political will and commitment of their respective governments to implement it letter and spirit for enhancing women’s empowerment in, among others, education, health, energy, water, agriculture, technology, research and industrial sectors for achieving the green economy goals.” She warned that without achieving women’s empowerment and addressing gender equality in Asian countries, which is extremely vulnerable to climate risks, achieving a green economy goals was not possible. “Because, for being geared to support sustainable consumption and production, low-carbon economic growth, resource-conserving, diverse and circular, the green economy goals particularly focus on the socio-economic empowerment of women and tackling gender equality in all sectors of the economy and society,” PM’s climate aide emphasized, adding, “It embraces new models of sustainable and green economic development that address the challenge of creating prosperity within planetary boundaries.” Spelling out key causes of persisting gender inequality and inadequate women empowerment in societies in almost most of Asian countries including Pakistan, Romina Khurshid said that uneven access to education, uneven access to education lack of employment opportunities, job segregation, poor medical care, poor medical care, absence of pro-women empowerment and gender equality societal mindsets are among the key roadblocks to achieving the socio-economic women empowerment and gender equality. She urged the parliamentarians from Asian countries, particularly those highly vulnerable to exacerbating climate risks and characterized by poor socio-economic empowerment and gender equality indicators to strengthen their role as legislators to deal with the drivers of the gender inequality and poor representation of women in socio-economic sectors. 12–point Islamabad Declaration on Gender Empowerment for Green Economy In line with our role as parliamentarians, we: I) Reaffirm our commitment to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as pathways to achieve an equitable future for all; II) Acknowledge the grave impacts of environment/climate change and global heating, particularly to promote policies and legislations that address the needs of vulnerable countries, which is a threat to health and human security everywhere; III) Commit to building resilient individuals, communities and societies, and investing in emergency preparedness, anticipatory actions, and targeted disaster risk reduction plans. This includes prioritizing the protection of women, girls and adolescents, migrants, minorities and refugees in all their diversity in all ages, and other groups in vulnerable and marginalized situations during emergencies, including those relating to climate change. We actively support women leadership in promoting peace, conflict prevention and in humanitarian action; IV) Recognize the importance of data and evidence collection, analysis, and dissemination, focusing on the needs of vulnerable groups, such as women, girls and adolescentswomen and girls, youth, persons with disabilities, migrants, and other groups with special protection needs, in line with the leave no one behind commitments; V) Highlight the importance of promoting women’s empowerment, including by increasing women’s access to education, employment and services, addressing unpaid care work, and ensuring that policies address and redress gender inequalities. Showcase the work done by youth-led grassroots and civil society organizations; VI) Work with national parliaments to address harmful social and gender norms that limit the potential of women, girls and adolescents in all their diversity, and other groups in vulnerable and marginalized situations, including through strengthened engagement of the mobilization of community activists, faith-based organizations, and traditional and religious leaders; VII) Promote enabling environments that eliminate discrimination against women, and girls and adolescents and empowers them to make informed decisions about their lives and bodies and support for the initiatives that empower women and young people and promote gender equality as part of efforts to build human capital and foster inclusion as key elements of demographic resilience strategies; VIII) Recognize the invaluable contributions of women ,and girls and adolescents to address the impact of climate change, and the need to leverage their experiences in disaster recovery and climate strategies keeping in mind that young people, in particular girls, are vulnerable to being disproportionately affected by climate change; IX) Reaffirm that we parliamentarians and policymakers must pay careful attention to the needs and rights of all people, including women, girls and adolescents, women and young people everywhere, especially in disaster zones; X) Take affirmative action to develop a model or common legislation that places solidarity with the women, and girls and adolescents at the center with respect to their rights; XI) Collaborate on developing policies and strategies to address climate change, leveraging the contributions of women, girls and adolescents women and girls in resilience-building efforts. XII) Recommit to working with all stakeholders, including development partners: civil societiesy; local, national, and regional governments; the private sectors; multilateral organizations; national parliamentary bodies and regional and global fora on population and development; to implement the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2030 Agenda; In the end visiting Parliamentarians and delegates thanked Pakistan for its gracious hospitality and endeavours to make the conference a success.
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