King Abdullah and Queen Rania Current Events 1: September 2003-

[Balqis]

okay.....that is interesting...what media campaign????

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3530223.stm

Queen Rania backs women's rights

By Dale Gavlak
BBC News, Amman

Jordan's Queen Rania has launched a media campaign to change stereotypes affecting Arab women and to boost their role in society.
She challenged Middle East broadcasters to help change common misconceptions in their programmes and advertisements.

Arab women must also be more vocal on issues affecting them such as domestic violence, illiteracy and political involvement, she said.

She said these issues must be discussed openly among Arab people themselves.

At a press conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Queen Rania told Arab broadcasters they had a duty to help change attitudes.

"This is your campaign," she said, "your responsibility to see that women are supported in helping to shape the future of the Arab world."

She showed a public information film aimed at encouraging women to play an integral role in developing the Middle East.

She said men and women share the same future and so they should work together to create their vision for the Arab world. This has not always been the case in the Middle East.

A Unicef representative in Jordan, Hin Mango, said Queen Rania had made the point forcefully.

"You can't keep 50% of any society marginalised," she said. "Basically the message was clear, that you need its two halves complementing each other, whether it's a man or a woman."

The challenges women face in the Arab world are great.

More than 60% are illiterate, domestic violence is widespread and not all Arab women yet have the right to vote, let alone stand for election.

But Queen Rania said these issues must be discussed openly and tackled by Arabs themselves.

Jordan and other Arab countries have felt outside pressure to adopt social reforms.

But they have resisted, saying any political, economic or social changes must come from within the region and in accordance with religious traditions.

 

[Balqis]

Another media campaign:

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGACT770382004

Middle East/North Africa: Campaign launched to stop violence against women

Press release, 22/03/2004

(Amman) Amnesty International today called on people in the Middle East and North Africa to support its worldwide campaign to Stop Violence Against Women.

The launch in Amman, attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania al-Abdullah, comes at the end of a major seminar that gathered activists to discuss ways to eradicate laws and practices that foster violence against women in the region.

"Violence against woman is a global scandal which also affects women in the Middle East and North Africa," declared Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, at the regional launch of the campaign in Jordan.

Throughout the world, one in every three women suffers rape, attack or assault at one point in her life.

"In Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Territories and Algeria, women have been the undeclared casualty of violence in armed conflicts. Throughout the region, countless women have also suffered violence in their homes."

"Women are not victims -- although they are victimized. They are agents of change," said Ms Khan.

"Women's organizations from Morocco to Lebanon have been relentlessly working to combat violence perpetrated against women inside or outside the home. Amnesty International's campaign joins this valiant work. Together, we hope to bring an end to this scandal."

Amnesty International's campaign will demand the abolition of laws which discriminate against women and perpetuate violence. It will insist that governments adopt and apply laws effectively to protect women and criminalize rape and other forms of sexual violence. It will campaign to end impunity for violence against women.

According to Amnesty International, as of last year, 54 countries still have laws that actively discriminate against women, 79 countries have no law against domestic violence and 127 countries have no laws against sexual harassment.

"We are calling on national and local authorities worldwide to assume their responsibilities to eradicate violence against women, no matter where it happens, in the bedroom, backstreet or battlefield. We call on men, as well as women, to join us in this campaign," concluded Ms Khan.

"Violence against women may be universal but it is not inevitable. We can end it," said Ms Khan.

"We must be ready to listen to the voices of women and support them to organize themselves. We must reaffirm the universal right of women to be free of violence, irrespective of culture, custom or tradition. We must have the courage to confront those in authority and demand change."

 

[Ipi Tombe]

Coming from the wife of a monarch, this statement is quite interesting.

More than 60% are illiterate, domestic violence is widespread and not all Arab women yet have the right to vote, let alone stand for election.

 

[Ipi Tombe]

http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/jor-summary-eng

the latest country report i could find on jordan....

it was quite an interesting read. my analysis of the report is that KA & QR say all the right things but the govt and security apparatus continue to do whatever they see fit.

Another media campaign:

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGACT770382004

Middle East/North Africa: Campaign launched to stop violence against women

Press release, 22/03/2004

(Amman) Amnesty International today called on people in the Middle East and North Africa to support its worldwide campaign to Stop Violence Against Women.

The launch in Amman, attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania al-Abdullah, comes at the end of a major seminar that gathered activists to discuss ways to eradicate laws and practices that foster violence against women in the region.

"Violence against woman is a global scandal which also affects women in the Middle East and North Africa," declared Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, at the regional launch of the campaign in Jordan.

Throughout the world, one in every three women suffers rape, attack or assault at one point in her life.

"In Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Territories and Algeria, women have been the undeclared casualty of violence in armed conflicts. Throughout the region, countless women have also suffered violence in their homes."

"Women are not victims -- although they are victimized. They are agents of change," said Ms Khan.

"Women's organizations from Morocco to Lebanon have been relentlessly working to combat violence perpetrated against women inside or outside the home. Amnesty International's campaign joins this valiant work. Together, we hope to bring an end to this scandal."

Amnesty International's campaign will demand the abolition of laws which discriminate against women and perpetuate violence. It will insist that governments adopt and apply laws effectively to protect women and criminalize rape and other forms of sexual violence. It will campaign to end impunity for violence against women.

According to Amnesty International, as of last year, 54 countries still have laws that actively discriminate against women, 79 countries have no law against domestic violence and 127 countries have no laws against sexual harassment.

"We are calling on national and local authorities worldwide to assume their responsibilities to eradicate violence against women, no matter where it happens, in the bedroom, backstreet or battlefield. We call on men, as well as women, to join us in this campaign," concluded Ms Khan.

"Violence against women may be universal but it is not inevitable. We can end it," said Ms Khan.

"We must be ready to listen to the voices of women and support them to organize themselves. We must reaffirm the universal right of women to be free of violence, irrespective of culture, custom or tradition. We must have the courage to confront those in authority and demand change."

 

[Balqis]

Actually Queen Rania did not make this statement, it was made by the writer of the BBC article, Dale Gavlak. Queen Rania's words are denoted by the quotation marks in that article.

Coming from the wife of a monarch, this statement is quite interesting.

Reference: Originally Posted by Balqis
More than 60% are illiterate, domestic violence is widespread and not all Arab women yet have the right to vote, let alone stand for election.

 

[amina1]

Sorry guys, this old picture has nothing to do with all the discussions above, I just liked KAbdullah's face...I wonder what is he thinking?
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8667

 

[Balqis]

King attends dinner banquet

His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday speaks with a scholar participating in Al al Bayt Foundation's 13th Conference during a dinner banquet held by HRH Prince Ghazi Ben Mohammad, personal envoy and private adviser to His Majesty, at Basman Palace. The Monarch expressed his appreciation for the role Muslim scholars play in clarifying the image of Islam. He also commended the scholars' efforts to correct erroneous notions and concepts about Islam. Al al Bayt Foundation Higher President HRH Crown Prince Hamzah, the King's Private Adviser Yousef Dalabih and Royal Court Minister Samir Rifai were also present at the banquet.

 

[Balqis]

King meets with visiting US Congressman Tom Lantos

Thursday, 19 August

 

[Balqis]

Queen Rania and the campaign against violence of women

This is another article about the issue:

Media campaign tackles abuse

By Sana Abdallah AMMAN

A man’s hand takes off his belt and picks up a shoe. He beats the dust from a carpet that hangs over a balcony. A woman’s body is seen hanging from the same balcony. And a voice says: “A woman is not a carpet.”

That was one of the television advertisements that Lebanon’s Future Television has aired as part of a comprehensive Arab media campaign telling men and women alike that “a woman is not a carpet that responds when you beat her,” contrary to a common Arab saying that compares women to carpets.

Another ad shows a sad woman sitting on a chair in a house, when the furniture starts to disappear, leaving her with only her chair. A caption appears reading, “Reading and writing protects you from exploitation.” A voice says: “Sixty percent of Arab women cannot read this message.”

Jordan’s Queen Rania has described the initiative as “historic, ambitious, and necessary,” and said that the Arab media was responsible for “respecting the sanctity of the woman’s role in carrying out her duties towards the nation, in its productivity and development.”

She said that the Arab world would not be able to grow politically, economically, or culturally “without respecting and consolidating the role of women,” and urged all Arab men and women to “work together toward a new vision and with persistence to succeed.”

Rania, King Abdullah’s wife, initiated the media campaign last September, when she invited the CEOs of Arab satellite channels and chief editors of regional newspapers and magazines for a two-day meeting, during which the conferees agreed to activate the role of the media to address vital issues affecting women in the Arab world.

The campaign addresses action to combat women’s illiteracy, estimated at 60 percent in the Arab world, boost their representation in governments and parliaments, and work toward legislation pertaining to women’s rights in the predominantly patriarchal Arab countries.

Analysts said the bold campaign could open a Pandora’s box of empowering females in a way that could antagonize men and threaten their masculinity. However, the media advisory council said the campaign was designed to persuade men that an empowered woman meant a stronger society, and thus a stronger Arab nation.

AFP

A UN study has found that 42 percent of Jordanian women have been victims of physical violence, with even higher numbers enduring sexual and verbal abuse at home. The study is the first of its kind in Jordan.

 

[sommone]

This is another article about the issue:

Media campaign tackles abuse

Good for Rania. Well at least their trying to get the ball rolling for women's rights in Arab countries. I can't believe the statement "the bold campaign could antagonize men and threaten their masculinity." On several occasions while visiting Jordan times, I have read alot of stories concerning violence against women, and I cringe each time after reading one. The fact this continues to go on in the 21st century shows just how many of these countries are really dragging their feet about making reforms on this issue. The whole threatening of a man's masculinity is an excuse just to keep women in these countries repressed, and it is really sad that a sorry excuse of this kind continues to keep Arab women from being empowered.

 

[Balqis]

Queen Rania visiting an orphanage, November 2003.

Pics from Laha magazine

 

[Balqis]

Queen Rania visiting Sweimeh, October 2003.

Pics from Laha magazine

 

[Balqis]

Queen Rania visiting a school and a nursing home in Amman, October 2003.

Pics from Laha magazine