This morning, Tuesday, August 15, 2023, the second session began within the framework of the program adopted by the Arab Women Organization (preparing national cadres in the field of observing the general elections), entitled “Complaints, Reviews, and Electoral Appeals”.
The training work in the course is implemented by Dr. Shafiq Sarsar, Professor of Higher Education at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences – Republic of Tunisia, Dr. Essam Suleiman, Former President of the Constitutional Council in Lebanon, and Major General Refaat Qumsan, Former Vice President of the Executive Body of the National Elections Authority, Egypt.
The session was inaugurated by Dr. Fadia Kiwan, Director General of the Organization, with a speech in which she welcomed the trainers from the Member States from the national mechanisms concerned with women and media professionals.
She explained that the course aims to activate the culture of democracy accompanying the elections, especially regarding providing equal opportunities for men and women in political participation (the right to vote and run) or in the process of monitoring the elections themselves, stressing that democratic culture is not only for the elites but rather a popular culture in which everyone participates.
Furthermore, Dr. Kiwan emphasized that the organization designed an integrated training program on the issue of training qualified Arab cadres to monitor the elections, cadres specially trained to take into account the reality of the diversity and different roles and opportunities between the sexes on the ground and its impact on the electoral process, adding that the organization moved in its work in this field is from the theoretical stage to application, where a team of women observers who were trained in previous courses was sent to the Republic of Tunisia to follow up the elections on the ground, and have already done an honorable job.
She added that the organization has come a long way in implementing a series of programs aimed at spreading and deepening a culture of equality in opportunities between the sexes in various fields, especially the political field.
The organization sets among its strategic objectives the enhancement of women’s skills and capabilities to provide them with opportunities for success. In this context, it has trained hundreds of women in several fields.
Representatives of the national mechanisms concerned with women in the Member States and media professionals participating in monitoring the elections participated in the training course from six Arab countries: Jordan, Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, Libya, and Yemen.
