Outcomes of the periodic review of the "Justice and Gender Equality before the Law" Initiative 2023
Date:
Beirut, 10 December 2023 – Within the framework of the Annual Periodic Review of legislative updates for Arab States participating in the "Justice and Equality between Women and Men in the Law" initiative, 15 of the 17 participating countries presented national legislation that was introduced or amended during the period of 2022-2023. The legislation was reviewed by legal experts from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the regional offices of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The revisions were added to the Initiative’s website, providing the most up-to-date legislation in the Arab region.
A total of 39 legal texts from the Arab region were provided, including constitutional amendments, updated or amended laws, republican decrees, decisions by the Council of Ministers, ministerial or national entities’ decisions, legal procedures, policies, national budgets, and/or regulations.
In light of this periodic legal review, the color coding has been amended to green/ orange for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Palestine, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in areas related to their overarching legal frameworks, protections concerning violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, employment and economic benefits, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
"The important Arab States summary reports of the Justice and Equality between Women and Men in the Law have now been launched. They review legislative updates in the region, and shows that 15 of the 17 countries have introduced new laws or amended existing ones during the period of 2022-2023 in different areas related to gender equality," said Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen, Regional Director of UN Women for the Arab States.
"Four UN agencies have partnered to produce the report, as the legislation was reviewed by legal experts from UN Women, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the regional offices of the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Development Programme,” she continued.
The updates are available on the Initiative's website (https://genderjustice.unescwa.org/main.aspx), and the slideshow provides a summary of the 2023 Annual Periodic Review.
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