KHARTOUM – REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN
19 JANUARY, 2013

FWMP/2-2013/REP.1/FINAL

With the Grace of Allah, and upon a kind invitation extended by the Sudanese Parliaments, the Second Conference of Muslim Women Parliamentarians was held at the Friendship Hall, in Khartoum, Republic of the Sudan, under the motto “Together Towards Intellectual Renainssance of High Values”.  The Session was held in the framework of the 8th PUIC Conference with the participation of a number of women parliamentarians from OIC Member States (List of Participants is FWMP/2-2013/LIST.1).  The session was also attended by representatives of some international and regional organizations, the media and guests.

The Conference was held amid world festivities as the Islamic Ummah was celebrating the birth of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and under the shadow of contemporary challenges which are facing the Islamic World, in general and the Muslim Woman, in particular.
OPENING SESSION:
•    Proceedings of the Conference were opened with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran.
•    H.E. Samia Ahmed Mohammad, Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee, addressed the Conference with an exhaustive speech in the beginning of which she welcomed her sisters’ members of participating delegations. She expressed sincere wishes for the success of the Conference and its contribution towards advancing in the direction of finding an effective and inherent the role of women in the Islamic World.
In her speech focused on:-
1.    Achievement of the Muslim woman and her role in the revival of religious values and belief motives in order to contribute to advancing and developing Muslim societies.

2.    Challenges which face the Muslim woman in the context of a changing and intertwined world in its relationships and currents, and the impact of thereof on the conditions of Muslim Woman and family.

3.    Heralding the advent of a socio-cultural resolution led by women through pioneering initiatives and perfect cooperation to realize people’s welfare, and resist attempts to obliterate identity through combating all kinds of commercial exploitation of women as tools of advertisements.

4.    Importance of doubling efforts, consolidating forces, and aligning wills for action aimed at promoting and revolutionizing the status quo of the Muslim woman through continuous reading of the status quo and aspiring for a better future.

-    The Conference listened to the speech of the Chairerson of the First Session of the Conference who reviewed the most important achievements of the First Conference and the status of implementing the recommendations and resolutions of that Conference.  She hailed the chairperson of the new session wishing her success.

-    The Session was also addressed by the PUIC Secretary General who thanked the Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly for hosting the Conference and the excellent preparations.  He stressed the attention paid by the PUIC to enhancing the position of women.  
-    The Session was concluded by a kind welcome address by H.E. Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim Al Tahir, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Sudan, in which he hailed the Organizations and the PUIC Members who are guests of the Conference.

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

    The Conference held three sessions – besides the procedural session which witnessed:-

1. Election of current Chairperson of the Conference H.E. Samia Ahmed Mohammed.
2. Election of two Vice Chairpersons: from the African Group (State of Benin) the Hon. Mrs. Soufiatou Schanon, and from the Asian Group (Republic of Indonesia) the Hon. Dr. Nur Hayatti Assaqaf.
3. Election of the Rapporteur of the Conference from the Republic of Sudan, the host State.
4. The Chairperson assumed the presidency and the First Session began.

FIRST WORKING SESSION

During the Session:-
-    Adopting the Agenda
-    Reviewing and discussing the report of the Secretary General.
-    Reviewing the report of the Bureau of the First Conference about the progress made in implementing the Palembang Declaration of the Conference of Muslim Women Parliamentarians.
-    General discussion of the two reports and expressing views on them.
-    Expressing the observations and offering recommendations about the reports which were adopted.

SECOND WORKING SESSION

    Working papers were presented and there were interventions by participating parliaments about the following subjects:-   

-    Enhancing the role of women in all aspects of development in the States of the PUIC Member Parliaments aimed at consolidating democracy.
-    Role of Islamic Organizations and civil society institutions in the States of PUIC Member Parliaments in protecting the rights accorded by Islam to women.
-    Capabilities of women in resolving problems and disputes.
-    Protecting Muslim women and children in regions under occupation and disputes, especially in Palestine and other areas affected by disputes.
-    Proscribing domestic violence against women and children, and refraining from exploiting women in commercial advertising.
-    Participating delegations made important intervention and discussions of the pivots of the papers and recommendations and proposals were made.

THIRD WORKING SESSION

-    Reviewing the Document on Muslim Women for following its initial approval by the Committee on Human Rights, Women and Family.
-    Exhaustive and objective discussions took place.  Participating delegations offered observations on the document.
-    Document has been principally approved.

CLOSING SESSION

•    The Session commenced with a recitation of verses from the Holy Quran. Then followed :
-    Speech of the Speaker of he Arab Parliament.
-    Reading the Khartoum Declaration.
-    Speech of the Chairperson of the Conference.
-    Submitting recommendations of the Conference to the 8th PUIC Conference.

In the conclusion of the proceedings of the Conference, the participating delegations expressed thanks and appreciation to the Republic of the Sudan for hosting the Conference, and stressed that :-

1.  The Muslim woman and all women in the world are mostly in need of peace which requires a greater will than the will for war; without peace all families and communities will be lost.
2.  Action to establish the values and essentials of peace and consolidating them in society through training and capacity building of women in the Islamic world to ensure realization and sustenance of peace.
3.  Necessity of forming a Committee from a number of PUIC Member Parliaments to draw up regulations to organize the work of the Conference and define its objectives.
4.  The right of Muslim women and their participation in public life are not a gift or begging, but are rather inherent, complemntary roles and common responsibility.
5.  Necessity for Islamic States to adopt policies and measures that effectively contribute to empowerement  of women and enhancment of their role in public life.
6.  Strengthening the spirit of solidarity and unity; encouraging the culture of dialogue among women in such a way as to contribute to providing the environment  for improving conditions of women and their participation in society as well as the necessity of initiating the intellectual dialogue based on openness and respect for religions.
7.  Seeking to find political, informational and social initiatives that would contribute to prescribing and presenting solutions to problems from which Muslim women are suffering,
8.  Paying attention to introduce initiatives, and enact legislations aimed at protecting woman and family as well as enhancing family cohesion and stability and social fabric.
9.  There is a great and expected role which is unique to the Muslim woman in confronting the challenges of globalization and the intellectual and cultural invasion directed against the community of Muslim women because of their reform role and knolwedge of laws and legislations which protect Muslim woman and family and confront incoming ideas, also because of the opportunities available to her to participate in external conferences and fora.
10.  Inevitability of enhancing and energizing support efforts deployed by Muslim women Parliamentarians in favour of the Palestinian cause and employing all mechanisms and means to inform about all its aspects, through focussing on the violations against women in areas of occupation, disputes and wars.
11.  Necessity of leading a regional and international campaign by Muslim women parliamentarians to include all Muslim communities and minorities as well as all vulnerable women world wide from among victims of wars and disputes.
12.  Necessity of intelligent benefiting from the mechanisms of globalisation which may contribute to projecting an image of the Muslim woman who upholds her religion and depends on her belief, as well as reflecting her experience in facing intellectual and cultural impacts.
13.  Establishing alliances and blocs, and forming networking, coordination and complimentary roles in the framework of promoting and addressing issues of Muslim women.
14.  Necessity of uniting the elements of financial, intellectual human and geographical power of Muslim States in order to seek dismantling mechanisms of violence, poverty and ignorance leading to a well deserved comprehensive civilizational rebirth.
15.  Necessity of mutual support and deploying potentials in order to halt violence against women by exploiting them for commercial promotion, and consider that as slavery, real burial alive, and economic violence.

Pursuant to the above, the Conference recommends as follows:-

1.    To adopt and approve the Document on Muslim Woman, principally, and take all mechanisms and measures for its implementation.
2.    To energize the Muslim Women Parliamentarians network in order to contribute towards deepening bonds of cooperation and the exchange of experiences between Muslim Women Parliamentarians and civil society organizations at all levels.
3.    Necessity of representing women parliamentarians in the constitution of delegations, particularly in PUIC Conferences and Standing Committee meetings.
4.    Necessity of adopting positive policies that allows Muslim women to participate constructively, actively and effectively, in economic, political, cultural and social fields.
5.    To adopt mechanisms which prevent economic violence and the use of women in commercial promotion.  To call on the Islamic world which possess the essentials of financial power to put in place such mechanisms.
6.    Necessity of pointing to the positive aspects and developments at the level of implementing the recommendations.
7.    Necessity of submitting detailed reports in between convening the sessions of the conference.
8.    Necessity of setting up a plan or agreement on the priorities and pivots which will become a focal point for evaluating the performance of States upon submission of reports.