THE importance of training to highlight the
convergence of gender justice in Islam became one of the key factors towards
the realisation of women empowerment and gender equality apart from education,
said the Vice President I of the Council of Women of Brunei Darussalam(CWBD).
In her
paper entitled "Building Capacity of Non-Governmental Organisations (civil
society ) in the realisation of Women's Rights", Datin Hjh Masni Hj Mohd
Ali spoke of the lessons that young women of Brunei could derive from other
global organisations as well as NGOs in terms of women empowerment.
"We
need to strengthen our training and enhance capacity building as well as deepen
our research in Muslim women's rights,"she said during the final day of
the International Conference on the Rights of Muslim Women in the Modern World
last Thursday.
She
gave an example of the work international organisation "UN Women" did
with the women in Aceh and said that women's legal rights are a cornerstone of
post-tsunami reconstruction and peacebuilding.
"With
UN Women support, gender advocates developed an alternative draft to the Law on
Governing Aceh which resulted in the final legislation covering economic,
social and political spheres,"she said.
She
added that Aceh has the right to develop and pass qanuns, local by-laws which
are informed by Syariah Law.
"Gender
advocates are playing important roles in creating more equitable qanuns by
sitting in qanun-drafting committees,advocating to members of parliament and
speaking publicly on the need for gender-sensitive laws,"she stated in her
paper.
Good
governance equipped with values of participation was also an importance factor
in the realisation of women empowerment and gender inequality.
She
added that factors such as rule of law, transparency, responsiveness,
inclusiveness, effectiveness and accountability was also important in this
endeavour.
"Rule
of law requires fair legal framework that are enforced impartially,"she
said.
"It
requires full protection of human rights and impartial enforcement of laws
requires an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police
force".
Datin
Hjh Masni also spoke of using sex-disaggregated data, a type of data that was
cross-classified by sex and presented information separately for both women and
men.
"This(sex
dis-aggregate) data could be used as a tool for research in Brunei. If you look
at the data, anywhere in Brunei there is not much data, causing it to be sex
aggregate,"she said.
"This
is important for doing comparative studies, but it was quite impossible because
the data was not available".
The
vice president I also that there were challenges towards creating this
realisation and one of them was the fact that authorities from Brunei remain to
submit its official Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to the United Nations(UN) CEDAW.
"Brunei's
national machinery on women, the Department of Community Development(JAPEM)
under the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports(MCYS) has yet to submit its
official report to CEDAW,"she said.
"Submitting
the report is not a challenge and I am sure they can do it, but I just want to
emphasise this point".
Another
challenge she spoke of was that although the progress of member states in
completing the Millennium Development Goals(MDG) in 2015 showed "marked
trends of progress" , women are less likely to benefit from progress then
men.
"UN
Women said that there remains widespread discrimination of women and girls and
they continue to be systemically excluded from social, economic and political
life."
HANA
ROSLAN
The
Brunei Times
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