LOC20:10
17:10 GMT
BERN, Oct 16 (KUNA) -- Vice President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
(IPU) Marzouq Al-Ghanem criticized on Sunday the suggestions to suspend of the
membership of the parliaments of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, saying this could
send the wrong message to the advocates of democratization.
Speaking to reporters here, Al-Ghanem, also secretary of the Kuwaiti
parliamentary caucus and representative of the Arab group of states at the IPU
Executive Committee, urged backing up the quest of the three Arab countries
for freedom, democracy and real legislatures.
"The State of Kuwait has led the efforts to lobby against the suspension of
the sisterly Egypt, Libya and Tunisia during the lengthy debates of the
executive committee," he disclosed.
"The conferees appreciated Kuwait's justified and legally-grounded stance,"
Al-Ghanem said, noting that suspending the membership of the three parliaments
could undermine the efforts of the peoples of these countries to build
democracy on the basis of popular participation.
"The three Arab countries undergo a critical transitional stage; so they
have to be treated according to the article on suspension of the IPU statute,"
he went on.
Al-Ghanem was commenting on the suggestion raised by representative of the
European group of states at the IPU on the sidelines of the 125th general
assembly session of the union.
Meanwhile, he called on the international community to support the quest of
the Palestinian people for self-determination and their efforts to establish
an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
"The Palestinian people underwent a prolonged suffering due to the Israeli
occupation, occupation and state terrorism over the last six decades,"
Al-Ghanem added.
On her part, member of the Kuwaiti delegation to the IPU conference MP Rula
Dashti highlighted the importance of optimizing women's participation in the
IPU activities.
Commenting on the just-ended meeting of the IPU women coordination
committee, Dr. Dashti said the meeting discussed the draft IPU strategy for
2012-17 which aims to maximize cooperation among parliaments of the world.
"The strategy aims to deepen the democratization endeavor, promote gender
equality and protect the human rights," she added.
As for women political empowerment, Dr. Dashti said that females accounted
for 19 percent of the total membership of world parliaments in 2011.
"However, females have a long way to go before having access to parliaments
and leading positions on equal footing with men," she regretted. (end)
ms.gb
KUNA 162010 Oct 11NNNN