Moroccan MP criticizes as 'vague' Arab Women Congress recommendations

Recommendations made by the Arab Regional Congress of Women, held here recently under the theme "10 years after Peking: call for peace," are "vague and unpractical," said a Moroccan MP.

Fatima Belmoudden from the Socialist group at the House of Representatives (Parliament lower chamber), said the final declaration of the Congress was "too long" and its recommendations "vague and empty of practical measures that women could use to militate."

She said "the event's agenda and goals were well prepared, but the effort was not used to go forth in the Peking action plan, to be assessed in 2005."

Participants rather wanted the congress to adopt concrete recommendations to identify problems impeding the Peking action plan, she insisted.

The Moroccan delegation, led by Secretary of State of Social Development, Family and Solidarity, Yasmina Baddou, said a greater involvement in politics would give women access to parliament and power in general.

She underlined the importance of adopting the quota system in the Arab World as a temporary mechanism, which already proved reliable in several democratic countries.

The Arab women encounter was initiated by UN Economic and Social Commission in West Asia.