[women-rights] OSCE trains members of Tajik Parliament to create and improve gender laws

KHOJA OBI GARM, Tajikistan, 5 July 2007 -- Raising awareness of gender
equality issues among members of the Tajik Parliament was the aim of a
five-day OSCE-supported training course in the mountainous health resort
of Khoja Obi Garm in central Tajikistan, which ended today.

The course brought together 14 representatives from various committees of
the Majlisi Namoyandagon, the lower house of the Tajik Parliament. Two
professors from the Russian Academy of State Service led the sessions.

Tone Tingsgaard, Special Representative on Gender Issues of the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly, was guest speaker at the event.

"This was the first time that we organized a training course on gender
equality issues for members of the Tajik Parliament," said Graziella Piga,
Manager of the Gender Programme at the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe. "Besides
raising their overall gender awareness, we aimed to equip Members of
Parliament (MPs) with the necessary knowledge to take gender aspects into
account in the process of drafting and revising laws."

She added that the training programme illustrated how gender equality laws
are implemented in other countries. After the training, participants
expressed their intention to work on improving implementation mechanisms
in the current Tajik legislation, ensuring equal rights and equal
opportunities for men and women.

Participants of the training also attended the roundtable jointly
organized by the Tajik Parliament and the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe on 22
June. During the roundtable, MPs were presented with preliminary findings
of a study which aims to assess the implementation of the Tajik Law "On
state guarantees and equal rights for men and women, as well as equal
possibilities in their realization" since its adoption in 2005.

In her opening speech, Shujoat Khasanova, Deputy Speaker of the
Parliament's lower house, emphasized: "The implementation of the Gender
Equality Law requires a united effort of the Government and
non-governmental actors. Only this way we can reach gender equality in
practice."

The project is part of a wider OSCE strategy to support the Tajik
authorities' efforts in promoting gender equality in the country.

OSCE Press release