Cairo: Agencies
The League of Arab States stressed the necessity of an immediate ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine, calling for more efforts to support the continued flow and entry of urgent medical aid and to provide emergency needs of water, food, medicine and fuel for the brave Palestinian people in this difficult time.
This came in a speech by Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector, at the opening of the work of the fifth session of the Arab Council for Population and Development at the ministerial level today, Monday, at the Arab League. According to what was reported by the Youm7 news website in Cairo
Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said that providing humanitarian aid embodies the principle of leaving no one behind, but it is a temporary measure that cannot be a substitute for long-term sustainable solutions. The absence of peace undermines human security, opportunities for sustainable development, and the well-being of peoples as a result of the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, the destruction of property and infrastructure, the displacement of millions, the increase in inequalities, and the exacerbation of vulnerabilities and fragility in their various dimensions. She explained: “There is no sustainable development without peace, and no peace without sustainable development.”
She added, "The remains of our children in Gaza are imprinted in our eyes. We see them even when we try to rest from the pain of watching. The images of mothers who lost their children, their voices and their screams, haunt us even in our dreams. The strength of will and insistence on steadfastness despite the pain, destruction, and terror teaches us lessons in life that we did not even imagine existed. All of this and the global development slogan is that no one is left behind, and the residents of Gaza are left between a martyr, a wounded person, a displaced person, a doctor, a paramedic, and a journalist.”
She continued, saying: “Today, I would like to share with you the culmination of your joint Arab action on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Arab Council for Population and Development, and out of our belief in the necessity of immortalizing this milestone in the history of joint Arab population action, October 28 of each year has been adopted to celebrate Arab Day.” For population and development.
Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh called for relief to our people in Gaza by contributing to the Fund to Support the Resilience of the Palestinian People in the Palestine Sector of the General Secretariat, noting that the General Secretariat launched a humanitarian aid convoy with the Egyptian Red Crescent provided by the Councils of Arab Ministers of Health and the Ministers of Social Affairs.
She explained that since the International Conference on Population and Development was held in 1994, the world began its historic journey towards placing population rights at the heart of the development process, recognizing reproductive health and reproductive rights as human rights, and emphasizing that the empowerment of women and girls is essential to ensuring the well-being of all, and the Cairo Declaration of 2013 served as the regional framework for the advancement of women and girls. Implementing the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development through its four main pillars, which are: (dignity and equality, health, place and environmental sustainability, governance including regional and international cooperation and data).
She pointed out that the regional review process in the Arab region, which culminated in mid-September of this year with the holding of the “Arab Regional Conference on Population and Development: Challenges and Prospects Ten Years after the 2013 Cairo Declaration,” shows that countries have not yet achieved their goals in implementing the commitments they have made and that the road ahead is not... It is still a long time before every individual can exercise his rights in society with equality, justice and dignity for all.
She emphasized that the Arab region is still characterized, on the one hand, as a young society, in which young people in the age group of 15-24 years constitute about 82 million people out of 473 million people who are the total population of the Arab world in 2023, and despite the differentiation between the Arab countries, we We find that young people face common challenges represented by high unemployment rates, the gap between educational outcomes and labor market requirements, and weak participation and representation. Conflict and political instability exacerbate these challenges.
Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said, “But on the other hand, we find that there are indicators of some countries moving into the aging stage, such as Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco. It is expected that the percentage of elderly people in the age group 65 years and above will reach about 11% by the year 2050, and this comes as a result of a decrease in Mortality rates, improved access to health services, and a decrease in the total fertility rate to 3.1 children per woman in 2023.”
She added, "This year, we have all witnessed the devastating effects of climate change on the planet. The summer in the northern hemisphere was the hottest ever in the world, and at least nearly five thousand people were killed in the country of Libya as a result of the storm (Daniel), which... It swept the Mediterranean Sea last September, which raises our alarm that if governments do not take adequate measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures will continue to rise to record levels, which will cause an annual increasing loss of lives and livelihoods around the world, and will exacerbate the Social and economic inequality will affect many human rights, such as the right to life, the right to housing, food and water, or in other words the right to live a healthy life.”
Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh continued, saying, “We are only a few days away from holding the 28th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, which will witness for the first time an assessment of the progress made by countries in addressing the climate change crisis since the Paris Agreement signed in 2015.” “This constitutes a real opportunity for countries to correct the course of combating climate change.”,