New York, March 13 Mars/ATA/- Minister of Health and Social Protection, Ogerta Manastirliu, is attending the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which is taking place at the UN headquarters in New York.
During the ministerial gathering on Approaches and Positive Examples for empowerment of rural women and girls, the minister made an overview of the Albanian govt.’s efforts for socio-economic empowerment of rural women through employment schemes and inclusion of women.
Addressing the challenges facing the rural women and girls is one of the Albanian govt.’s priorities as an integral part of commitment to gender equality and social inclusion. Our work is mainly focused on preventing the gender-based violence in urban and rural areas; increasing the access of women and girls to the judiciary, improvement of life in rural areas thanks to reduction of unpaid work in agricultural sector enabling more women and girls in rural areas to benefit from the subsidy schemes as well as guaranteeing their entitlement to property and agricultural land, Manastirliu said.
Likewise, the minister cited the recent statistics, saying: The women and girls in rural and urban areas feel more confident to report the violence and abuse cases to the relevant authorities.
We have taken important steps forward in the alignment of Albanian legislation with international standards. The amendments to law on measures against domestic violence and the law on juridical assistance have a direct impact on reduction and provision of best solutions to the main issues facing the Albanian society such as: violence against women and domestic violence.
Year 2017 has seen an increase of 10% in domestic violence cases reported to the police compared to the previous year, Manastirliu said.
Access of domestic violence survivors to the judiciary is one of the priorities for Albanian govt.
However, the minister said in her address to the 62nd session of Commission on the Status of Women: It is needed an intensification of our commitment to make sure that women are treated equally in the judiciary and, above all, are provided with the due legal assistance.
Prevention of violence is one of the main goals written into the National Strategy of Gender Equality and the Action Plan 2016 – 2020 aimed at increasing by 30% the mass of citizens that support the strategy and zero-tolerance stand on violence against women.
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