That is what Mrs. Inés ALBERDI, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said during the presentation of the ?2008 Women`s Progress Around the World: Who is Accountable to Women? Gender and Accountability? report, which was given on 17th December 2008 in Rabat.
Morocco`s commitment to accountability is laid out in the new Family Code which ?establishes the equality of women`s status within the family?, and entails budgeting practices that are responsive to gender equality?, Mrs. ALBERDI pointed out.
Although national budgets are seen as free of gender bias, they have varying impacts on women and men, she added. ?Gender responsive budgeting has proved to be an efficient strategy to match commitments made in this regard with concrete action?. In this respect, Morocco has made progress. As of 2004, a separate report on the issue is appended to the Finance Bill for the presentation of the bill to parliament. The report, which includes data on budget allowances and performance indicators for each gender, is a powerful tool for accountability, the UNIFEM Executive Director commented.
She also praised Morocco for lifting reservations relating to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDEW).
In her address on behalf of the Prime Minister, Secretary of State Mrs. Latifa EL ABIDA underlined the pertinence of the recommendations made in the UNIFEM report. Morocco`s ambitious reforms in the field of human rights and gender equality were also highlighted.
For her part, Mrs. Zineb TOUIMI BENJELLOUN, UNIFEM Regional Director for North Africa, presented a synthesis of the ?2008 Women`s Progress Around the World: Gender and Accountability? which stresses that the achievement of the Millennium for Development Objectives (MDO) requires greater accountability pertaining to commitments made in favour of women and gender equality.
Invited to the meeting to share his own account on hearing the report, Mr. Driss KHROUZ, National Library Director, praised the operational approach adopted by the authors of the report, including the comparative analysis of experiences from different countries, and deemed it beyond any reproach, except for the report title (the French word for ?accountability? does not feature in any French language dictionary), and for the somewhat confusing question in the title ?Who is accountable to women??.
He also underscored that discrimination is primarily a social issue related to the organisation of society.
The meeting was attended by several government representatives, members of ministry departments, civil society, and the media, as well as Algerian and Tunisian officials.