DUBAI // Women are the first casualties in a crisis, a humanitarian conference heard yesterday.
World leaders and agency heads pushed for women to be at the heart of development, on the first day of the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development (Dihad) conference.
“Women and children account for more than three-quarters of the people affected by disasters and crises,” said Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme.
At a recent visit to Central African Republic, she told the women and children: “We will not forget you. So I am fulfilling this promise by being a voice at Dihad for them and the many others in forgotten crises around the world today.”
Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said health care and food systems had failed women.
“All of us here know well that in any crisis, it is women and children who suffer first and most. You need not look any further than Homs or Aleppo, in Syria, or the civil strife in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan to see painful examples.”
Princess Haya said more than 100 pregnant women and 2,500 children under the age of five die every day in the Middle East and North Africa Region.
“Mena is only a small part of the overall picture. The burden in the developing world of failed health care and malnutrition is staggering.”
But, the Princess said “the good news is that there are men who need no convincing about supporting and investing in women”.
“A few statistics about the UAE really drive home that point. In 1972, there were only 19,000 girls enrolled in school here.
“Today, we have 90 per cent female literacy. According to a 2010 Price Waterhouse Coopers report, the UAE is registering the highest rate of females in higher education in the world, with 77 per cent.”
pkannan@thenational.ae
