United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and 50 High-Level Women Leaders to Attend Conference on Migration and Gender Issues within the Millennium Development Goals

More than 50 senior women leaders from around the world, including 20 ministers, members of parliament, judges, representatives of the World Bank, UN agency officials and representatives of international organizations will participate next week in an international conference dealing with various aspects relating to migrant women. The Conference which will be opened by Rachel Mayanja, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, will focus on the trends and changes in the migration of the twenty-first century as they affect women and it will expose the obstacles and special challenges facing migrant women. In addition, the Conference will discuss the empowerment of women undergoing the process of migration, it will emphasize the special role of migrant women as agents of change, and it will examine their vulnerability, referring, among other things, to the phenomenon of the trafficking of women, family crises and violence against women. The Conference will also examine the unique contribution of women in the Diaspora to the promotion of development in their countries. This is the 24th International Conference for women leaders that has been convened by the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center (MCTC), and it will take place in Haifa between September 25 and September 28, 2005. The Conference will be convened with the support of Mashav – the Center for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI), the American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). There will be representatives in the Conference from Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. The official opening of the Conference will take place on Sunday September 25, at 17:00 at the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center, 12 David Pinsky, Central Carmel, Haifa. The closing ceremony will take place in Jerusalem on September 28, and will hosted by CIMI and JDC. BPI-info