New Delhi, 14 July 2010: Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, Smt. Meira Kumar leaves for Bern on 14 July 2010 to attend the Sixth Annual Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliaments being held there from 16th to 17th July, 2010.
The Meeting begins on 16th July, 2010 with a Keynote address on “Achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on child survival and maternal health: Where do we stand?” The Agenda of the Meeting consists of the following 5 Themes for discussion on 16th and 17th July, 2010:
Theme 1: Building National Health Systems
Theme 2: Legislation and Policy: Removing barriers to access to Health for all
Theme 3: Funding for MDGs 4 and 5
Theme 4: Empowering women, including by addressing violence against women
Theme 5: Raising awareness and building political will
Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, will address the Meeting on Theme 4: “Empowering women, including by addressing violence against women”. She will dwell on the importance of positive discrimination in favour of women enjoined in the Constitution of India that India has been at the forefront of all the international efforts that seek to empower women with India’s commitments to CEDAW (1979) followed by the Beijing Declaration and right upto the UNIFEM Campaign on Say No to Violence against Women, 2009. She would be sharing the legislative efforts of Parliament to fight domestic violence and foeticide which impacts the sex ratio in India.
After the Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament, Smt. Meira Kumar, Speaker, Lok Sabha, who is a Member of the Preparatory Committee for the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, will travel to Geneva to attend its final meeting on 18th July, 2010. She will be joined by Shri K. Rahman Khan, Hon’ble Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha in Geneva. The Conference begins on 19th July, 2010 with the Inaugural Ceremony which will be held in the presence of the United Nations Secretary-General. There will be a General Debate on “Parliaments in a world of crisis: securing global democratic accountability for the common good” which commences on the opening day of the Conference and concludes on the last day of the Conference. Both Hon’ble Speaker and Hon’ble Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha will participate in this General Debate. Apart from the General Debate, Panel Discussions on the following will be held on 20th July, 2010:
(i) Countdown to 2015: Keeping our collective Promise on the Millennium Development Goals, where Hon’ble Shri K. Rahman Khan will speak ; and
(ii) Strengthening trust between Parliament and the people, where Hon. Smt. Meira Kumar will participate.
Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, will participate in the discussion on “Strengthening trust between Parliament and the people.
The Conference concludes on 21st July, 2010 with the adoption of the Final Declaration.
Lok Sabha Speaker will be accompanied by Shri P. D. T. Achary, Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Joint Secretaries Shri Amitabh Mukhopadhyay (Lok Sabha) and Shri Tapan Chatterjee (Rajya Sabha).
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