New York

Thursday 8 June, 2000

. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

On behalf of the delegation of the Sultanate of Oman, it is with honor and great pride that I present to you Oman's post-Beijing positive experience, and reaffirm our commitment to the Platform for Action.

Oman's development history in the modern context started in 1970 with the accession to the throne of H.M. Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Since then it has moved from a primarily rural society to a prosperous modern State. By 1995, the situation of girls and women had undergone a remarkable transformation especially with regard to the basic quality of life indicators. The pre-Beijing review process highlighted the need to focus more attention on girls and women in their own right and, as increasingly active partners in the public domain. Issues such as visibility in data, personal status, social, economic and political participation were given priority. The need to review and refine policy approaches and support structures for women and girls was at the forefront of our agenda and as a result, Oman's 5`h Five Year Development Plan (1996-2000), formulated before the finalization of the Beijing Platform of Action had proactively addressed several gender concerns.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to highlight here a few of Oman's significant achievements. In healthcare and quality of life indicators, reductions in mortality rates and an increased life expectancy due to universal access to maternal and child health services have been attained. Health education campaigns resulted in a successful birth spacing program that reduced the fertility rate from 7.8% to 4.7% in 1999. A steep increase in the contraceptive prevalence rate to 40.4% and the rising female age of marriage have both had an impact on reducing the population growth rate.

There have been similarly striking advances for girls in the context of educational access and attainment, whereby in 1997198, female-enrollment was at 48.5%. A significant number of girls are going on to tertiary levels, outpacing and outperforming boys in many areas. Parallel gains were recorded in the adult literacy rate as a result of efforts to expand and strengthen female literacy programs, particularly in rural areas. A number of activities including workshops, curriculum reform and communication initiatives have been successful in increasing gender awareness.

Mr. President,

The Sultanate's ratification of the convention on the Rights of the Child in 1996 added impetus to the strengthening of the girl-child focus and subsequent awareness campaigns were launched to publicize and promote children's rights.

Women's enhanced participation in all fields of national development is being actively promoted with public proclamations from the highest level and a demonstrated government interest resulting in positive civil service rules that place, promote and create training opportunities for women.

Initiatives to increase women's participation in the labour force have yielded substantial dividends, with the numbers in civil service going up from 19% in 1994 to 26% in 1998 with women being promoted to senior levels. Though the largest concentration of women is still in health and education, the recent move into fields such as engineering, marketing, and finance has given women greater access to private-sector job opportunities. Government training programs and poverty reduction schemes, center around increasing women's economic self-reliance through income generating programs and increased access to soft loans. Efforts to build female skills and competencies have enabled their entry into diverse fields, including entrepreneurship.

Distinguished Delegates,

In the field of participation and decision-making, both the State Council and the Consultative Council included women upon their inception. Today, I am proud to say that 29 Omani women are candidates for the upcoming Consultative Council elections, and we have high hopes that their increased representation will reflect greater participation by women. I must hasten to add, that the right to vote for the Consultative Council has already been granted to Omani women.

Concerted efforts have been directed at ensuring a wider participation of women in local-level decision-making on community issues. The organized NGO sector is still at an initial stage in Oman, however efforts to expand the scope of activities and strengthen their management capacity have led to an increase in the number of Women's Associations from 17 in 1995 to 25 by 1999. A significant step forward in this respect has been the establishment of the Coordination Committee for Women's Voluntary Work with a key role in coordinating, planning and researching women related issues.

Mr. President,

Positive constitutional and legal provisions advocate women's involvement in the public and personal spheres. Gender equality in accordance with the tenets of Islamic Shari'a is an underlying principle of the Omani Basic Law of the State and the Personal Status Law. The above-mentioned legislatures were drafted with special attention given to the empowerment of women through their rights derived from Shari'a law, and this has lead to considerable headway in advancing principles embodied in CRC and CEDAW. With enlightened leadership, strong political will and support, Omani women need only to take advantage of, and utilize the opportunities made available to them.

Five years can be an adequate period of time for accelerated development, or just a wasted moment in the history of nations. In the context of the Beijing Platform of Action, Oman's experience has been a cause for much jubilation. Yet it is recognized that we need to exert futher effort to sustain and reinforce our accomplishments.

In order to address our unfinished agenda, specific future actions are being formulated to address under-reporting in national statistics; to change perceptions about the woman's role; and increase awareness of better living concepts and productive options. Improving the quality of education and making it relevant to girls is a priority, whilst special attention is being given to improve the nutritional status of women and girls.

New socio-economic challenges are being faced as changing patterns in lifestyle are bringing about rapid accelerations in urbanization and consumerism. Information outreach programs to increase developmental options for rural women are being formulated in this context, and capacity building in general has taken on a more meaningful role.

To ensure, the sustainability of progress made, and to build on achievements for further developments, the government of the Sultanate of Oman is committed to continue its implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action, and to work in cooperation with the relevant bodies of the UN system to realize a promising future for Omani women, and all women of the world.

I thank you Mr. President.