Stress on role of family to attend development goals

Participants of the seminar organsied by Qatar’s Permanent Mission to the UN in co-operation with Qatar Foundation for Social Action.

QNANew YorkQatar’s Permanent Mission to UN in co-operation with Qatar Foundation for Social Action (QFSA) organised a symposium on role of the family in the achievement of sustainable development goals beyond 2015. The symposium, which was held on the sidelines of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit held in New York shed light on two axes - the first is the role of the family in the achievement of sustainable development at the national and international level, while the second one focused on the establishment of relations and links between civil society organisations in order to implement plans and decisions related to the development goals beyond 2015. Dr Ahmad Mohamed al-Muraikhi, director of the Department of International Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who chaired the seminar, affirmed that the family is a fundamental structure for transferring sustainable development goals away from violence and extremism. Amal al-Mannai, CEO, Qatar Foundation for Social Action, reviewed objectives of QFSA and the initiatives launched by the foundation in line with national trends and references. She stressed that Qatar had attached a special attention to the family and focused on as an entity that has an important role in the development society, it is also given its rightful place in all development plans. Dr Sharifa al-Emadi, executive director, Qatar Foundation for the Protection of Social and Rehabilitation, stressed the need to deal with the family as an entity and warned of fragmentation to individuals, noting the importance of establishing relationships and links between civil society organisations and state institutions related to development, economic growth in order to achieve sustainable development goals at the national level. It is worth mentioning that the secretary-general’s special adviser on post-2015 development planning Amina J Mohamed has participated in the seminar, stressing the family relationships as a key to development and shed light on the importance of family relationships in the Millennium Development goals related to targets and indicators purposes. Kelsey Zorki, UN Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom and Susan Roylance, the international policy and social development co-ordinator for the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society participated in the symposium.HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the Assistant Foreign Minister for International Co-operation, participated in the world leaders meeting on gender equality and the empowerment of women, called for by the Chinese president and UN secretary-general. The meeting, which was held in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development, aimed to ensuring political commitment to implement the Beijing Declaration and to ensure the achievement of goals and objectives relating to gender equality in the development plan post 2015.