STATEMENT: Iraq - Speech of the Foreign Minister on the Occasion of Women's Day

Your Excellencies, the Ministers
Special Representative of UN Secretary-General
Your Excellencies the Ambassadors
Generous Members of the House of Representatives

This day has a special importance among all the peoples on earth despite their different cultures , concerns and visions, they halt to commemorate women everywhere declaring their loyalty and gratitude for them since they are a half ,or even more , of the society, or for Half of the Sky, as Chinese say.

She is the "Zahraa", Mother of Martyrs , and "Mary", the Mother of Jesus , and "Ishtar" the Tree of Mesopotamia with its verdant shadow .. " Paradise Lies Under Her Feet ", in her hands baskets of life and its blessed fruit.

Iraqi women have additional motivations to celebrate this day for she has suffered through decades of wars that have snatched their kids, and made them face tribulations bigger than their capabilities , and misfortunes that kept them besieged while she is the mistress of the house and the working figure who her responsibilities exceeds those of men .

The constitution and new legislations in Iraq treated women fairly, and her voice became louder in the parliament and other state's institutions and civil society organizations, perhaps the most important thing facing women now is that her presence should not be just in form and for propaganda purposes , but to found a new social culture and to participate in the battle of intellectual and cultural building.

To reach this goal, woman should not wait for others to recognize her fundamental role, but to exercise this role just like other vanguard of Iraqi women whom both women and men are proud of.

Ladies and gentlemen,

There is no vivid society without a confident presence of women , and the first feature of underdeveloped societies is keeping woman far from life and away of work, education, political and social representation , therefore, our march towards a bright country requires promoting women's status because she is the future maker and the first school of individuals, and former of the basic features of the coming generations those we want to be deep-rooted in their homeland, loyal to it and far from any blemish that would foster corruption and terrorism.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today we attend a special Iraqi celebration to salute the Iraqi women as they play big role in the society and the nation, recalling their bitter suffering, to inspire power ,will and determination to construct a sort of country that all its people can enjoy their lives in it , and for the sake of sort of generation free of all that we have inherited from the time immemorial.

Along with our happiness on this occasion, we need to pay a tribute to the female martyrs of Iraq , widows and bereaved people , hoping that pains will turn into hopes , and woman remain a venerable mistress of life.

As long as we are celebrating today, in the Foreign Ministry , it is alright to mention facts and figures on the status of women in this Ministry:

Number of the female diplomats and administrators is now 501 of total 2170 which is about a quarter of the overall number , 186 of them are diplomats and administrative workers in our missions abroad , while women were absent or rare in the headquarters and the missions.

Having women in our missions means that there are women and men in the country who represent the Iraqi society as a whole, and also means that women are capable of representing their country.

We feel proud having two ambassadors abroad and another one in the ministry's headquarters , a thing that has not ever happened in the history of modern Iraq.

Women occupies a significant proportion in the courses organized by the ministry with a cooperation of other countries and organizations and their number sometimes ranges from a third to half , in order to develop the Ministry's staff and to rehabilitate the female workers and be at the level of the ministry's tasks . We have some outstanding women in this area that we are proud of .

We think that we have the right to share women in their glorious day and to celebrate it every day.

Thank You.