OSCE supports study visit to North Macedonia for Tajik women politicians

Eight prominent women politicians from the Alliance of Women Parliamentarians of Tajikistan have helped promote the issue of gender mainstreaming in a study visit to Skopje, North Macedonia. The event was part of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe’s support to gender mainstreaming, and was jointly organized with the OSCE Mission to Skopje from 29 March to 1 April 2022.     

In Skopje the participants met with the Women Parliamentarians' Club of North Macedonia, the Committee on Equal Opportunities and other relevant government and civil society organizations working in the area of gender mainstreaming in politics.

The delegation learned about their experiences in establishing the women’s parliamentary caucus in their country, its co-operation with civil society and the value of such an initiative can contribute in Tajikistan, as well as gender mainstreaming in law making and gender budgeting. 

Lolita Ristova, Chair of the Women Parliamentarian's Club of North Macedonia, explained how the Club had developed, since it began in 2003 as: “an informal consultative body for the promotion of the rights and positions of women, which includes women MPs with a current mandate. Over the years, the Club has focused on uniting women from different political parties to find common solutions and address gender equality in a political arena.”

Describing the establishment of the Alliance of Women Parliamentarians of Takijistan, Dilrabo Mansuri, Deputy Chairperson of MajlisiNamoyandagon of MajlisiOli from the Lower Chamber of Tajikistan’s Parliament, explained that the Alliance was now: “at a new stage of development and the main goal of our study visit was the exchange of experience on its further functioning.” Mansuri emphasized that: “the Alliance of Women Parliamentarians of Tajikistan as a new platform fully reflects the desire of the country's Parliament to make a worthy contribution to increasing women's participation in all spheres and in introducing a gender dimension in legislative acts”.

The aims of the study visit were to help in further motivating women politicians, to exchange experiences and contacts and to discuss challenges many face in their societies.

Highlighting the success of the visit Rezart Mehmet, from the Human Dimension Department of the OSCE Mission in Skopje said: "We hope that our shared knowledge and expertise in gender mainstreaming by different institutions of North Macedonia will be utilised by counterparts in Tajikistan and that our co-operation will continue.”