AMMAN — The
West Asia-North Africa (WANA) Institute has co-organized an annual event titled “Towards more social justice
and inclusion in the Mediterranean”, which is part of the EuroMeSCo: Connecting
the Dots project, co-funded by the EU and the European Institute of the
Mediterranean, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
اضافة اعلان
In remarks at the opening ceremony, Ambassador and
Head of the EU Delegation to Jordan
Maria Hadjitheodosiou said: “In recent
years, we have witnessed many challenges to social justice and inclusiveness
both in the Mediterranean and in Europe, accentuated, for example, by
circumstances linked to the war in Syria and Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
“The presence of a large number of refugees and
displaced people in host countries like Jordan places a heavy toll on the
absorption capacity of the social sectors. But it is in times like these that
it is most important to recall that fairness, equality of access, and
solidarity are at the core of a strong and resilient social contract,” she
said.
Program Manager of the
EuroMeSCo project Jenny
Gilbert said: “Today’s event, is the 2nd of a cycle of five events that
together will constitute EuroMeSCo’s Annual Conference, and we will be looking
in particular into the intersections of environmental, social and economic
development, at a time of significant climate-induced risks, paying special
attention to vulnerable groups”.
The session ended with guiding remarks from HRH
Princess Sumaya bint el Hassan, president of the
Royal Scientific Society and a
leading advocate for science as a catalyst for change and as the common
language to address equitable and sustainable development for all.
HRH stressed that it is a matter of importance to
see that science fights social injustice.
“Science is a key enabler of evidence-based decision
making and policy formulation offering interdisciplinary mechanisms and
allowing us to speak a common language to assess the challenges, devise
solutions and advance discovery and innovation,” she said, also highlighting
her vision of “science for peace”, which is a call for the promise of hope,
opportunity, and equitable access to resources.
Putting social justice and inclusiveness at the core
of sustainable development agendas in the Mediterranean was the focus of
discussion among representatives from think tanks, academic institutions,
government, civil society organizations, and business community
representatives, as well as EU officials.
During the plenary session, moderated by Manager of
the Sustainable Development Division at the WANA Institute
Majd Al-Naber, Mary
Kawar, former Jordanian minister of planning and international cooperation,
discussed work in countries of the region that are offering precarious
employment.
“The problem in the Arab regions was exacerbated by
COVID, but is not new. The economies were growing pre-2010, but were not
inclusive, a chance that was not utilized,” she said.
Kawar also discussed the importance of the private
sector, which needs to be revived to ensure that more people are participating
and more people are benefiting.
FAO Resident Representative in
Jordan Nabil Assaf
tackled issues like lack of investment, food and energy during COVID, saying
that the end of COVID caused sudden acceleration of the economy accompanied
with high demand and need for food and energy which were not available.
Senior Analyst, Mediterranean and Arab World Haizam
Fernandez highlighted the importance of social justice around the
Mediterranean, with focus on human security, and highlighted the human security
concept, which refers to three types of freedoms: from want, from fear and from
indignity, and which puts focus on the person, not the state, and the security
of people.
Deputy Secretary General of UfM Abdel Kader El
Khissassi focused on the importance of cooperation between the two shores of
the Mediterranean to solve issues.
Reem Al Haddadin, researcher at the WANA Institute,
moderated a session on the linkages between social justice and sustainable
development in Jordan. Papers were presented by Diana Al-Athamneh and Dina El
Heyari from EDAMA, and Caroline Zubel an economist at Centre for Social and
Economic Research.
EuroMeSCo is the main network of research centers
and think tanks in the Euro-Mediterranean area. Founded in 1996, after the
Barcelona Declaration, the network currently comprises 115 institutes from 30
European and Southern Mediterranean countries.
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