Coalition of Women MPs from Arab Countries to Combat Violence against Women

Article One: Name and Definition

“The Coalition of Women MPs from Arab Countries to Combat Violence against Women” is an independent regulatory framework that does not belong to any official or informal body. It includes women parliamentarians from both legislative chambers of parliaments from Arab countries participating in the Arab League, regardless of their political, partisan or ideological affiliations, in order to coordinate efforts and manage joint action to combat all forms of violence against Arab women and contribute to their superiority.

Article Two: The Headquarters

Amman is the headquarter of the coalition.

Article Three: Objectives

The Coalition works to achieve the following goals and objectives:

• The objective of cooperation and exchange of information and coordination among women parliamentarians in the Arab countries: cooperation and exchange of information and coordination among women parliamentarians in Arab countries who are members in the coalition with the aim of moving forward towards issuing appropriate legislations in the countries represented in the coalition.
• Legislative objective: Placing combating all forms of violence against women especially domestic violence at the top of the legislative priorities to prevent this scourge, which will lead to a deterrent and effective prosecution for the offenders and will provide female victims with a legal and social protection.
• The objective of raising awareness and lobbying: To win the support and patronage of the parliamentarians and mobilize public opinion regarding: the rights of women in the Arab countries in living a life free of violence; the need to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women; the importance of promoting equality between men and women; and the empowerment of women in the Arab countries.
• The objective of working and coordinating with the relevant Arab and international forums, institutions and bodies.
• A participatory objective by organizing the relationship with the civil society: The cooperation with the civil society which is active in this field and the field of the defense of women’s rights in order to combat violence against women in general, and violence within the family in particular, which affects the children and the elderly as well.
• The objective of activation: Seeking the activation of national and international laws and legislations, and putting the mechanisms of implementation to combat violence against women. As well, considering violence against women in all of its forms as a violation of basic human rights and a form of discrimination that requires intensive efforts of all male and female parliamentarians. This will protect women in the Arab countries from the practices, the phenomenon, the procedures, and the legislations which infringe on their dignity and their humanity and undermine their basic rights which are being guaranteed by divine laws, national constitutions, treaties, conventions and international conventions.

Article Four: Founding Board

It consists of Arab women parliamentarians who participated in London and Amman meetings in January and March respectively.

Article Five: Conditions and Provisions for Membership

• Membership in the coalition shall be open to female parliamentarians from Arab countries from the two chambers of legislation.
• Former parliamentarians in Arab parliaments and from both legislative chambers have the right to join the coalition as working members.

Article Six: Honorary and Proponent Membership

Honorary Membership:

·       Honorary membership is open to male parliamentarians from Arab parliaments and from both chambers of legislation as supporters of the coalition and its objectives;

·       Honorary membership is open to (male and female) personalities who have shown their support for the coalition principles as patrons for the coalition and its goals.

Proponent Membership

·       Proponent membership is open to associations, research and study centers, and consulting firms that support the coalition objectives.

·       Proponents and supporters are entitled to participate in the coalition meetings and activities without the right to run for elections or vote.

Article Seven: End of Membership

1. Membership ends in the following cases:

A. Withdrawal, resignation, or death.

B. Losing one of the conditions of membership.

2.    Upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the General Board may terminate the membership in case the member violates the statute of the coalition, and continue the violation despite drawing her/his attention in writing to the need to stop the violation.

3.    The Board of Directors can reinstate membership for those whose membership has been terminated from the coalition after the termination reasons disappear.

The Organizational Structure

Article Eight: The General Board

The General Board of the Coalition consists of the Founding Members and female parliamentarians from Arab countries who affiliate to the coalition later on.

Article Nine: The Duties of the General Board

The General Board of the coalition is considered the highest organizational authority once held. It should be held once annually upon an invitation (If needed) from the Board of Directors and the following obligations are entrusted to it:

·       Following up with the progress of the annual plan of the coalition.

·       Discussing and approving the annual general report

·       The election of the Board of Directors of the coalition.

·       Adopting the amendments to the Statute.

·       Any other matters approved by the Board of Directors or the General Board to be discussed.

Article Ten:

The Founding Members defined in Article 4 of this statute shall assume the functions of the General Board set forth in Article 6 of this statute until holding the first meeting of the General Board.

Article Eleven: The Board of Directors

·       The Board of Directors is elected by the General Board for two years and it consists of 11 to 15 members and it manages the affairs of the coalition and supervises its work.

·       The Board of Directors elects from its members a chairperson of the board, a vice chairperson, a rapporteur, a head of the legislative unit, and a head of media and education. The rest of tasks should be distributed among other members.

·       For the purpose of facilitating work, the chairperson and the rapporteur should be chosen from the country of the headquarters and the rest of members should be distributed to other countries with no more than one member from each country.

·       The Board of Directors should meet once every 4 months to follow up with the matters of the coalition.

Article Twelve: The Board of Directors Tasks

·       Accepting the affiliation applications

·       Inviting the General Board for the annual meeting

·       Specifying affiliation and subscription fees

·       Approving the contracts and the agreements to which the coalition is a party

·       Forming specialized committees and supervising their activities.

·       Looking into the financial situation of the coalition and the possibility of accepting donations, grants and unconditional grants at a later stage.

Article Thirteen: The Resources of the Coalition and Spending Them

The financial resources of the coalition consist of:

·       Affiliation and annual subscription fees

·       Voluntary contributions, donations and unconditional grants (to be considered a year later).

Article Fourteen: 

The funds of the coalition shall be deposited in a bank specified by the Board of Directors after completing the legal proceedings in the way it deems fit. The Board of Directors shall determine the method of disbursement and the financial control mechanism

General Provisions

Article Fifteen:

·       The meetings of the coalition are legal in the presence of an absolute majority of the members of the coalition and decisions are taken by the majority.

·       The statute of the coalition is endorsed and adjusted by two-thirds of the votes of the attendees.

·       The election of the Board of Directors, as well as the elections within the Board to distribute the tasks and responsibilities, shall be conducted by secret ballot.

·       All the decisions in the Board of Directors and the committees are taken by a simple majority. In case of a tie, the president’s vote is likely.