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Amat Al Alim Alsoswa ( ar, امة العليم السوسوه;
Amat Al Alim Alsoswa ( ar, امة العليم السوسوه; Ta'izz
Taiz ( ar, تَعِزّ, Taʿizz) is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni Highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. With a populat ...
, Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, August 27, 1958) is a Yemeni journalist, and Yemen's first female ambassador and minister.
She served as the Assistant Secretary-General, then Assistant Administrator and finally Director of UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
's Regional Bureau for Arab States.
Biography
Alsoswa began her career as a journalist at a very young age: she began broadcasting at the age of 10 as part of a local radio program inTaiz Governorate
Taiz ( ar, تَعِزّ, Taʿizz) is a governorate of Yemen. The governorate's capital is Taiz, which is the third largest city in Yemen. Today it is the most important commercial centre in Yemen owing to its proximity to the richest farmland in ...
. Later on, she became a news anchor on Yemeni television, also serving as a political commentator. Alsoswa holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from Cairo University
Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
(1980) and an M.A. in International Communications from the American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
in Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
(1984). She speaks Arabic and English fluently and also speaks French and Russian.
Between 1984 and 1986, she worked as Deputy TV Programs Director at Sana’a
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...
TV, where she held the most senior position as a woman in Yemeni television. Later, she became the Chief Editor of ''Mutaba'at I'elamiah'' Journal. From 1989 to 1991, Alsoswa led the Yemeni Women's Union before Yemeni unification
Yemeni unification () took place on May 22, 1990, when the area of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (also known as South Yemen) was united with the Yemen Arab Republic (also known as North Yemen), forming the Republic of Yemen (known as ...
.
From 1997 to 1999, she was Undersecretary at Yemen's Ministry of Information and Chairperson of the National Women's Committee, the first woman Undersecretary in the Ministry of Information. Between 2000 and 2003, she served as Yemen's ambassador to Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, she was Yemen's Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member ...
. She was also the first woman Ambassador to the Netherlands, residing in The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, and a non-resident Ambassador to both Sweden and Denmark.
In May 2003, Alsoswa was appointed the Minister of Human rights in Yemen
Human rights in Yemen are seen as problematic. The security forces have been responsible for torture, inhumane treatment and even extrajudicial executions. In recent years there has been some improvement, with the government signing several intern ...
, the second female Minister of Human Rights in Yemen's history after Waheeba Ghalib Faree al-Fakih. During her tenure, she established and oversaw Yemen's Human Rights Ministry, initiated the country's second national human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
report, and established a public human rights resource center. In 2006, she became the Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator for the Regional Bureau for Arab States of the United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
(UNDP).
On March 22, 2014, Alsoswa was appointed Executive Director of the Executive Bureau for the Acceleration of Aid Absorption and Implementation of the Mutual Accountability Framework.
Alsoswa has published and lectured extensively and has received numerous awards. She was made an ''Officier'' of the ''Légion d'Honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
'' (France) and received the Medal of the Egyptian Committee for Afro-Asian Solidarity (Egypt). Alsoswa is also a Trustee of the Arab Democracy Foundation
The Arab Democracy Foundation (ADF) is an independent international Arab civil society organization advocating democracy as a culture, a way of life, and the best system for good governance. ADF was established on May 27, 2007, at the initiative o ...
.
Alsoswa has written and spoken on women's rights and democracy. She has been an activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
for human rights in general and freedom of expression
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
in particular. Alsoswa asserts that in order for women to fight against discrimination in Arab countries, older traditions of interpretations of Islamic texts which were once more favorable to women must be revived, girls need equal access to education and recognizing women's contributions to the family and society as important and valuable are necessary for change. She also stresses that "even against immense odds, women remain catalysts for reform in Arab countries."
References