Create destiny through hard work, perseverance, consistency: Jordanian envoy
Women's empowerment is one of the main pillars of Jordan's comprehensive modernization process led by His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein at the political, economic and administrative levels.
At the legislative level, the Kingdom launched an extensive review process which focused on ending discrimination and violence against women and enhancing their participation in public and private spheres, in alignment with the principles of human rights. Constitutional amendments in 2022 cemented women's political, economic and social empowerment as a key national priority.
The National Strategy for Women (2020-2025) detailed a roadmap for implementing Jordan's vision on gender equality and empowering women in a society free of discrimination and gender-based violence, where women and girls enjoy full human rights and equal opportunities towards inclusive and sustainable development. The Strategy also outlined a policy for gender mainstreaming in the public sector.
Jordan's Second National Action Plan (2022-2025) for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 underlined the importance of women's effective participation and role in efforts to prevent, resolve and rebuild after conflicts, thus contributing to peacebuilding and peacekeeping. Jordanian women participated in many peacekeeping missions.
Jordanian women have always played an important role in public life. They were granted suffrage (voting and standing for election) in 1974. The Kingdom appointed its first female minister in 1979, and the current cabinet has five female ministers. Moreover, women's participation in the judiciary increased significantly over the years.
While several Jordanian women won parliamentary seats by popular vote, a quota for women has been in place since 2003 (currently 18 seats). Jordanian women won the highest number of parliamentary seats in the 2024 elections. Twenty-seven women (19.6 percent) are now members of the twentieth House of Representatives.
I am proud to say that the number of female Jordanian diplomats continues to rise, including nine female ambassadors at the moment. My journey since I joined the foreign service in 1999 took me to the United States, Switzerland, Belgium and currently the Republic of Korea. My work in those countries allowed me to contribute to enhancing bilateral relations and enabled me to experience the richness of their unique cultures.
Being a female ambassador since 2022 has been a very rewarding experience. I am honored to be a Jordanian diplomat and also the first female Arab ambassador to the Republic of Korea. In Seoul, I met a wonderful group of distinguished female ambassadors. Together we are known as the 'Seoul Sisters."
I would like to share some of the lessons I learned along the way, with young women aspiring for leadership positions especially in international relations. You create your own destiny through hard work, perseverance and consistency. Believe in yourself, and never underestimate the power of meritocracy! The quality of your work will always speak for itself. Although cultures vary and differ, a diplomat's journey is a testament that what unites us is far more than what divides us.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
04-06-2025
- Korea Herald
Five countries win seats on UN Security Council
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Five countries won seats on the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday in uncontested elections and will start serving two-year terms in January on the UN's most powerful but deeply divided body. The 193-member General Assembly held a secret-ballot vote for the five rotating seats on the 15-member council. Bahrain received 186 votes, Congo 183 votes, Liberia 181 votes, Colombia 180 votes and Latvia 178 votes. This will be the first time on the council for Latvia, which was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union and gained independence again after its collapse in 1991. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze told reporters after the vote her Baltic nation is ready for the responsibility, saying, 'Our historical experience puts us in the position to understand, empathize with, and forge partnerships across every region in the world.' 'We know the value of freedom,' she said. 'We know the fragility of peace and the power of multilateralism to safeguard it.' Braze said Latvia will spare no effort to achieve just and lasting peace in Ukraine and to alleviate suffering in the Middle East, Gaza, Africa and other conflicts around the globe. Bahrain will be the Arab representative on the council, and Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said his country's election to the council for a second time reinforces its determination to be 'a proactive contributor" to international peace and security. 'Our goal is to fortify peace and stability within our region,' Al Zayani said, stressing that resolving the decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict is 'the cornerstone for achieving peace in the region.' The immediate requirement, he said, is a ceasefire and massive influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the release of all hostages taken from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and progress toward a two-state solution and 'a viable state of Palestine.' The Security Council is mandated in the UN Charter with ensuring international peace and security, but it has failed in the two major conflicts because of the veto power of Russia on Ukraine and the US, Israel's closest ally, on Gaza. There have been decades of efforts to reform the Security Council to reflect the geopolitical realities of the world in 2025, not of the post-World War II era 80 years ago, when the United Nations was established. But they have all failed. The council still includes five veto-wielding permanent members — the US, Russia, China, Britain and France — and 10 elected members from the UN's different regional groups. One major failing is the absence of a permanent seat for Africa or Latin America and the Caribbean. Under its current rules, five new council members are elected every year. In January, the newly elected countries will replace Algeria, Guyana, South Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia. Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner of Congo, which will be serving its third term on the council, told the council its election not only reflects confidence in her country, 'it is also a reflection of Africa's unity and its rightful place in shaping the global peace and security agenda.' Asked about the ongoing fighting by armed groups in the country's mineral-rich east, she said Congo will bring to the council the knowledge of dealing with decades of conflict, the challenges of UN peacekeeping operations and protecting civilians, and 'the convergence between conflict, natural resources, and environmental changes.' Liberia's Deputy Foreign Minister Deweh Gray, whose country was last on the council in 1961, said her country has 'an unwavering resolve to make a difference for all' and to tackle the formidable challenges facing the world including conflict, inequality and climate change, 'to name a few.' 'Liberia's vote is a vote for Africa,' she said, 'and we shall ensure that we follow the African common position.' Colombia's UN Ambassador Leonor Zalabata urged all countries to unite and 'keep working together in harmony with nature to preserve what we have and build peace in the world.' And she said, 'We invite you all to keep working in the path of human rights.'
![[Patricia Murphy] 'Big beautiful bill' a boondoggle](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F06%2F03%2Fnews-p.v1.20250603.feb573661a2447cd9a1ea66b4611f094_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Korea Herald
03-06-2025
- Korea Herald
[Patricia Murphy] 'Big beautiful bill' a boondoggle
Days before the US House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump's 'big beautiful bill,' Moody's Ratings agency had an ominous warning about the US economy. Because of America's recent history of running up huge debts and deficits, and no change in sight, 'the United States' fiscal performance is likely to deteriorate' relative to similar countries. As a part of that warning, Moody's downgraded the country's credit rating from its Aaa score to Aa1. Despite that red flag, House leaders forged ahead, passing their 10-year tax-and-spend plan, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, by a single vote. Unfortunately, the bill not only ignores Moody's debt warning, it looks more like one big, beautiful boondoggle. Included in the gargantuan bill are $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other social programs, and significant boosts in spending for defense and immigration enforcement. Costs of some social programs, including food stamps, are also shifted to states by the House. My colleague Tia Mitchell reported this week that Georgia officials could now be on the hook for more than $800 million in food spending if the Republicans' bill goes through. All of the cuts to social safety net programs came, in part, to help pay for the tax cuts in the bill, which are heavily weighted toward high-income earners. For example, the working-class tax breaks that Trump promised on the campaign trail, namely eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and car loan interest, will only last through the end of Trump's term in 2028. But the income tax cuts, including for the richest Americans, as well as tax breaks for estates and investment income all become permanent. The House also stuffed loads of perks for special interests into the 1,100-page bill. One measure bans states from passing new regulations on artificial intelligence for 10 years. So if Georgia lawmakers decide they want to limit the use of AI in Georgia classrooms, like they did with cellphones this year, the Big Beautiful Bill Act would stop that until 2036. It would also mean Georgia lawmakers could not pass SB 9, a bill to ban deepfakes in political ads, which passed the state House and Senate earlier this year, but did not get to final passage. A different measure, this one for gun dealers, was put into the bill by Georgia's US Rep. Andrew Clyde. The Republican from Athens owns two large gun stores, which both sell gun silencers. Clyde flipped from a 'no' to a 'yes' after the $200 tax on silencers was eliminated, at a cost of $1.4 billion. Of all of the special interests in the bill, the most special of all seems to be Trump himself. The bill mentions Trump's name 52 times. It also creates new $1,000 savings accounts for babies born during Trump's second term called 'Trump Accounts.' It even has language to make it harder for federal courts to enforce injunctions against executive branch officials, a lot like the injunctions Trump has run into as he tries to expand his own powers in the White House. Every spending bill is a political document, of course, and a Republican Congress cutting taxes and rolling back Biden-era climate measures is no surprise. But what is a surprise is the bill's price tag, $3.94 trillion, which will all get piled onto the nation's $36 trillion debt that Moody's just warned about. For every tax cut and spending measure that may be a good idea on its merits, it's all getting paid for with more borrowed money. It's a long way from the Tea Party movement, which exploded onto the scene in 2009 after the US Congress passed big bailouts for banks following the 2008 financial crisis. The national debt then was $13 trillion, one-third of what it is today. Republicans then promised they would finally tackle the debt and the deficit. This bill does the opposite. Even Elon Musk, the mastermind of the "Department of Government Efficiency," said so on his last day as a government employee this week, adding that the bill 'undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.' 'It can be big or beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both,' he said. If I were a House Republican at the beginning of this year, I would have had one job: to reduce the debt and deficit. With Trump in the White House, Republicans in control of Congress, and Musk promising to modernize and remake the federal government, the House bill was supposed to be the vehicle for all of that to happen. Instead, they just passed one big, beautiful boondoggle.
Korea Herald
29-05-2025
- Korea Herald
North Korea sent heavy guns for 3 brigades, 8,000 workers to Russia in 2024 — more planned: report
North Korea provided enough heavy artillery to arm three Russian brigades and dispatched around 8,000 workers to Russia in 2024 alone, with plans to send thousands more in 2025, according to a report by a Seoul-led multilateral sanctions monitoring group released Thursday. The first-ever topic-specific report penned by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team since its launch in Seoul in October 2024 offered the detailed government-level official confirmation of illicit military cooperation and labor transfers between Pyongyang and Moscow. The findings by the MSMT — established with the participation of 11 member countries, including South Korea, the United States and Japan — pointed to clear violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions. The MSMT was launched as an alternative to the now-defunct UN monitoring panel on North Korea sanctions, which was dissolved following Russia's use of its veto power in April 2024. According to notable new findings in the report, over 200 pieces of heavy artillery — enough to equip three brigades — were transferred in 2024 alone. This included fully assembled military vehicles, multiple-rocket launchers, self-propelled guns and ammunition resupply vehicles. Specifically, the transfers included North Korean-made 170 mm self-propelled artillery and 240 mm multiple rocket launchers. In addition, approximately 9 million shells and multiple rocket launcher rounds were transferred from North Korea to Russia between January and mid-December 2024. The report also found that the weapons were delivered in 49 shipments via Russian cargo vessels from North Korea, then transported by rail from ports in the Russian Far East to ammunition depots in central and western Russia. Since September 2023, more than 20,000 containers worth of shells and related materials have been provided, the report said. In detail, North Korea's military supplies include 82 mm, 122 mm, 130 mm, 152 mm and 170 mm shells used in Russia's D-20 and D-30 towed howitzers, M-30 and M-46 howitzers and D-74 guns. The report also highlighted the transfer of weapons from Russia to North Korea. At least one Pantsir-class combat vehicle was transferred, the report found — indicating that Russia provided North Korea with either an actual Pantsir-S1 mobile air defense system or a comparable system with similar capabilities. North Korea has also been dispatching workers to Russia in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 2375 and 2397 to illegally earn foreign currency. The report underscores North Korea's plans to send several thousand more workers to Russia in the first half of 2025, with personnel expected to be funneled into the construction, toll processing, IT and health care sectors. In 2024, around 8,000 North Korean workers were already dispatched to Russia. Between December 2024 and February 2025, 481 North Korean workers were sent — 198 in construction and 283 in the textile industry, according to the report. The MSMT has agreed to release topic-specific reports, and the first focuses primarily on unlawful North Korea–Russia military cooperation, consolidating information provided by participating member states and open-source intelligence organizations. "The report will assist with the full implementation of UN sanctions by the international community," read a joint English-language statement from the 11 MSMT member countries, issued on the occasion of the report's release. "With the release of the first MSMT report, we underscore once again our shared determination to fully implement relevant UNSCRs." The MSMT was established with the initiative of Seoul around seven months after Russia, using its veto as a permanent member of the UN Security Council in late March last year, blocked the renewal of the 1718 Committee Panel of Experts' mandate. Since 2009, the Panel of Experts has been tasked with overseeing the enforcement of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea and issuing biannual reports on sanctions violations. We will continue our efforts to monitor the implementation of UNSCRs on the DPRK and raise awareness of ongoing attempts to violate and evade UN sanctions," the joint statement underscored, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
