Human Rights of Women
Guinea's Social Affairs Ministry has adopted a National Gender Policy (PNG) document which is meant to protect the rights of women in the country.
The document was drafted by a technical committee with financial support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
During Friday's ceremony to hand over the document to members of Guinea's government, the ministry's secretary general Moryba Ramos Camara said that Guinean women had suffered enormous prejudice due to violation of their basic rights.
Previous studies conducted in Guinea have shown that 70 percent of the women are victims of gender violence.
Data from Guinea's National Institute of Statistics show that women contribute 30 percent to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and over 80 percent of women live in rural areas.
In the agricultural sector, women represent 53.3 percent of the agricultural work force and in the education and training sector, only 16 percent of the women are educated as compared to 44 percent of the men who are educated.
"All studies on the poverty levels in Guinea show that women are more poor and they are more vulnerable," Camara said.
The representative of the United Nations System in Guinea Anthony Boamah said that the drafting of this document was initiated in 2009 by the ministry in charge of women affairs following recommendations of the 7th African regional conference on evaluation of Beijing action plan that was held in Addis-Ababa in 2004 and the 49th session of the UN Commission on Women Empowerment which was held in New York in 2005.
Guinea's International Cooperation Minister Koutoubou Sanoh who spoke on behalf of the government, thanked all those who were involved in the preparation of this document which will help to protect the rights of women.