The Ministry of Labor and Social Development, in partnership with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), will organize a wide-ranging conference on marriage and family in Jeddah next month. The two-day conference on Feb. 14-15 aims to reinforce the institution of marriage and family along with protecting their Islamic values. As many as 56 Islamic countries will come together to discuss the most pressing challenges and obstacles encountered by some OIC countries in the area of marriage and family. The conference is expected to address issues dealing with empowering families and enhancing capabilities of married couples and family members as well as protecting their deep-rooted values from being undermined. Additionally, participants will review the policies and strategies that the member states adopt in order to protect marriage as the foundation of family, look into challenges that threaten the stability of family in OIC countries, propose sustainable solutions to overcome issues on all fronts and set out joint policies and plans to protect the values of marriage and family. A number of family affairs ministers and officials including representatives of government entities, national institutions, and international and regional organizations will shed light on OIC's efforts in supporting married people and their family through protecting inherent values, in addition to highlighting the role of family in achieving the goals of the sustainable development. The participants will also explore ways to tackle violence against women and family members in light of Islamic principles and prepare the OIC strategy with the aim of empowering the institution of marriage and family and protecting moral values, besides discussing follow-up mechanisms to implement key outcomes of the conference. – SG
