OSCE Centre holds conference on gender-related issues for students in Central Asia

DUSHANBE, 13 May 2004 - Raising awareness of gender-related problems among students in Central Asia and preventing inequality in society is the aim of a conference that opened here today.

Some 60 students from Dushanbe, Khudjand, Kurgan-Tube, Kulyab, Khorog, Garm, as well as from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia are taking part in the two-day event.

The conference, entitled "Youth and Education: Gender Aspects Through the Eyes of Youth," was organized by the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe together with the Open Society Institute-Tajikistan.

It will also help facilitate gender research in academic institutions and universities, share experience from relevant academics, civil society and students from different Central Asian countries and offer recommendations to students on how to eliminate gender inequalities in education and society as a whole.

"We see this conference, which is the first of its kind in Tajikistan, as an important step in promoting youth involvement in gender issues," said Ambassador Yves Bargain, Head of OSCE Centre in Dushanbe.

Among the conference presenters are several students who won an essay competition on gender-related problems in Tajikistan, organized recently by the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe. The competition was part of the Centre's project "Gender Equality - Challenge for Youth".

Academics and representatives of non-governmental organizations, working on gender issues, will act as moderators at the conference.