Social, humanitarian conditions in Gaza, Lebanon top agenda of council of Arab Ministers for Social Affairs

Social and humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon will be at the forefront of the agenda of the 44th session of the Council of Arab Ministers for Social Affairs at the ministerial level, to commence in Bahrain on Tuesday and spanning for two days.

In a statement on Sunday, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector at the Arab League Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said that social and humanitarian conditions in Gaza and Lebanon will be a priority for the Council's discussions due to the inhuman practices of Israel, the occupying power.

The Ambassador added that this is part of an effort to alleviate the difficult social and humanitarian conditions in Gaza and other occupied territories, along with ways to continue providing social and humanitarian support in Lebanon.

Abu Ghazaleh said that the Council will also discuss several priority issues for joint Arab social and developmental work, including topics related to multidimensional poverty, social policies, persons with disabilities, the elderly, as well as family and child affairs, putting forward joint strategies, programs, and initiatives.

The Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector at the Arab League said that setting the social affairs dossier for the upcoming Arab Summit will take a significant part of the Council's agenda, in addition to setting Arab position vis-a-vis the agendas of the Second World Summit for Social Development and the Global Disability Summit in line with Arab priorities.

Abu Ghazaleh said that the meeting of the Council at the level of Senior Officials, which began Sunday and will run for two days, is working on draft resolutions and proposals to be presented to the Arab Social Affairs Ministers for appropriate action, in the pursuit of strengthening joint Arab social and developmental efforts and supporting Arab countries implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.