UNESCWA Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawy is slated to be the keynote speaker at a conference on the Political Participation of Muslim Women in the UK and Abroad. The two-day event is co-hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group at the British Houses of Parliament and the Barrow Cadbury Trust at the House of Commons on 21 and 22 March 2006.

This conference aims to initiate a dialogue between eminent international women from the Arab region, as well as other areas of the world where there are significant Muslim communities, British Parliamentarians and representatives from Muslim women's groups in the UK. More specifically, the panel sessions and workshops are planned on consecutive days and designed to allow for knowledge and experience relating to the challenges facing Muslim women in the political sphere and strategies to deal with these obstacles to be shared and analyzed further.

A host of British parliamentarians as well as Muslim and Arab women who have made great strides on the regional and international levels will be taking part in this conference.