UN: Morocco Awarded for Efforts to Promote Gender Approach in Fisheries Science Research

United Nations – Morocco received, on Tuesday in the United Nations headquarters, a UNESCO award for its efforts in promoting the gender approach in fisheries science research.

The award was presented by UNESCO Director Irina Bokova to Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests, at a ceremony organized by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission on the sidelines of the UN Conference on Oceans.

Speaking on this occasion, Akhannouch said he was “honored” to receive, on behalf of Morocco, this award “which recognizes my country’s efforts in strengthening fisheries and ocean sciences”.

An award in the gender approach category “particularly delights us because gender equality in research sectors is not sufficiently valued and it cannot remain so,” Akhannouch added.

He underlined that in Morocco, women constitute 33 pc of people active in oceanographic and fisheries research, “a growing number from year to year”.

The woman component in scientific research is “fundamental”, Akhannouch told the press, adding that: “we can only be proud of this fact, but also of the prospects that will further strengthen the position of women in research and their presence in the world of oceans”.