Fighting for a cause

I am not sure if it's a victory for Qatar, Arab women, or for the physically challenged in the world. Maybe with the appointment of Sheikha Hessa bint Khalifa bint Ahmed Al Thani as UN commissioner of the international committee for those with special needs, it's a victory for all three.

Qatar comes through rather well. With the country having the first woman minister of education in the Gulf, people in the state can now say the appointment of Sheikha Hessa is building a proud tradition of having women in high posts. Neither is Sheikha Hessa the first woman to be given an international appointment by none other than UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.

Other Qatari women are already in the international limelight. They include Sheikha Ghalia bint Mohammad bint Hamad Al Thani who represents her country in Unicef. She has also just been elected deputy president of Qatar's first human rights commission formed recently.

Also, Dr Loaloa Al Misned is on the board committee of an international institute researching women's affairs.

However, Sheikha Hessa's appointment certainly tops the bill. She was appointed purely on merit, facing stiff competition from other able women from Norway, Holland and Costa Rica.

But her merit lies in her extensive background in researching into social services and the handicapped. For instance, she has attended around 19 local, regional and international conferences in the field of social development.

The Emir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his wife, Her Highness Sheikha Moza Al Misned, together with the Higher Council for Family Affairs in Doha, have backed Sheikha Hessa to the fullest.

Today she faces tough challenges, aiming to create an international agreement for the protection of the disabled. She was quoted as saying that just as there are international agreements for the protection of different categories and people in society, the disabled or the physically challenged, too, need international protection and understanding.

Indeed, if action is needed, then she is the one the UN and its Social and Development Committee are looking for.

Her impressive background in the field of social development says it all. Although a member of the ruling family, she had long decided to make a career for herself, working for a BA in Social Development and Sociology from Qatar University in 1985 and then an MA in Social Planning from the University of Hilwan in Egypt in 1999.

There is nothing unusual about Sheikha Hessa pursuing a professional life. Among other such women from the ruling families of the Gulf are Sheikha Dr Saud Al Sabah as well as Sheikha Dr Rasha Al Sabah in Kuwait. They are working academics in Kuwait University and have become well-established in the Gulf and the Arab world.

Sheikha Hessa started out in the University of Qatar as a social worker in student affairs and then served in the Technological Education Section in the Education Faculty in the university, a position she held from 1986 to 1993. Also, from 1989 to 1994, she worked as a social researcher in the university's Human Documentations and Studies Centre.

Throughout this time, she gained a deep understanding of the social services of the country, with concentration on people, especially children with special needs.

After a two-year stint in the office of Sheikha Moza between 1998 and 2000, she went on to head the International Relations Department of the Higher Council for Family Affairs in Qatar.

During this time, however, she was already specialising in looking at people who are physically challenged. In 1998, for instance, she was one of the founders of the "committee for those with special needs" and also set up a centre for children with special needs. Just this year, for instance, she was one of the organisers of the Third Gulf Forum for the Handicapped.

With such a wealth of experience and commitment behind her, it is not surprising she was chosen as a special commissioner. She says now she has to think international rather than local. This is the requirement of the job.

Presently, the biggest job ahead of her is to put together the international agreement for the protection of the disabled. And this is something that will be discussed and, hopefully, put into effect some time in June. It seems Qatar has put its full weight behind the agreement.

Abdullah bin Nasser Al Khalifeh, Secretary-General of the Higher Council for Family Affairs, says his organisation is already looking into the agreement.

Pointing out "what is important to realise is that the disabled is a normal human being and is a part of the development process," she said she will be working to intensify the role of the disabled in society.

In today's world, people say everything has to be "politically-correct", using certain terms and not others in an attempt not to hurt feelings or at least to try to introduce a new culture of understanding.

In response to a question from the local press in Doha, Sheikha Hassa says she will not be drawn into the semantics of whether such people should be called handicapped, disabled, physically challenged or people with special needs.

She said although the terminology will be discussed at the level of the Gulf, her main concern at present is to fight for these people and see to it that their problems and the issue itself is discussed effectively at the international level.