First Global Congress on Women and Road Safety

The 1st Global Congress
 on “Women and Road Safety: Project for Society” will be held on March 8 & 9, 2014 at the Palais des Congrès, Skhirat, Rabat, Morocco.

Every day in Morocco and around the world, many people are killed or injured on the roads. Men, women and children who go to school or to work on foot or drivers never return home, leaving behind anguished families. Thousands of people each year spend long weeks in the hospital after a serious accident and many of them will never be able to live, work, or play as they once did.

Traffic accidents are a major public health problem worldwide, with adverse consequences on economic and social levels.

The risk of being killed in a traffic accident varies by age and sex and it is almost three times higher for men than women. However, according to the World Health Organization, the accidents are among the ten leading causes of death among teenagers and adult women.

In countries with high and middle income, accidents are the leading cause of death among the female population aged 10-44 years.

Considering the central and multifaceted role that women in society play as an active, constructive influence in their environment, the National Committee for the Prevention of Traffic Accidents (CNPAC) and the National Union of Women of Morocco (UNFM), have organized the 1st World Congress on Women and Road Safety under the theme “Women and Road Safety: Project for Society.”

Under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the Conference is organized under the chairmanship of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meryem, President of the UNFM and to mark the occasion of International Women’s Day, March 8, 2014 in Rabat.

This global event is organized in collaboration with several international organizations concerned with the issues of road safety. In particular, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Road Safety Organization (PRI) , the Laser International Foundation and Laser Europe, the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) .

The Congress is also an opportunity to highlight the role of partnership with civil society around a national cause for the preservation of human life and the fight against road carnage.

This Global Congress will also provide an opportunity to remind the world the roles that women and civil society can play in the field of road safety and challenges of the future.

More than 300 delegates will take part in this event. They represent respectively: international organizations, governments, the business community, research institutes and the various components of civil society. A Declaration on Women and Road Safety called “Rabat Declaration” will be developed at the end of the work.