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OPA News Release: [10/20/2003]
Contact Name: Ed Frank
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
Labor Secretary Welcomes New Iraqi Women
Labor Officials As Fact-Finding Trip Begins
Iraqi Women to Create Stable Democracy Through Jobs
WASHINGTON—U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao today welcomed three Iraqi women who are the newly appointed key officials in Iraq’s new Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as they prepare to spend the next eight days fact-finding on how to bring added stability to Iraq through job creation and job training.
Over the next eight days, the U.S. Department of Labor will host Sawsan
Mahdi Al-Dawad, Fatin Ouda Al-Saeda and Evelyn Michael Rasho for a series
of meetings, briefings and tours of American job-placement and job-training
sites. The three Iraqi women will meet with Secretary Chao and a variety
of Labor Department officials, congressional leaders and community leaders,
all in an effort to teach them how to create and train workers for new jobs
in Iraq, which will ultimately lead to a more stable and secure region.
After senior Ba’ath Party officials were dismissed in May, these three, non-Ba’athist women approached the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and shared their strong support for democracy and for rebuilding the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Exhibiting a fundamental knowledge of employment and training administration, they were given the responsibility of creating a new, national employment and training initiative to be administered by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
"These women stepped forward at great personal risk to themselves after the fall of the
Saddam Hussein regime and asked to help rebuild their country," stated U.S. Secretary of
Labor Elaine L. Chao. "They aspire for a democratic Iraq, at peace with their neighbors,
and they are seeking ways to help get their people back to work. They are part of the new,
pro-democratic leadership that understands - as we do - the importance of a steady employment situation in building a stable democracy in Iraq."
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy Chris Spear, who earlier this
year spent several months in Iraq as a senior advisor to that nation’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, will act as a primary liaison between the Iraqi women and American officials. In Iraq, Spear worked with local Iraqi officials to advance the training and employment of Iraqi citizens. He also assisted with such diverse issues as the country’s prison system and housing for disabled, elderly, and orphaned Iraqis.
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