Egypt imposes incapacitating conditions on relief convoys delivering aid to Gaza - 0 views
Scenes from Tahrir Square: Tear Gas and Tears at a Revolution, Two Years On - The Wire - 0 views
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This article is a reflection of the events at Cairo's Tahrir Square. By showing videos and photos of the revolution it really solidifies the image of what the conditions were like at this time, even after the protests have ended.
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This article is a reflection of the events at Cairo's Tahrir Square. By showing videos and photos of the revolution it really solidifies the image of what the conditions were like at this time, even after the protests have ended.
Slavery and Forced Labor in Brazil - Foreign Policy Blogs | Foreign Policy Blogs - 0 views
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Of all of the countries in the Americas, Brazil imported the most slaves from Africa and was the last to officially abolish slavery.
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In 2002, the ILO and the Brazilian government initiated a technical cooperation project called “Combating Forced Labour”. Since then, around 50,000 workers have been freed from slave-like conditions in Brazil.
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Although slavery has been abolished for years, forced labor has since taken its place. In a recent report, 240 Brazilian companies were caught employing people in slave-like conditions between May 2013 and May 2015. The companies were associated with clothing sweatshops, farming and cattle ranching, timber and charcoal production, and construction. These people work seven days a week without pay and had no running water or toilets
In Yemen, Breaking Barriers to Girls' Education - 0 views
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The gender gap among teachers in Yemen is wide, and serves as a deterrent to girls’ school attendance when traditionally-minded male family members will not allow daughters, sisters or nieces to be taught by men.
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n 2010-2011, only 28% of teachers in government basic and secondary schools were female. The Ministry of Education estimates 4,500 female teachers are needed to remedy the acute shortage of female teachers in rural areas.
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e corresponding rate for boys has remained at least 20% highe
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This article discusses the large gap amongst girls and boys in Yemen. There are fewer women in the population, not as many teachers, the literacy rate is 15% lower for girls as compared to boys. This project will deploy 700 teachers to rural areas of Yemen, hoping to attract 25,000 more students, and it will increase cash stiphens to encourage families to let their daughters go to school
Egypt's youth 'have had enough' - 0 views
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Though many of the youth leaders who participated in the 2011 revolution are in prison, youth-driven political campaigns will continue under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. A new movement that has risen, called the "We have had enough" campaign has several demands from the Egyptian youth. These include holding accountable anyone who was involved in killing any Egyptian, a debate about implementing separation of powers, setting minimum and maximum wages, and amending the protest law. These demands have led the state to release some of the prisoners of conscience, in an attempt to prevent any chaos before parliamentary elections. A similar movement, called the Dhank movement, arose in protest of the living conditions for the poorest Egyptians. The leaders of this movement encourage protests like refusing to pay electric bills because of a lack of service. The activists describe the need for the Dhank movement coming from Sisi's poor treatment of the lower class that included removal of subsidies and raising prices of commodities. The "We have had enough" campaign spokesman says they insist on the implementation of 14 human rights amendments. He ends by reiterating the consistent suspicion the youth groups have of the state and a lack of confidence that their demands will be met. This shows that there is no clear strategy or realistic possibility to ending the tension between youth groups and the state.
Egypt's youths feel disenfranchised after revolution - Los Angeles Times - 1 views
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Egypt's 2011 uprising was often referred to as a youth revolution, but two years after longtime President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office, many in the younger generation say that they are not represented by the Brotherhood or any other oppositional forces. The demands of the revolution the youth led have not been met. Conditions are worsening. The youth are increasingly disillusioned with the idea of political hope and feel like leaving the country may be their best option for fulfillment. The youth feel their is a large disparity between their ideas and demands and the political desires of the older generation who is favored for their wisdom, experience, and resources. Although the youth have popular support, they lack the resources to successfully run a political race and are therefore left out of the process of change. This means it is left up to the older generation of politicians to appease their demands, if only to prevent more protests.
Pollution in Tunisia: Dirty business | The Economist - 0 views
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Locals claim that the state-managed industry is causing pollution and illness. Najib Chairat, 52, who worked in the refinery from the age of 32 can barely move and speak. His family believes it was caused by years of breathing in the noxious fumes. Strikes and protests over pollution, wages and unsafe working conditions caused Tunisia's phosphate production to halve after the 2011 revolution.
Middle East the human trafficking capital of the world | Al Bawaba - 0 views
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The report indicated that some 600,000 migrant workers are subject to forced labour and exploitation.
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In Jordan and Lebanon migrant workers make up a significant part of the workforce, particularly in the construction and domestic work sectors, the study said.
Saudi Arabia | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2013 - 0 views
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This report discusses the conditions of the media in Saudi Arabia. It claims that in 2012 Saudi Arabia media environment "remained among the most repressive the the world." It also talked about the fact that their government justified this repression by saying that it violated the Islamic Sharia law. This brought up and interesting point, because I had never thought about freedom of speech and religious freedom being linked in this regard.
UNHCR - The situation of stateless persons in the Middle East and North Africa, by Laur... - 0 views
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This dissertation written by United Nations Commissioner for Refugees Laura Waas, provides some more academic insight into what exactly constitutes as stateless peoples in the Middle East and North African regions as well as the underlying conditions and legislation these stateless persons have developed. Waas points to the lack of nationality as the primary concern.
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publicatio... - 0 views
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There are typically two different forms of recruitment for forced labor, voluntary recruitment and unfree recruitment. Unfree recruitment is usually split between three categories including deception about the nature of the work, deception about the working and living conditions, and deception about the legality and the existence of the job.
Militants shell Aleppo, killing 16, injuring dozens amid fragile Syria ceasefire - 0 views
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Al-Qaeda-linked militants have shelled the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing 16 people and injuring 86, state news agency SANA reports, as the fragile ceasefire is being threatened by resurging violence. A source at Aleppo police command told SANA on Monday that shells fired by al-Nusra fighters landed in Aleppo's al-Sulaimaniyeh neighborhood, claiming lives of four, three of them children, and injuring 19 others, many in critical conditions.
The U.S. Is Giving Up on Middle East Democracy-and That's a Mistake - The Atlantic - 0 views
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democracy assistance to the region, which will drop from $459.2 million to $298.3 million
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Today’s Middle East is a product, at least in part, of failed democratization, and one of the reasons it failed was the timid, half-hearted support of the Obama administration.
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the significant impact Western leverage and “linkage” can have on democratic transitions.
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This article begins by illuminating the regional democracy assistance cuts that are dropping from $459.2 million to $298.3 million It explains that the Bush Administration began the quest for democracy in the Middle East, and the Obama administration has only continued in his footsteps. The author presents the viewpoint that the U.S. approach to Arab democratization has been in the form of "ad-hoc crisis management" rather than "large scale reform initiatives." Promoting democracy in the form of democratic politics are insufficient, elections and political parties have consistently proved to weather away and fester further civil strife. Consequently, the article proposes a new approach to the region conflict. This approach calls for "systematic reforms" focusing on basic institutions such as the civil service sector, justice and law enforcement, and the military's role in governance. The idea is that addressing these lacking departments in the arab world will eventually pave the way to a smoother democratic transition.
Prevalence of female genital cutting among Egyptian girls - 0 views
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fundamental violation of women’s and girls’ rights
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50% or highe
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This is such a controversial topic. I saw a reference to it recently (was it possibly something that was brought up in the Bill Maher/Ben Affleck dust-up?) that pointed out that the practice is almost unheard of outside of central and northeastern Africa, with a few small pockets in Iraq and the Gulf.
UN, Russia take lead in Syria diplomacy - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East - 0 views
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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Egypt on Feb. 9-10 signals a “new phase” in Russian diplomacy in the Middle East.
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Despite deteriorating ties with the United States and NATO countries over Ukraine, Maxim Suchkov writes, "Russia is anything but isolated, while Europe is no longer the promised land for the state that seeks recognition of its global influence."
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Egypt and Russia have “shared positions on a number of regional issues; closely aligned interests (particularly on fighting international terrorism); a successful track record of bilateral cooperation on various fronts; and a strong personal bond of trust between respective leaders.”
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Egypt steps up efforts ahead of U.N. human rights review - Al Arabiya News - 0 views
Putin brings China into Middle East strategy - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East - 0 views
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one of China’s main strategic regional projects was the economic region (or belt) of the 21st century Great Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, which intends to create a wide area of Chinese economic presence from China’s western borders to Europe
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clearly comprises the countries of Western Asia (i.e., the Middle East)
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Syrian crisis: India, China and Russia call for peace negotiations | Business Standard ... - 0 views
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India, China and Russia on Monday reiterated that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis and urged all parties to abjure violence and resume peace negotiations
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The Foreign Ministers of the three sides called on the Syrian Government and opposition factions to resume the Geneva process as soon as possible, stick to the approach of political settlement and draw on the useful experience of others to find a "middle way" that conforms to Syria's national conditions and accommodates the interests of all parties, and start the national reconciliation process at an early date.
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They highly valued the efforts by Russia to convene the first meeting of inter-Syrian consultations between representatives of the Syrian Government and opposition groups in January 2015
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