Group items tagged

"kingdom of Bahrain on Monday published a list of 68 Islamist groups it classified as "terrorist," according to the state news agency BNA Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, already branded as "terrorist" by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League, topped the list approved by Bahrain's cabinet, BNA said."

Political parties are demanding payments of up to $28,000 for candidates to be included in their electoral lists. This is prohibiting youth groups from having an active role in the formation of the new government. Although the new electoral law gave Copts, women, and people with disabilities the right to be a part of parties' electoral lists, splits and conflicts between parties interferes with the process. There is a consensus in the higher order of politicians that the youth are not prepared to be a part of the political process. Others believe this is an unfair statement. However, the mistake of the youth in the revolution was that they did not take part in the government process at the beginning. They missed their opportunity to fulfill their demands by only aiming to overthrow the regime.

Taking on an extreme islamist perspective, women in Saudi Arabia are given a vast array of restriction in every aspect of their lives. This article list eleven specific restrictions imposed on women in Saudi Arabia including: swimming, voting, and driving a car.

Taking on an extreme islamist perspective, women in Saudi Arabia are given a vast array of restriction in every aspect of their lives. This article list eleven specific restrictions imposed on women in Saudi Arabia including: swimming, voting, and driving a car.

I read this article and I am not sure if it accurate. Being from Saudi Arabia and reading this, its kind of offensive. The article made up stuff that saudi Arabia women can not do

The webpage lays out the larger plans and goals when providing aid to Egypt's women to promote equality. The goals range from various aspects including career development, civic participation, reducing poverty (including an increase in girl's enrollment in school), and an increase in healthy habits and standards. The concerns and goals listed also reflect the outline of the  U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. 

The webpage lays out the larger plans and goals when providing aid to Egypt's women to promote equality. The goals range from various aspects including career development, civic participation, reducing poverty (including an increase in girl's enrollment in school), and an increase in healthy habits and standards. The concerns and goals listed also reflect the outline of the  U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. 

USAID helps women gain equality and they promote women empowerment. It helps through various programs in agriculture, education, and health.

Egypt received 300 recommendation to review their human rights. The list also stated they wanted to tackle corruption, human trafficking, and human rights. Egypt has until March 2015 to respond. 

Syria's armed conflict escalated even further in 2013 as the government continues and intensified its attacks against civilians and began using increasingly deadly and indiscriminate weapons including chemical weaponry. This link also provides an abundant amount of information on not only human rights issues revolving around chemical warfare but also on human rights issues in regards to torture, unlawful arrests and forced displacement. At the end of the article, a list of key international actors are given including supporters and opponents of Syria.

In this Wall Street Journal opinion article, the authors tackle a controversial law that Netanyahu proposed. The law would officially declare Israel as a Jewish state and de-list arabic as the official language. As the authors declare, they are very much pro-Israel, but are ashamed of the law.

This is an updated lists of amendments made to Egyptian law regarding divorce in marriage. It is published by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

Of the 23 nations that were blacklisted in August of 2015, Algeria makes the list. Of the nations who were blacklisted as failing to meet minimum standards in fighting human trafficking, they are ranked from an economic perspective in the form of "tiers."

Millions of women, children, and men fall victim to modern day slavery especially in the Middle East. Syria was listed as the worst offender in 2012. Victims of human trafficking suffer physical, mental, and emotional abuse while they are taken prisoner. 

With the outbreak of wars around world the cyber element is becoming more relevant or common to see. Governments are often the primary target.

What seems like an obvious move, the Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security have added Libya, Somalia and Yemen to anti-terror list. This adds restrictions on travel to these countries and increases regulations on how people from these countries can enter the United States.

This is linked to another page that I saved. There was an agreement to send more humanitarian aid to Syria, where needed. However, Aleppo has been a location of turmoil of late and it is excluded from the list.

The Council on Foreign Relations published an article about democratization in the middle east and the major obstacles that are present in the process. While most assume Islamists and Islamic embedded institutions are the root of the delayed democratic transition, the problems are much bigger than that. While Islamist regimes do indeed stunt the growth of democratic progress in terms of creating a stable government, Arab countries struggle with economic and social factors as well. The Arab Spring Revolutions have caused economic and social degradation across the region, resulting in a road block of political leadership. Without a reliable and capable government structure, the states are unable to progress economically. However, in order to have a stable government, social and economic institutions must be in place to create this capitalist economy that they strive for. Because most wealth resides in oil, the revenue that the states bring in isn't distributed properly throughout society and is concentrated within few business elites. The article stresses that instead of foreign aid going into the hands of an unstable leader or regime, it should be invested in institutions in order to spur economic growth and eliminate corruption. Rather than focusing on the Islamist-secularist divide, the world should be working towards the strengthening of institutions to create a stable foundation for governance. 

"Journos, analysts, bloggers and news resources tweeting about developments in Iraq. EN/AR"

BBC discusses the effect of IS and the current political state of Libya.