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is a radical departure from current EU policy, which forces asylum seekers to apply for asylum in their first country of entry, under legislation known as the Dublin law.

Syrian conflict has exacerbated a refugee crisis in north Africa and the Middle East

More than 3 million people are estimated to have fled the country in the past four years, and although the vast majority have remained in neighbouring countries – Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan – thousands have tried to make the perilous journey to Europe.

Most of those who survive the Mediterranean crossing – and more than 3,000 died last year – end up in Italy and Greece

42,000 Syrians ended up in Italy in 2014 alone

apply for asylum in their country of arrival. But only a tiny minority do. In practice, many migrants simply slip through the net and move, vulnerably, around Europe.

Syrians who chose to move irregularly across Europe could be reduced if people were allowed to legally travel onwards to join family or move to countries where they have language skills or work opportunities

We need to convince them that it is better to go legally, that there is an alternative to months of suffering

The proposed relocation, which would start as a one-year pilot programme, would focus only on Syrians who have been recognised as refugees in Italy and Greece and would depend on an initial voluntary commitment from member states

previous attempts to reform the Dublin law have been met with fierce resistance during internal EU discussions

UK and other northern European countries have fought in both domestic and European courts to defend the right to return asylum seekers to their first country of entry

arguing that protection and accommodation conditions in Italy and Greece are inadequate

stressed the importance of states upholding the Dublin regulation

the commission is discussing with the member states on how to ensure a more balanced distribution of resettled refugees among all member states. We wil

Cochetel acknowledged that only a significant interest in building a new system would create a change in behaviour among desperate migrants

Last month Turkey become the largest country of asylum in the world

massive irregular secondary movements feeding trafficking, leading to human suffering and exploitation

The IS fighters were able to lodge so easily in the Sunni Arab heartlands because the people there had been largely alienated by the sectarian policies and practices of the Shia Arab-dominated Baghdad government under Nouri al-Maliki, who was finally prised out of the prime minister's office in August 2014.

gislation to empower the Sunnis by devolving security and financial responsibilities to the provinces has not happened.

Nor have measures to reverse the persecution of former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, or the random arrests, detentions, and to assuage other Sunni grievances.

he US, who have about 3,500 military personnel training and advising Iraqi government forces on the ground, also seems to be aware that military muscle is not enough.

If that process continues and the militants are defeated, the way Iraq fits together - if it does - will be decided by who pushes them out, and how the resulting vacuum is filled.

osul is an almost wholly Sunni city with a population of about two million.

Some residents may still see IS - about 85% of whose fighters in Iraq are believed to be Iraqi - as their protectors against an Iranian-backed, Shia-dominated Baghdad government.

When the Iraqi army collapsed like a house of cards in the face of the IS eruption in June 2014, it was a motley array of hastily-assembled Shia irregulars, loosely banded into the Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) that prevented the militants reaching Baghda

Ramadi gave a boost to the embattled Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi.He has scant support even from his own Shia Daawa party, and is seen across the board by Sunni, Shia and Kurdish politicians as weak, hesitant, lacking in leadership and unable to stand up to the militias.But there was a down-side to the Ramadi victory too: heavy destruction, and the displacement of the entire population.

Nor can the formula that finally and slowly worked in Ramadi simply be applied at Mosul. It took government forces with coalition backing seven months to regain Ramadi. Mosul is 10 times bigger.

He omitted to mention coalition air support, which would also clearly be crucial to the campaign.Some Iraqi analysts believe outside ground forces would also be needed. US military leaders, while reticent, clearly want to up the pace and have not ruled out more boots on the ground. In the absence of serious moves towards national reconciliation, one senior government figure also saw a campaign to retake Mosul as a vital way of forging national unity.

from Tunisia, Iraq or Syria.

of retributions. We spoke to people who have been forced to leave the city, to escape Islamic State.

I blame regional countries for IS

My dad is a senior policeman and was getting threats in Sirte. Anyone who works with the police can be kidnapped or killed unless you join them

S was quite laid back at the start in terms of implementing their harsh interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. You get the feeling that they were focussing on building loyalty and allegiances from the tribal society of Sirte

It was only in August when Islamic codes of dress and behaviour began to be implemented more noticeably. It was also then when crucifixions and lashings began to be meted out to anyone convicted. These usually take place after Friday prayers.

hero and a national treasure in the eyes of Egyptians.

Women saw her as an inspiration in their struggle for equal rights

women followed her exam

Gamal Abdel Nasser, women continued to advance, achieving positions in universities, Parliament and the senior judiciary.

women

22 Arab countries for discrimination in law, sexual harassment and the paucity of female political representation

Egyptian women made advances in equality throughout the period of the monarchy

Egypt’s tradition of moderate Islam recognized women’s rights and encouraged women to study and work.

woman’s job is to please her husband and provide offspring.

promote female genital mutilation

cover her body completely and may not study,

women started to wear the

cannot even leave the house without her husband’s permission.

control women’s sexuality.

Wahhabism has influenced all Islamic societies and movements, including Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

until 2005 that sexual harassment became an organized form of retribution against Egyptian women

hijab

83 percent of women interviewed had been subjected to sexual harassment at least once, and that 50 percent experienced it on a daily basis.

When ultraconservative doctrine dehumanizes women, reducing them to objects, it legitimizes acts of sexual aggression against them.

many Egyptian women still went without head scarves, wearing modern Western-style dress, yet incidents of sexual harassment were rare. Now, with the spread of the hijab, harassm

The security apparatus paid thugs, known as “beltagiya,” to gang up on a woman attending a demonstration, tear off her clothes and molest her.

Dec. 17, 201

Tahrir Square in Cairo, soldiers pulled a female protester’s clothes off and dragged her along the ground, stomping on her with their boots

victim of the attack became an icon for Egyptian women

mocked the victim, blaming her for not staying

in the home

During the revolution, millions of Egyptian women went out and bravely faced snipers’ bullets

rity.

President Mohamed Morsi’s later attempt to rewrite the Egyptian Constitution would also have removed the only female judge on the Supreme Constitutional Court.

They tried to overturn the law punishing doctors who carried out female genital mutilation, and refused to consider the marriage of minors as a form of human trafficking by claiming that Islam permitted a girl as young as 10 years old to be married.

The revolutionaries are fighting for equality

trying to strip women of their political and social rights and make them subject to men’s autho

10 female members of Parliament out of a total of 508

epresents a future that no one can prevent.