Selected Socioeconomic Indicators in the Middle East and North Africa
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IMF Fact Sheet - 1 views
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The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were both created at an international conference convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States in July 1944. The goal of the conference was to establish a framework for economic cooperation and development that would lead to a more stable and prosperous global economy. While this goal remains central to both institutions, their work is constantly evolving in response to new economic developments and challenges.
Abuse of Women in Prisons - 0 views
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More than 1,200 boat migrants rescued off Libya - 0 views
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Another example of the refugee crisis in Libya. While it is in close proximity to the Italian island of Sicily, cramming people onto rafts and small boats is in incredibly dangerous task that seems to leave those migrants in far worse shape than when they left. However, these people are desperate to flee a region full of terror and horrific atrocities.
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Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa - 2 views
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he United Nations has articulated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include goals for improved education, gender equality, and women's empowermen
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The region's oil-based economy, which produced tremendous wealth in some MENA countries, reinforces the region's gender roles. In a number of MENA countries, the use of capital-intensive technologies that require few workers, along with relatively high wages for men, have precluded women's greater involvement in the labor force.
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In addition, the benefits of female education for women's empowerment and gender equality are broadly recognized:
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While 53 percent of the women said that the decision should depend on the children's capabilities, 39 percent said that the son should go to the university, compared with only 8 percent who said that the daughter should go. The survey also found that mothers of children who had never attended school were more likely to cite the cost of education as a reason for not educating their daughters than for not educating their sons.
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As women's educational attainment in MENA countries has increased, more women have moved into the job market. But women's participation in the labor force is still low: Only 20 percent of women ages 15 and older in MENA countries are in the labor force — the lowest level of any world region.
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But those rates are lower than rates found outside the region. In France, for example, women make up 45 percent of the labor force; in Indonesia, which is home to the world's largest Muslim population, women make up 38 percent of the labor force.16
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Women in MENA countries are twice as likely to be illiterate as men are and make up two-thirds of the region's illiterate adults. The gender gaps in education vary greatly across countries in the region but are generally wider in countries where overall literacy and school enrollment are lower. In Yemen, for example, the illiteracy rate among young women (54 percent) is triple that of young men (17 percent). But countries that make political and financial commitments to reducing illiteracy, as Jordan and Tunisia have, generally see significant improvements in reducing illiteracy and narrowing the gender gap (see Figure 6).
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Statistics on Middle Eastern education. The gender inequality in the education. Reasons the litteracy level is so low and analyzing why there are has been a recent curve up in education.
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Education is a key part of strategies to improve individuals' well-being and societies' economic and social development.
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Iraq divisions undermine battle against IS - BBC News - 0 views
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More than in any other country, Iraq's future is intimately bound up with the fate of self-styled Islamic State (IS).
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But even if initially successful, such an ambitious project, indeed, any further moves to oust IS, could go badly wrong if the foundations are not sound
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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.
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gislation to empower the Sunnis by devolving security and financial responsibilities to the provinces has not happened.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Education Has Never Been Deadlier for Syria's Children - Save the Children - 0 views
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Education is now one of the deadliest pursuits for children and teachers inside Syria, as the country's schools are increasingly being damaged and destroyed in the conflict.
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Syria has now descended to the second worst rate of school attendance in the world with 2.8 million children out of schoo
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t is absolutely shameful that the obligation to protect schools is not being respected in this conflict
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Syrian refugee children in neighbouring countries are facing disturbing rates of abuse, bullying, corporal punishment and marginalization
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p to half of children surveyed by the agency in Syria reported they were 'rarely' or 'never' able to concentrate in class
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Syrian children are dropping out of school by the day, and the international community has to step up its response to ensure that we do not lose an entire generation of children."
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Four years into the Syria crisis, overall enrolment in Syrian schools has halved from near 100% pre-crisis levels, while enrolment in the hardest hit areas such as Aleppo has plummeted to just 6%
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And those children who have managed to escape the conflict in Syria are also missing out on education with devastating consequences. One in 10 Syrian refugee children across the region are estimated to be working, and the figure is likely to be much higher. In Jordan, 47% of refugee families reported relying partly or entirely on their children's income in a recent assessment.
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We have heard from children being cursed and ridiculed by teachers in host countries, being told that they have ruined their country or to go back to Syria," Hearn said. "Others face corporal punishment at school. In Egypt alone, 30% of children we interviewed told us they were being hit by teachers and 70% are being verbally abused
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Refugee children are also faced with learning an unfamiliar curriculum or even a teacher speaking a language they cannot understand.
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Hillary Clinton Gives Israeli Education Program Spotlight on Campaign Trail - Israel - ... - 0 views
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ch week in Israel, young parents open their homes to local instructors who teach them how to prepare their toddlers for school.
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In her bid for the Democratic nomination, Clinton rarely misses an opportunity to tout her record on early childhood education, from her first job out of law school at the Children’s Defense Fund to her Too Small To Fail program at The Clinton Foundation.
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The story of how Clinton brought the Israeli education program to America starts with a coincidence.
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In 1969, an Israeli educator named Avima Lombard conceived the program as a way to help the children of North African immigrants get a head start in the Israeli school system
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Clinton’s associates in Arkansas apparently had a similar reaction when she told them they would have to travel to the Holy Land for HIPPY training: “‘Israel! Where is Israel?’”
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But the two strong personalities also clashed occasionally. For several years, Lombard demanded that certain HIPPY USA staff members receive training in Israel. As the program grew, this practice became expensive and unsustainable, leading HIPPY USA to start training staff in Arkansas.
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In 1998, Hillary Clinton visited a HIPPY event in Jerusalem while accompanying her husband when he was president. It was around holiday time, and Clinton was photographed with HIPPY children and their mothers.
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Red carpet for President Sisi's convoy criticised in Egypt - BBC News - 0 views
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The U.S. Should Stop Supporting the War in Yemen - 0 views
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As Saudi mulls Syria ground intervention, Egypt disengages - 0 views
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Schooling in a crisis: the case of Syrian refugees in Turkey - ODI HPN - 0 views
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The Syrian civil war has created one of the largest and most intense episodes of human suffering of the early twenty-first century.
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Turkeys efforts to meet the needs of refugees have been spearheaded by the Afet ve Acil Durum Yonetimi Baskanligi
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majority of refugees are women and, especially, children; of the 200,000 refugees in Turkish camps, about 60% are children.
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t was left to him to find tents, wooden flooring, carpets and paving bricks, desks, chairs, drawing boards, teaching aids and, of course, textbooks
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he pre-school director in Islahiye Camp used empty office and storage space in the warehouse to house five rooms full of loud young children
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curricula are not recognised or sanctioned by the Turkish education authorities, and so licenced Turkish teachers cannot be assigned to them.
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Indeed, one source of tension between Syrian parents and the Turkish authorities has been the Syrian demand for special classes for advanced students whose preparations for university entrance exams were interrupted by the war.
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Syrian parents also tend to insist that their daughters wear headscarves (hijab) in public and in schools, while it is illegal for Turkish teenage girls to cover their hair at school.
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Tensions over the separation of the sexes, curriculum and language of instruction are compounded by the politics of Syrians refugee status
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y contrast, the Turkish government chose not to officially recognise the Syrians as refugees as defined by UNHCR, and did not ask UNHCR to register the newcomers as refugees.
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Even guests can outstay their welcome, and with no end in sight to the civil war and no prospect of a return of Syrians to Syria, Turks are beginning to question how long they can sustain their assistance. I
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une 2013 AFAD began accepting offers of financial and other aid from outside agencies, including UNHCR and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
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The schools developed in Syrian refugee camps in Turkey provide valuable models for establishing schools for rapidly growing refugee populations.
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The next critical challenge for Syrian education in Turkey is what to do with the growing number of Syrian teenagers who need to finish their high-school studies at accredited schools in order to compete for places at universities in Turkey or elsewhere.
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This was probably the most interesting article I have read about education in the MIddle East. It is from the "Humanitarian practice Network". This article is about Turkey and the Syrian refugees, who are not documented as refugees, and the growing desire for improvements to education. Right now, the education which is in place for Syrians is adequate for a temporary stay of preserving knowledge. It is not designed to be used long term, to advance students, or to prep them for universities. This article looks at those issues and tensions which are happening currently in Turkey
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Turkey's Erdogan denounces US support for Syrian Kurds - BBC News - 0 views
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More than 500 people, including dozens of civilians, have been killed since the assault began 10 days ago
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urkey has already taken in more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees over the past five years and says it will continue to do so in a "controlled fashion".
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urkey's president asked in a speech: "Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist PYD and PKK organisation?"
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While Turkey sees the PYD and YPG as offshoots of the banned PKK, the US does not and believes they are the only effective force against IS on the ground in Syria, reports the BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul.
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France's outgoing Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, also questioned the commitment of the US to resolve the crisis in Syria on Wednesday, saying its "ambiguous" policy was contributing to the problem.
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Turkey has denounced the United States for providing support to the Democratic Union Party, who any are calling a terrorist group. This is contributing to the bloodshed.
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Turkey is mad at U/S over their support for Syria's Kurdish group. Turkey claims them as a terrorist group. Refugees are still fleeing from Syria.
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US support of Syrian extremist group, the Democratic Union Party, has been denounced by Turkish president Erdogan. The recent fighting has displaced 50,000 people and cut off key supply routes for bringing in aid. Turkey has vowed to continue to accept refugees.w
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In Egypt, the Law itself is an Enemy of Women's Rights | Informed Comment - 0 views
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However, Egypt – along with most Muslim countries – incorporates a list of laws based on Islamic Sharia. Some of these are indisputable Sharia laws while others are based on individual interpretations, and both are indeed discriminatory.
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This article provides laws that protect women as well as those whom only protect men. It shows the sexism between the laws for different genders.
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Describes how the laws in Egypt are an enemy to Women's Rights. Egypt is ranked as the worst of 22 Arab states with regards to women's rights.
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This article gives a brief description of laws and rules set in Egypt for women.
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Does Egypt's new tourist marriage law really 'protect women?' - Al Arabiya English - 0 views
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While the law is officially being presented as a means to protect the wife’s financial rights, should the husband make the marriage temporary, a large number of activists and rights groups see it as facilitating a disguised form of human trafficking.
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Women rights activist Nehad Abul Qomsan traced back the progression of the law, or rather “deterioration,” of it.
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Iran, Saudi Arabia in War of Words After Cleric's Execution - 0 views
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Rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia were given fresh fuel Monday with both sides issuing tit-for-tat verbal volleys. Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have been trading blows in an escalating war of words since Saturday following the former's move to execute prominent Shiite opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Iran's Shiite leaders blasted the Sunni kingdom verbally, while protesters in Tehran stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy.
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Libya and the Perils of Regime Change - 0 views
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While once a popular idea, getting rid of Gaddafi now seems like it could have been more of a blunder. Hillary Clinton is widely given credit for supporting this regime change which has now led to challenges not only for Libya but for the world. ISIS has found a new base for operations against Europe and a new government has been unable to take shape. This article looks at how choices, especially those that seem appropriate at the time, may turn out to be disastrous.
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Syria truce a 'glimmer of hope', Assad says - 0 views
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Posted March 02, 2016 01:32:49 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has described the cessation of hostilities in force since Saturday as a "glimmer of hope" while offering rebel forces "full amnesty" if they hand over their weapons. Speaking in an interview with Germany's ARD network, Mr Assad also accused the opposition of violating the agreement intended to halt nearly five years of fighting.