CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"

Egypt is requiring all NGO's to seek permission from a government appointed committee before being able to receive foreign funds. The government is attempting to filter out those organizations that promote the western vision.

Activists feel the new requirements set in place by the Egyptian government is the worst assault experienced in human rights history. It is unclear just how many organizations will be subjected to the investigation by the Egyptian government.

Donors are scared to fund NGO's in Egypt because of possible repercussions. There is currently a funding crisis due to this fear.

The U.S. is supposedly behind the attack this past weekend that killed a prominent al Nusra leader. This could suggest that the U.S. is increasing their military presence in Syria. 

Islamist rebels have shot down a Syrian government warplane near Aleppo. The truce was already being loosely enforced, but this will likely bring to the truce to an end, as Syrian forces are now preparing for an attack on Aleppo. 

The US pardoned a suspected Iranian hacker and a few other Iran nationals for US citizens held prisoner by Iran. This exchange is revealing of the amount of leverage these two nation-states have against one another.

The hack into Sony Pictures by North Korea will most likely be studied by other nations seeking to engage in cyber deterrents and pressures. Cyber security experts believe that the hack will set a precedent that Iran is probably studying, observing the US response.

The cyber breach of a US dam by Iran hackers marks the risk of US infrastructure. The US plans to adopt the tactic of "name and shame" to put pressure and fear individually on those who might think about targeting the US.

A new method to bypass G-mail's two step authentication is being implemented by Iranian hackers. Essentially it is a very active method of phishing in which the Iran hackers monitor a phone while triggering password verification. This puts everyone at risk and not just state actors or significant public figures.

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.

9.2% of all victims who are part of human trafficking are taken place in the Middle East. Majority of victims are between 18 and 24 years old. 95% of the victims experience physical or sexual violence.

There has been an increase in the number of children involved in human trafficking over the years. In past decades one in five human trafficking victims was a child, but now that number has increased to one in three.

Many children who are victims of human trafficking are forced into prostitution, forced labor, and misused for illegal trade of organs. Two thirds of the victims are girls and majority are found in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

This article describes stories around the world about street harassment. There are groups out there trying to help stop street harassment. One of these groups is called Stop Street Harassment

This article is about the draft of a bill that may lead into a ban on the full face veil, the niqab. Lawmakers suggest that the veil is not a religious requirement and therefore banning it does not impede religious freedom.

This article talks about why Egyptians have mobilized against sexual violence. Most groups against sexual harassment started in 2012, after the revolution.

This article talks about Women and Children only trains. The main article is about Germany, but mentions that Egypt also have segregated cars for women.

This article looks at the teacher protest in Algeria. There was a group of teachers on March 22 that did a sit in to advocate for better job security. They were forced out and beaten by the police

This article focuses on how the British council created a space to discuss the quality of education with other countries educators. Specifically, the moroccan and egyptian educators worked to learn from the UK about quality higher education.