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Gender and Development e -Brief /
Issue 40
March/ April, 2006
IN THIS ISSUE
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
GENDER
Anti-abortion laws a ‘silent
war against women’1st International Congress on Islamic Feminism
NEWS
CULTURE
Aleppo begins its
stint as Arab world's capital of Islamic culture
ENVIRONMENT
Citizens in Lebanon
urged to protect natural reserves
EDUCATION
Illiteracy rife
among rural Egyptian girls and women Plan to reorganize Lebanese University
faces opposition
FOREIGN AID
EU, Arab lawmakers
warn of chaos if aid to Palestinians is cut
U.S. philanthropists visit with aim of funding charity projects in Lebanon
Transformational Diplomacy
GENDER
Campaign on Women
Human Rights
Defenders Early marriage poses development challenge in Yemen
Emirati women move into stock market
Iraqi woman blogger longlisted for prestigious literary award
Investing in Reproductive Health to Achieve Development Goals: The Middle
East and NorthAfrica Jordanian women face an unequal fight for equal rights
Jordan Rejects Amendment of Personal Status Law
Kuwait's first woman candidate breaks taboos in campaign
Lack of protection for Lebanese women's rights fuels sex trade, say women's
groups
Launching of the Silent Witness Project in Lebanon
Libya denies women held in 'de facto' prisons
New Challenges for the Palestinian Women’s Movement
NGO warns of rise in violence against women in Iraq
Palestinian Women Responsibilities… Challenges
Statistics on Women in Politics in the Arab World
Saudi Dialogue on Women's Rights
Toward a more authentic vision of female beauty
Women's battle for equal custody continues
HURRIYAT
Coptic Church
rejects court order on remarrying divorcees Iraq: Thousands Demonstrate
Against Sectarian Violence in Baghdad, Mosul Human Rights activist presses
for freedom of speech Lebanese on first official tour of Palestinian camps
Syria's Internet serves as platform for dissent
ICT
Arab entry to wired
age slowed by technical shortfalls, sluggish market
Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunication: Conditions ripe for selling off
telecom sector
NGOs
Muslim Aid-Serving
Humanity
The General Union of Palestinian Women
The Women’s Affairs Centre
POLITICS & ECONOMY
Can social,
economic reform in Lebanon comes in from the cold while talks continue?
Cairo resists U.S. effort to attach strings to trade deal
Egypt to lift emergency laws
Feltman: Lebanon is 'living on borrowed time' economically
Fatah to collect Palestinian arms in Lebanon's refugee camps
Hush-hush 5-year rescue plan launched
Hind Hariri is world's youngest billionaire
Lebanon's poultry sector shrinks by 50 percent
Lebanon's food industry making headway
Marrakesh conference eyes Euro-Med economic integration
NEF Credit Funds Cut Thru Frustration, Even Paralysis, So Sudanese Can Help
Themselves
Siniora seeks EU support for Lebanon's 'ambitious' reform plans
Prominent Lebanese and Arabs dot Forbes list of world's richest
$60 million fund to focus on smaller businesses
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Are the Millennium
Development Goals Achievable?
Christian Aid in Iraq-fulfiling the Hope of Iraqi
Medical aid group brings care to Palestinian camps in Lebanon
NGOs in Iraq call for reconciliation, National unity and an end to the
violence (March 13, 2006) The poverty lurking in Beirut's suburbs
UN launches tougher human rights body
YOUTH & CHILDREN
A terrible war is
being waged on Iraqi children
Protection demanded for homeless youths
Young Arabs want stricter gun control regulations, study finds
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
CULTURE
Conference Report: Culture in the Euro-Mediterranean Space
DEMOCRACY
Democratization in the Middle East Book Review
EDUCATION
Education to Which End? Gender inequality in the Palestinian education system
FAIR TRADE
Human rights and world trade agreements:
using general exception clauses to protect
human rights
GENDER
Girls' Education: A Worldwide
Snapshot Liberalization, Gender, and Livelihoods: the cashew nut case,
(Mozambique Phase 1) The Gender of Democracy: The Link between Women's
Rights and Democratization in the Middle East The World's Women 2005:
Progress in Statistics Women and Strategies for Change: An Egyptian Model -
By Diane Singerman Women's Political Status in the GCC States - By Ebtisam
Al Kitbi Women in Islamist Parties: The Case of Jordan's Islamic Action
Front -By Janine Clark
RESOURCES
GENDER
The Gender,
Institutions and Development Data Base
Development e-Brief receives and comprises of material from various sources for its publication. Should you wish to refer to these sources/ sites directly, the list includes publications from: AVIVA, www.aviva.org , AWID: www.awid.org , Democracy Digest: www.freedomhouse.org , Development Gateway: www.developmentgatway.org , Dignity: www.dignity.org , e-Civicus: www.civicus.org , Eldis: www.eldis.org , ESCWA: www.escwa.org.lb , GDB: www.developmentex.com , Global Knowledge Partnership: www.globalknowledge.org , IGTN: www.IGTN.org , ILO: www.ilo.org One World: www.oneworld.net , Siyanda: www.siyanda.org , The Daily Star: www.dailystar.com.lb , The Drum Beat: www.comminit.com , The Soul Beat: www.comminit.com , The World Bank: www.worldbank.org , UNDP: www.undp.org , Wicejilist: www.wicej.addr.com , WLP: www.learningpartnership.org
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
GENDER
Anti-abortion laws a ‘silent war against women’
Calls for abortion laws across Africa to be revised dominated a meeting in Ethiopia - the ‘Regional Consultation on Unsafe Abortion in Africa’. Abortion is prohibited in most African countries, except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. This four-day conference, which ended on 23 March, was organised by Ipas and the Guttmacher Institute, both NGOs based in the United States. The result is that women who are desperate to end unwanted pregnancies often turn to back street abortionists where they may have their uteruses punctured, sustain heavy bleeding, or succumb to infections that can - in turn - lead to death. For more information, visit
www.ipsterraviva.net/Europe/article.aspx?id=3131
st International
Congress on Islamic Feminism
Barcelona, Spain - October 2005
Junta Islàmica Catalana organized this meeting, which for three days
(October 27-29th, 2005)
assembled over 400 delegates in Barcelona. The Congress heard from women
fighting for their
rights and working in very difficult conditions against the implementation,
in the name of Islam,
of highly sexist and discriminatory family codes of behaviour. For more
info:
www.feminismeislamic.org/eng/congress.htm
NEWS
CULTURE
Aleppo begins its stint as Arab world's capital of Islamic culture
Hundreds of Arab and foreign personalities gathered in the Syrian city of Aleppo Saturday for the opening ceremony at the start of its year as the Arab world's capital of Islamic culture for 2006. Yemeni, Sudanese and Palestinian ministers of culture were present for the event, including Culture Minister Riad Naasan Agha and…
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=23096
ENVIRONMENT
Citizens in Lebanon urged to protect natural reserves
The Environment Ministry has responded to a proposal by the Lebanese Environment Forum to declare March 10 a national day for protecting natural reserves, as a reminder to the public of natural reserves' importance. In a statement, the LEF highlighted the success of reserves in preserving various forests that constitute a natural resource.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=22827
EDUCATION
Illiteracy rife among rural Egyptian girls
and women
Nesma and a group of fellow women
farm workers sit out in the midday sun after a morning of harvesting spinach
leaves from plush green fields in Fayyoum governorate in Lower Egypt, 80
kilometers south of Cairo.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=22892
Plan to reorganize Lebanese University faces opposition
A large group of Lebanese University academics discussed on Friday a proposal for a draft law to reorganize the state-owned Lebanese University and promote its "leading role as a guarantor of national unity" amid waves of opposition to the proposal.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=23227
FOREIGN AID
EU, Arab lawmakers warn of chaos if aid to
Palestinians is cut
Cutting aid to the Palestinians, on
top of Israel's refusal to hand over tax revenue, could lead to chaos as the
local economy cannot meet the population's basic needs, European and Arab
lawmakers warned on Monday. Lawmakers are "alarmed at the chaos that could
result from the lack of support and the illegal withholding of revenue to
which.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=23272
U.S. philanthropists visit with aim of funding charity projects in Lebanon
American entrepreneurs and philanthropists are "optimistic" about funding and participating in future charitable projects in Lebanon. Eleven members of the Global Philanthropist Circle (GPC) on Tuesday wrapped up a four-day visit to Beirut, during which they met with local entrepreneurs, philanthropists, scholars and media representatives.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23147
Transformational Diplomacy
The
United States Department of State is in the process of redefining its
mission, and has coined the term "transformational diplomacy" to indicate
the new directions. Some excepts from Secretary Rice's January speech
(http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/59306
...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/poverty/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058664?intcmp=700
GENDER
Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders
In June 2005, following a request from
the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), Women Living under Muslim Laws
WLUML issued an international alert in support of women’s rights campaigner
Ms. Ghada Jamsheer, who faced three trials f or publicly criticizing family
court judges and, if convicted, f aced up to 15 y ears in prison. Ms.
Jamsheer is the head of the Committee of Women’s Petition (CWP), a network
of Bahraini women activists campaigning for the codification of Bahrain’s
family laws and the reform of Shari’a Family Courts. For more info:
http://www.wluml.org/english/actions.shtml
Early marriage poses development challenge in Yemen
Samira was married to a Yemeni cousin at the age of 15 and had her first child the following year. "It's normal to marry at age 12 in my village," she said, "and you can't choose the man you're going to live with."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23316
Emirati women move into stock market
About a dozen veiled women, some with only their eyes visible, stare at a large flat screen flashing stock prices inside a female-only dealing room at the Dubai bourse. Motivated by a desire to make some quick money, share their husbands' passion for stocks or simply fill in time, many housewives in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=23307
Iraqi woman blogger longlisted for prestigious literary award
An anonymous Iraqi woman was nominated Monday as a contender for a major literary award for her Internet blog-based account of the Iraq war and its deadly impact on ordinary Iraqi people.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23284
Investing in Reproductive Health to Achieve Development Goals: The Middle East and North Africa
This PRB policy brief outlines how prioritizing women's reproductive health at a national level would help accelerate progress in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. By: Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi and Lori ... http://topics.developmentgateway.org/population/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058465?intcmp=700
Jordanian women face an unequal fight for equal rights
During the past 10 years, there have been several attempts to amend laws related to the rights of women in Jordan in order to enhance their status and social and economic role, and protect them from violations and violence, including what are known as "honor crimes." http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=22919
Jordan Rejects Amendment of Personal Status Law
Jordan's lower house of parliament in June again rejected amendments to the personal status law introduced by former Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb. The main disagreements among legislators centered on whether to allow women the right to divorce, to require the judiciary to inform women of their husbands' decision to remarry, and to raise the age of marriage to 18. for more information:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1589#statuslaw
Kuwait's first woman candidate breaks taboos in campaign
The first woman ever to contest elections in Kuwait has launched her campaign by breaking a 44-year-old taboo in bringing male and female voters together. Hundreds of men and women attended the landmark event late Tuesday which was held according to Kuwaiti tradition in a huge tent where they listened.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23154
Lack of protection for Lebanese women's rights fuels sex trade, say women's groups
Violence, powerlessness and social marginalization are common themes in the stories of the roughly 50 current and former sex workers who are now seeking help at Dar al-Amal, which means "House of Hope". The centre provides moral support, medical services, literacy courses and legal advice. For more information:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/745ce318509d216c5a1ec
Launching of the Silent Witness Project in Lebanon
KAFA, “Enough Violence and Exploitation" organization chose the 8th of March, 2006, for launching the Silent Witness project in Lebanon. On this date thirty silhouettes were displayed in the UNESCO Palace in Beirut. Each silhouette carried the story of a woman who was killed by the hand of a family member in Lebanon, and the date she was killed. For more information:
Libya denies women held in 'de facto' prisons
A Libyan Justice Ministry official has denied a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that the authorities were arbitrarily detaining women and girls indefinitely in "de facto prisons." Libya rejects any discrimination against women, the official said late Wednesday, adding that it was protecting them against practices which the government wanted to eradicate.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=22636
New Challenges for the Palestinian Women’s Movement
The Palestinian women’s movement has faced numerous challenges since the beginning of the twentieth century, when women became an organic component of the national struggle and their activism became part of the heritage of our national movement. In each stage of the struggle, women have faced different challenges, expressed in different forms. For more information:
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=1635&ed=112
NGO warns of rise in violence against women in Iraq
A Baghdad-based NGO, the Woman Freedom Organisation (WFO), has warned that incidents of violence against women in Iraq have increased in frequency since the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation of the country. For more information, see
www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52145&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ
Palestinian Women Responsibilities… Challenges
A survey of the history of the Palestinian women’s movement since the beginning of the previous century illustrates clearly the permanent intersection between feminism and the national agenda. The feminist agenda was expressed through several means such as charitable societies in which women were widely involved. Towards the beginning of the ninth decade, a feminist identity emerged based on gender equity. For more information:
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=1638&ed=112
Statistics on Women in Politics in the Arab World
Click here for detailed charts showing the number of women in parliament and in ministerial positions across the Arab world, and the dates when Arab countries gave women the right to vote. Or log on into: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/pdf/files/arb-07-04-tableone.pdf
Saudi Dialogue on Women's Rights
The King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue in Saudi Arabia held a June 12-15 conference to discuss women's "legitimate rights and duties" in society. Attended by seventy participants including female academics, writers, and journalists, the meeting was the third in a series of conferences intended "to build and enhance a culture of dialogue in Saudi society."
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1589#dialoge
Toward a more authentic vision of female beauty
When Tala Barrage was a kid, she used to watch her mother prepare for evenings out, getting dressed and putting on makeup. "When she was ready, she always looked perfect," says Barrage, a 46-year-old interior designer who was born in Lebanon and currently lives in the U.K. For Barrage, her mother defined the very notion of beauty itself.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=22945
Women's battle for equal custody continues
Holly Butchyk-Trabulsy keeps the clay
statues her two boys made for her last Mother's Day on a shelf in her house,
along with an illustrated book they wrote entitled "What my Mother Means to
me." "It's hard because there's something missing; when Mother's Day comes
this year, it won't be easy," she said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=23112
HURRIYAT
Coptic Church rejects court order on
remarrying divorcees
The head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox
Church has strongly rejected a court order obliging the Church to let
followers remarry after obtaining a civil divorce, the semi-official
Al-Akhbar reported Friday. "Granting divorces falls within the jurisdiction
of the court, but it has no authority to carry out marriages," Pope Shenuda
III told the paper.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23034
Iraq: Thousands Demonstrate Against Sectarian Violence in Baghdad, Mosul
More than 2,500 demonstrators of different religious and ethnic backgrounds filled the streets of Mosul and Baghdad, to protest the sectarian violence that has caused hundreds of deaths in the past three weeks in Iraq. The peaceful demonstrations on 14 March were...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/culture/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058937?intcmp=700
Human Rights activist presses for freedom of speech
Attorney and human rights activist Mohammad Mugraby held a news conference Thursday at Liberty House in Beirut to clarify the circumstances behind his referral to the Beirut Military Court for allegedly "defaming the military establishment and its officers" by a testimony given to the European Parliament in November 2003.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23202
Lebanese on first official tour of Palestinian camps
In the first occasion of its kind, three Lebanese ministers toured Palestinian refugee camps Friday in the capital and in South Lebanon, where they inspected the refugees' living conditions in an attempt to improve their situation.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23242
Syria's Internet serves as platform for dissent
Syria's Internet has emerged as the vehicle for the bold voice of dissent in Damascus, where the state regularly exercises censorship and stifles domestic criticism. The electronic media has pushed the envelope of what is acceptable but at a heavy price.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23952
ICT
Arab entry to wired age slowed by
technical shortfalls, sluggish market
The Arab world is lagging behind in
the digital revolution, with Internet users making up less than four percent
of the population, according to participants in a telecommunications
development conference in Doha. "The Arab presence on the Internet is almost
zilch ... not more than a few websites providing information or personal
sites.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=22851
Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunication: Conditions ripe for selling off telecom sector
Political circumstances and market conditions are ripe for privatization of the telecom sector in Lebanon but the government will not sell the money-spinning sector at any price, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade said Friday. "Even President Emile Lahoud would not object to privatization if the amount offered was reasonable.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23047
NGOs
Muslim Aid-Serving Humanity
"Whoever saved a life, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind" (Qur'an 5:32). Through generous donations and legacy contributions, Muslim Aid has helped save and improve the lives of millions of people in 50 of the poorest countries around the ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/aideffectiveness/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058779?intcmp=700
The General Union of Palestinian Women
The tumultuous events that marked the history of Palestine during the 20th century placed a great burden of responsibility upon Palestinian women, as guardians of the fabric of a society beleaguered by successive onslaughts of foreign domination and occupation. To know about the general Union of Palestinian Women, visit:
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=1627&ed=112
The Women’s Affairs Centre
The Women’s Affairs Centre (WAC) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization mainly concerned with improving the role of women in Palestinian society, particularly in the Gaza Strip. Its activities focus on empowering women to enable them to take an increasingly active part in professional and leadership roles in society, including politics and to influence policies discussed and enacted by the Palestinian National Authority, including interaction with members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). For more information:
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=1630&ed=1
POLITICS &
ECONOMY
Can social, economic reform in Lebanon comes in from the cold while talks continue?
The national dialogue is in a state of flux. Some important breakthroughs have been achieved in recent weeks; other differences seem intractable. This reality reinforces the urgent need for the political elite to turn its attention to the long-awaited social and economic reforms, irrespective of the political fluctuations that have hindered development in Lebanon before.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23257
Cairo resists U.S. effort to attach strings to trade deal
Egypt said Thursday that talks on a free-trade agreement with the United States can be launched only if Washington stops attaching political strings to the deal. "Trade relations should not be tied to any other circumstances, political or otherwise," Foreign Trade Minister Rashid Mohammed Rashid said after talks with visiting U.S. Commerce.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=22626
Egypt to lift emergency laws
Egypt plans to lift 25-year-old emergency laws granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention that critics have long claimed are used against opponents of the government. Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif announced the move in a speech to Parliament late Wednesday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23190
Feltman: Lebanon is 'living on borrowed time' economically
U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman addressed members of the American-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) about the active role the business community must take in economic and political reform during a luncheon at the Phoenicia Intercontinental Hotel on Tuesday.Finance Minister Jihad Azour also attended the luncheon
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23321
Fatah to collect Palestinian arms in Lebanon's refugee camps
Fatah's chief in Lebanon said Sunday his Palestinian faction would round up weapons from refugee camps amid growing calls for militias in the country to be disbanded. "We have decided to collect all the weapons we possess, including individual arms, and put them in secure places (inside the camps).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23089
Hush-hush 5-year rescue plan launched
The Cabinet will review tomorrow the first draft of the five-year economic program which is aimed at slashing the public debt and stimulating the economy. Apart from privatizing telecoms, the program calls for raising value added tax (VAT) gradually from 10 percent to 15 percent and introducing a unified tax system.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=22983
Hind Hariri is world's youngest billionaire
Late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's daughter Hind Hariri became the youngest billionaire in the world after inheriting $1.4 billion of her father's massive fortune, according to Forbes magazine. The 22-year-old Hind graduated last June from the Lebanese American University. She campaigned for her brother Saad in the last parliamentary election.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=22880
Lebanon's poultry sector shrinks by 50 percent
Lebanon's poultry market has shrunk by 50 percent since January due to the widespread and largely unfounded popular fear that avian flu has reached Lebanon, despite official assurances to the contrary.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23320
Lebanon's food industry making headway
Lebanon perennially posts the worst trade deficit in the Levant region excluding Palestine, due to the huge disparity between annual export revenues - $1.782 billion in 2004 - and import expenditures - $8.885 billion.Part of the solution to the country's economic woes lies in developing a regionally and internationally competitive export sector.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23197
Marrakesh conference eyes Euro-Med economic integration
Last November representatives of Heads of State and Government from the EU and the Mediterranean countries met in Barcelona to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Euromed Process. Since the launch of the Barcelona Process in 1995, the EU has moved significantly closer to its Mediterranean partners. We have found constructive ways.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=23216
NEF Credit Funds Cut Thru Frustration, Even Paralysis, So Sudanese Can Help Themselves
To provide access to credit for low-income people in Sudan, NEF has established a network of community-based credit funds in both urban and rural communities in selected areas across the country. To date, 16 funds are operational, providing loans ranging from $ ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059079?intcmp=700
Siniora seeks EU support for Lebanon's 'ambitious' reform plans
Premier Fouad Siniora asked for "commensurate" support from the European Union during a speech covering Lebanon's "ambitious" economic reform plan and national dialogue before the Council of EU Foreign Ministers in Belgium on Monday. "We hope the support from the EU will be commensurate with our ambitious reform plan," Siniora said. For more information:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23113
Prominent Lebanese and Arabs dot Forbes list of world's richest
Many prominent Lebanese and Arabs were on the 2005 list of the 793 richest people in the world released by the U.S. business magazine Forbes. Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates remained the richest man in the world with a $50 billion fortune. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Alsaud fell from fifth in 2004 to eighth in 2005.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=22867
$60 million fund to focus on smaller businesses
The Capital Trust Group (CTG), a multi-national private equity firm, announced the creation of the EuroMena fund on Friday at a ceremony attended by Lebanese Economic Minister Sami Haddad. The fund will invest in mid-cap private sector companies from across the MENA region, in industries with regional and international growth potential.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=22868
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Are the Millennium Development Goals Achievable?
The deadline set for achieving the MDGs was 2015, and since the millennium, governments, donors, the private sector and NGOs, have been working towards this aim. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, countries are lagging far behind the targets including in Sub-Saharan Africa where the least progress has been made compared to any other region. For more information, see http://allafrica.com/stories/200603080227.html
Christian Aid in Iraq-fulfiling the Hope of Iraqi
Christian Aid's work in this region is focused on working with communities to secure basic rights for people, regardless of gender, age, religion or ethnic background. This rights-based approach concentrates on the basics we all need for life, such as enough water ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/aideffectiveness/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058603?intcmp=700
Medical aid group brings care to Palestinian camps in Lebanon
Palestinians living in Lebanon's refugee camps will be provided with unprecedented medical services this week when, all across the country, a group of international surgeons and doctors will offer open-heart surgeries and other medical assistance at no cost to their patients. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23178
NGOs in Iraq call for reconciliation, National unity and an end to the
violence (March 13, 2006)
NGOs in Iraq would like to remind all concerned that aid workers are present in the country to save lives of the local population and support Iraq_s recovery, not to be targeted. At least 50 other aid workers have been killed since 2003.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ngo/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058728?intcmp=700
The poverty lurking in Beirut's suburbs
Beirut's impressive Downtown district reflects much of the wealth and development that Lebanon has enjoyed since the end of the Civil War in 1990. But a few minutes' drive to the capital's southern and northern fringes reveals a vastly different reality, featuring extreme poverty and underdevelopment.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=23169
UN launches tougher human rights body
The 60-year-old UN Human Rights Commission was due to bow out Monday to make way for a streamlined council that activists hope will be sprightlier in tackling abuse. The 53 states in the Human Rights Commission were holding their final session before the 47 freshly elected members of a new Human Rights Council take over on June 19.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23280
YOUTH & CHILDREN
A terrible war is being waged on Iraqi
children
Iraq's children have suffered more
than just successive wars and economic sanctions. The loss of parents and
family resources has boosted child labor, homelessness, and inclinations
toward violence and rebellion. Children often now live in homes where 25
people live in a space of 40 square meters. Even intact families may
comprise parents and five children in a single six-meter room. For more
information:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=22840
Protection demanded for homeless youths
An education official Wednesday described a neglect of duty among authorities to provide for the city's homeless children. "The continued presence of children living on the streets reflects a failure by authorities to provide any means of protection for them in Lebanon," Secretary General of the Higher Council for Childhood Elie Mikhael said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=23175
Young Arabs want stricter gun control regulations, study finds
Young Lebanese, Palestinians and Sudanese want tougher gun-control regulations, a survey by a group of NGOs revealed. The findings of the study, which was conducted over the last six months by the Middle East North Africa Network on Small Arms (MENSAA), an umbrella group of Arab NGOs concerned with the misuse and proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=22645
REPORTS &
BOOKS & ARTICLES
CULTURE
Conference Report: Culture in the
Euro-Mediterranean Space
This report includes summaries,
comments, and results from the conference on Culture in the
Euro-Mediterranean Space, held in Barcelona in November 2005. The conference
was one of several events celebrated within the framework of the 10th
anniversary of the Barcelona ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/culture/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059047?intcmp=700
DEMOCRACY
Democratization in the Middle East Book
Review
The book Democratization in the Middle
East, Dilemmas and Perspectives, by Julie Dyer & Michel Tavir, comprises a
collection of papers which were originally presented at a Plum Foundation
sponsored conference held in Copenhagen in February 2005. The volume is ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ngo/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059167?intcmp=700
EDUCATION
Education to Which End? Gender inequality
in the Palestinian education system
Palestinians were always proud of
their achievements in education. As a substitute of their loss of land and
livelihood, investment in education was a major asset during the seventies
and eighties of the last century. However, issues of quality and equality of
education are still at the core of the education debate in Palestine For
more information:
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=1633&ed=112
FAIR TRADE
Human rights and world trade agreements: using general exception
clauses to protect human rights
This paper examines ways of reconciling trade and human rights law
through the use of general exception clauses in WTO trade agreements. It
demonstrates how three specific exceptions-allowing States to take measures
to protect public morals, human life or health, and public order-could be
relevant to human rights. More information:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC21247
GENDER
Girls' Education: A Worldwide Snapshot
103 million children of primary school
age are not in school; 58 million are girls. Two-thirds of illiterate adults
are women. In a typical developing country, giving girls 1 additional year
of schooling would save as many as 60,000 children's lives.
http://www.comminit.com/baseline/baseline2006/baseline-486.html
Liberalization, Gender, and Livelihoods: the cashew nut case, (Mozambique Phase 1)
As part of a research series, this paper examines the effects of economic liberalisation on poverty reduction and gender equality. The research focuses on the cashew sectors in northern Mozambique, explores the different positions of women and men in the cashew sector - ie. In production, processing and commercialization - and explores how women and men respond to policy changes and interventions. Available online:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC21260
The Gender of Democracy: The Link between Women's Rights and Democratization in the Middle East – By Valentine M. Moghadam The empowerment of women and the establishment of gender equality are crucial to democracy. Democracy is as much about citizenship rights, participation and inclusion as it is about political parties, elections, and checks and balances.
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1589#gender
The World's Women 2005: Progress in Statistics
This report uniquely focuses on national reporting of sex disaggregated statistics in demographics, health, education, work, violence against women, poverty, human rights and decision-making.This is the fourth World_s Women report since 1991. The previous three ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058780?intcmp=700
Women and Strategies for Change: An Egyptian Model - By Diane Singerman
Quite apart from international efforts to "rescue" women in the Middle East, female activists in Arab countries have been toiling for decades for reforms that achieve concrete gains for women. Recently, certain efforts have borne fruit through the use of pragmatic, coalition-building strategies that take advantage of the expanded political space available in some countries. Egypt offers a model of this approach. To know more:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1589#fate
Women's Political Status in the GCC States -By Ebtisam Al Kitbi A survey of women's political status in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states shows that in some countries women have recently made considerable progress toward formal equality of political rights, but in others they have not. To know more:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1589#GCC
Women in Islamist Parties: The Case of Jordan's Islamic Action Front -By Janine Clark The role of women in Jordan's Islamic Action Front (IAF) party challenges the stereotype of the Arab world's Islamist parties as inherently "anti-women," but also reveals the party's ambivalence toward women's political participation.
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1589#jordan
RESOURCES
GENDER
The Gender, Institutions and Development
Data Base
The Gender, Institutions, and
Development Data Base (GID) represents a new tool for researchers and policy
makers to determine and analyse obstacles to women_s economic development.
It covers a total of 162 countries and comprises an array of 50 indicators
on gender ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058262?intcmp=700
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