Category: Freedom of expression

LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND Towards Inclusive Citizenship in Arab Countries

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 15 June 2021

Arab Human Development Report

LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND
Towards Inclusive Citizenship in Arab Countries
Research Paper published for the United Nations Development Programme – Regional Bureau for Arab States

Authors: Adel Abdellatif, Paola Pagliani and Ellen Hsu

Introduction
Building inclusive societies has been a challenge in Arab countries, and the limitations in inclusion have become more acute since 2011, as the relationship between citizens and the state — and among various social
groups — has deteriorated in some countries.
Despite different governance structures, all Arab countries manifest serious fault lines in modern notions of citizenship.
The starting point of this paper is that the Arab region’s human development fault lines have grown more complex since 2011 — and deepened in several countries. Today many people live insecure lives, more people live under persistent pressures that inhibit them from realizing their potential as human beings, and too many lives are cut short as armed conflicts take their grim toll. If the ongoing conflicts are not resolved and demographic projections of faster population growth in crisis countries are realized, 40 percent of the people in Arab countries will live in crisis and conflict in 2030, when the SDGs should be achieved.
Achieving the SDGs in Arab countries thus requires addressing the most debilitating development problems related to citizenship in a region where the relations between the state and society remain deeply fraught and
contested amid political, social and economic fragility.
Given the importance of understanding, and potentially explaining, manifestations of exclusion and inequality, the link between citizenship and human development needs to be further explored.

Document: arab-hdr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/UNDP_Citizenship_and_SDGs_report_web.pdf

Source: www.hdr.undp.org/en

Europe and the Mediterranean Focus Freedom of expression Human rights, identity and citizenship Mediterranean and Middle East Social inclusion and fight against discriminations

The EU’s Democracy, Human Rights and Resilience Discourse and Its Contestation

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 15 June 2021

Authors: Pacello, Maria Cristina, Huber Daniela, Kerrou M., Nouira A

Introduction

The paper will first provide a background analysis, based on a critical review of the discourses of the EU and other key international and regional players, discursive positions of civil society actors (including at this stage only documents produced by civil
society networks which span the Mediterranean) and the academic discourse. The aim is not only to de-construct the EU’s own discourse on democracy, human rights and now resilience; it also juxtaposes it to the discourse of other top-down and bottom-up actors. The academic
discourse produced in Europe takes a specific role in this overall picture as it generally sits within the larger EU discourse, even though a critical literature is emerging which resists this discourse. It is to this latter literature that this work package seeks to contribute. The second
and third parts of this paper, therefore, depart from the Euro-centrism of the literature in two ways. First, the second part gives an introductory overview on the central role played by civil society in the Arab uprisings and beyond. Unfortunately, very little is known in the literature
about how individual and civil society actors based in the four country case studies perceive their own role in their countries and which political ideas they are promoting for their countries.
The third part of this paper, therefore, outlines a methodology aimed at filling this gap by conducting discourse analysis of relevant documents produced by a selected number of civil society actors in such countries, and conducting recursive interviews with these stakeholders.

Document: iris.unive.it/retrieve/handle/10278/3701654/149195/medreset_cp_4.pdf

Europe and the Mediterranean Freedom of expression Immigration Social inclusion and fight against discriminations Socio-economic issues and migrations

Mobility Policies in the Mediterranean

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 16 May 2021

Title: The EU’S Migration, Asylum and Mobility Policies in the Mediterranean

This MEDRESET Policy Brief summarizes the findings of MEDRESET’s WP7 on migration, mobility and asylum in the Mediterranean and identifies policy implications.

Introduction

Migration, asylum and mobility represent an increasingly contentious field of governance in Euro-Mediterranean relations. In the Mediterranean area, cooperation in this policy field has long been characterized by fundamental divergences of interests and approaches, not only between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, or between (predominantly) sending, transit and receiving countries, but also among institutional and civil society actors on both sides of the Mediterranean.

MEDRESET Work Package 7 (WP7) was aimed: firstly, at developing a deeper knowledge of the diverse perceptions and priorities of different stakeholders with regard to migration; secondly, at evaluating the EU’s policies and role in the field of migration, mobility and asylum in the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEM) region from the viewpoint of grassroots actors, at both the local and the EU level; and thirdly, at formulating a set of policy recommendations that reflect the perspective of civil societystakeholders, especially from SEM countries, with the purpose of innovating the governance of migration in the Mediterranean.

By adopting a non-Eurocentric approach, and based on extensive empirical research, WP7 found that the EU’s discourse in the migration policy field is informed by two dominant frames – unilateralism and securitization – which translate into largely Eurocentric, securitizing and conditionality-based policies and practices. Moreover, WP7 found that, despite the existence of country-specific issues and different migration policy agendas in the Maghreb and the Middle East, SEM stakeholders in the four target countries (Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey) share a common perception of EU migration policies as abusively and inappropriately restrictive and ineffective, elaborated in a unilateral way and imposed through unbalanced power relations.

With a high level of consensus among themselves, they recommend that the EU radically change its approach to Euro-Mediterranean relations and to migration governance in particular, in order to make it less Eurocentric and security-oriented, and more inclusive, balanced and responsive.

This policy brief describes, firstly, how stakeholders perceive the Mediterranean space and EU practices in it, and, secondly, which alternative policies they recommend.

Document: www.iai.it/sites/default/files/medreset_pb_5.pdf

En arabe: www.iai.it/sites/default/files/medreset_pb_5_ar.pdf

Source: www.iai.it

Cordis: cordis.europa.eu/project/id/693055/it

Africa and the Mediterranean Conflicts Freedom of expression Gender equality Human rights, identity and citizenship Social inclusion and fight against discriminations Socio-economic issues and migrations

Women and Gender in the Middle East and North Africa: Mapping the Field and Addressing Policy Dilemmas at the Post-2011 Juncture

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 12 May 2021

Title: Women and Gender in the Middle East and North Africa: Mapping the Field and Addressing Policy Dilemmas at the Post-2011 Juncture

Author: Katerina Dalacoura

This report offers a “map” of the diverse situations of women in the post-2011 MENA region. It shows that there have been tremendous achievements and improvements in the lives of women in health and education but less progress in employment; and that legal inequalities remain widespread, as do limitations on women’s participation in politics and civil society. The report analyses the impact of recent events, particularly the conflicts, but also the political opportunities that came about as a result of the 2011 Arab uprisings. It also touches on the situation of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) individuals, and specifically their mobilization and changing attitudes towards their rights. The report ends by focusing on Western gender policy in the region. It argues for an approach that balances the ethical demands of individual and collective rights, and for a liberal position that respects and supports women’s and LGBT rights without being overly prescriptive about the values and choices that should govern the lives of individuals.

Document: https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/menara_fr_3.pdf

Source: www.iai.it

Conflicts Focus Freedom of expression Gender equality Human rights, identity and citizenship Mediterranean and Middle East Social inclusion and fight against discriminations Youth and the Mediterranean

Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity and Power (1994)

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 10 May 2021

Authors: Fatma Müge Göçek & Shiva Balaghi

Employing a broad, interdisciplinary perspective on gender relations, « Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East » questions long-standing stereotypes about the traditional subordination of women in the region. With essays on gender construction in Iran, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, and the Occupied Territories, this collection offers a wide-ranging exploration of tradition, identity, and power in different parts of the Middle East. Seeking to overcome monolithic Western notions of women’s life in « the traditional society, » the essays in Part I reexamine the assumption that such societies leave little room for female participation. Part II focuses on the reconstruction of identities by women in Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the Occupied Territories.The authors examine the complex variables that contribute to the development of identities – including gender, class, and ethnicity – in various Middle Eastern societies, questioning whether certain identities are more important to women than others. These essays also look at the issue of group identity formation versus the autonomy of the individual. Part III looks at the relationship between gender and power in everyday life in Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Morocco, showing how power relations are constantly contested and renegotiated among family members and members of a community, between nations and between men and women. With its collection of enlightened and diverse contemporary perspectives on women in the Middle East, « Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East » is an important work that will have significant impact on the way we look at gender in traditional societies.

Document: https://books.google.it/books?hl=it&lr=&id=RIDouVTcz10C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=identity+middle+east&ots=Fs5DZwBKgQ&sig=5dDiPVzrUizImoBdKfQQBuX4BBA#v=onepage&q=identity%20middle%20east&f=false

Environment and climate change Europe and the Mediterranean Focus Freedom of expression Gender equality Human rights, identity and citizenship Immigration Social inclusion and fight against discriminations Socio-economic issues and migrations Youth and the Mediterranean

Trends in Mediterranean Inequalities 1950-2015

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 10 May 2021

Authors: Vittorio Daniele e Paolo Malanima (University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the trends of economic, social and political inequality among the Mediterranean countries in the period 1950-2015. After the examination of the inequalities in GDP per capita among and within nations, we present a human development index (HDI) that includes a measure of democratic achievements. The main result is that inequalities in income, after the rise from the 1950s onwards, declined from the start of the twenty-first century. Inequalities in HDI, instead, constantly diminished in the period under examination, while a process of democratization occurred. On the whole, despite the convergence among Mediterranean countries, economic inequalities are much deeper than those in social and political indicators.

Document: mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/78324/1/MPRA_paper_78324.pdf

UNCHR data on refugees in the Mediterranean area

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 10 May 2021

Le portail des données opérationnelles (ODP) a été créé en 2011 pour permettre au HCR de se charger de la responsabilité institutionnelle de fournir une plate-forme de partage d’informations et de données pour faciliter la coordination des urgences de réfugiés. Ceci a été réalisé en utilisant des «vues de situation» indépendantes couvrant les urgences majeures telles que la situation en Syrie ou l’urgence en République centrafricaine et la région méditerranéenne, entre autres.

Link: data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean

Focus Freedom of expression Gender equality Human rights, identity and citizenship Social inclusion and fight against discriminations Socio-economic issues and migrations

A Social History Of Women And Gender In The Modern Middle East (1999)

Post author By Veronica Flora
Post date 10 May 2021

Auteurs: Margaret Lee Meriwether, Judith Tucker

In this important new work, Margaret Meriwether and Judith Tucker synthesize and make accessible the results of the extensive research on women and gender done over the last twenty years. Using new theoretical approaches and methodologies as well as nontraditional sources, scholars studying women and gender issues in Middle Eastern societies have made great progress in shedding light on these complex subjects. A Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East provides an overview of this scholarship on women and gender in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Middle East.The book is organized along thematic lines that reflect major focuses of research in this area, gender and work, gender and the state, gender and law, gender and religion, and feminist movements, and each chapter is written by a scholar who has done original research on the topic. Although structured around the individual author’s own work, the chapters also include overviews and assessments of other research, highlights of ongoing debates and key issues, and comparisons across regions of the Middle East. An insightful introduction centers the various chapters around key theoretical, methodological, and historical issues and makes connections with other areas of social historical research on the Middle East and with research on gender and women’s history in other parts of the world.Although there are many studies available on women and gender, A Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East provides a breadth of coverage and assessment of the field that is not found elsewhere.

Document: books.google.it/books?hl=it&lr=&id=4QHFDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=gender+studies+middle+east&ots=WTj0Xa99Wh&sig=Q58Yw0H1EnTrS-kwbNemKGt1A3k#v=onepage&q=gender%20studies%20middle%20east&f=false