“Political Empowerment of Youth: Basic Concepts” Booklet by Al-Wadi Al Jadeed
December 3, 2012
For over a year, Al-Wadi al-Jadid Association for Social Development in Taiz, Yemen has worked to build the capacity of 41 youth from Taiz in leadership skills, human rights norms, and political participation as part of its project, “Political Empowerment of Marginalized Yemeni Youth at the Local Government Level in Taiz.” The youth were primarily from the marginalized Al-Akhdam group that makes up roughly 6% of the country’s population and is confined to menial jobs with little government representation. Attempts to build relationships between youth and local decision-makers have resulted in the creations of a Local Youth Council, which receives the support of the Governor of Taiz.
As part of the project, al-Wadi al- Jadid produced 1,000 copies of the booklet “Political Empowerment of Youth: Basic Concepts” for distribution to its trainees, youth activists, CSOs, and national and local government officials. The booklet explains the project’s objectives and activities, describes the basic concepts of political empowerment and participation in society, the local and international legal basis for citizen and youth rights, and a summary of Yemeni government institutions. Please click here to read more (AR).
Grantees Condemn Attacks on Gaza
November 22, 2012
On November 14th, 2012, Israeli forces assassinated Ahmed al-Ja’abari, the head of Hamas’ military wing, and building tensions between the two sides bubbled over into a war that has claimed over 150 lives thus far. The Foundation for the Future is relieved to see that Israel and Hamas have recently agreed to a ceasefire, but in the past few days, has received a multitude of press releases from concerned grantee organizations, civil society partners, and friends throughout the region. Of our grantees, Maat in Egypt, Samir Kassir Foundation in Lebanon, and MADA in Palestine have all sent statements condemning Israeli attacks on journalists and the violence in general. Please find below the statements we have received thus far.
MADA: Continuous Attempts to Silence the Press in Gaza
Ramallah – 18 November 2012: Again, journalists and media outlet headquarters were targeted directly by the Israeli occupation forces to silence journalists covering events and the crimes committed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
This morning (18/11/2012), the occupation forces targeted the offices of Al-Quds TV and Al-Aqsa TV in the Gaza Strip, causing injury to six journalists and a driver working for Al-Quds TV. Their injuries ranged from minor to medium, in addition to causing severe damage to their offices.
Imad Ifranji, director of Al-Quds TV in Gaza, told MADA that the Israeli occupation forces fired three missiles at the TV editing and filming department and at the eleventh floor of Burj al-Shawa – Husari at 1:30 am. Ifranji added: "shelling caused injury to all in the office of photographers and assistants and a driver, in addition to significant damage in the section, in addition to damages in the ambulance that rushed to the place for the transfer of injuries, and damage to the TV car." According to IFranji, the injured included the following:
- Khader al-Zahar: amputation of his right leg from below the knee and bruising.
- Hazem Da’our: wounded by shrapnel and bruising.
- Mohammed al-Akhras: shrapnel fragments throughout his body. His injuries are considered of medium severity.
- Ibrahim Lapad: wounds and bruising.
- Hussein al-Madhoun: suffocation and bruising.
-Omar Ifranji: wounds in the foot.
- Darwish Bulbul: minor injuries.
Saed Radwan, programme director at Al-Aqsa TV, reported that Israeli Occupation warplanes targeted the broadcasting section on the fifteenth floor of the Alshorouq (sunrise) tower, in the Alrimal area of Gaza city at 6:30am. Severe damage was caused and most of the equipment and studios were destroyed. Radwan added: "one rocket penetrated the office of ‘Palestine Media Production’ actually on the fourteenth floor, causing damage".
Last Friday (11/16/2012) the occupation forces targeted the house of European Agency photographer Ali Ibrahim resulting in moderate injuries to his father (71 years), his sister (40 years) and her daughter (8 years), as well as causing extensive damage to their home. On the same day, occupation forces targeted the headquarters of "Free Media" in the Sheikh Radwan area of the Gaza Strip, almost completely destroying it.
The Israeli occupation forces killed Omar Mashharawi, the 11-month-old son of a BBC Arabic employee Jihad Mashharawi when his home was targeted on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the renewed Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and the direct targeting of a number of journalists and media institutions. It calls for the need to protect journalists and prosecute the perpetrators of such crimes against the press and freedom of expression. The evasion from punishment of the Israeli occupation forces (which coincides with the commencement of global events to end impunity at the beginning of this month and culminating on the 23rd November) especially with regard to its crimes against the four journalists killed during the aggression on Gaza in 2009, enabled such occupation forces to commit further crimes against journalists and the media and demonstrates the urgent need to prosecute the perpetrators of attacks on freedom of the press.
دماء الأطفال تسيل من غزة إلى أسيوط
البراءة تدفع ثمن صمت العالم على جرائم إسرائيل وتخاذل الحكومة عن إصلاح الخدمات المقدمة للمواطن
أسبوع مليء بالدم والقاتل معروف ، في غزة تراق دماء أطفال أبرياء وتقصف منازل المدنيين والمؤسسات الإعلامية والسبب تواطؤ الدول الكبرى وتخاذل المؤسسات الأممية عن وقف انتهاكات إسرائيل ودهسها لكافة مواثيق حقوق الإنسان ، وفي قلب صعيد مصر المنسى يدفع 51 طفلا من دمائهم ثمن الإهمال والتخاذل الحكومي وغياب خطط الإصلاح الحقيقي لمرافق الدولة.
لقد تلقت مؤسسة ماعت للسلام والتنمية وحقوق الإنسان الأحداث الأخيرة عن الساحة الفلسطينية ببالغ الإستنكار لموقف العالم من العدوان الإسرائيلي المتواصل على الشعب الفلسطيني في غزة ، وترى المؤسسة أن هذا العدوان ما هو إلا حلقة جديدة في مسلسل الخرق الإسرائيلي وعدم الاحترام لمبادئ ومعايير حقوق الإنسان والقرارات الدولية الملزمة.
وتذكر المؤسسة العالم بمنظماته الاممية ودوله الكبرى ومنظماته الحقوقيه بأحداث غزة الماضية في نهاية 2008 وبداية 2009 والتي تحركت فيها المنظومة الحقوقية لرصد وتوثيق جرائم إسرائيل حتى صدر تقرير لجنة جولدستون الذي أقر بارتكاب إسرائيل جرائم ضد الإنسانية وهي تكرر نفس فعلتها الشنعاء وكأنها تخرج للعالم لسانها، يحدث كل ذلك وسط صمت متواصل – يصل لحد التواطؤ - من القوى الفاعلة .
وبعد ان يأسنا من فعل الحكومات واقتنعنا بعجز مجلس الامن عن التحرك ، فإن المؤسسة تطالب مجلس حقوق الإنسان التابع للأمم المتحدة باتخاذ مواقف تحترم المرجعيات الأساسية لهذا المجلس ويتحرك باتجاه وقف الانتهاك الإسرائيلي لحقوق الفلسطينيين العزل في غزة ، كما تطالب المنظمات الحقوقية والمدافعين عن حقوق الإنسان بفضح جرائم إسرائيل والتحرك الشعبي من أجل تعريف العالم بهذه الجرائم الممنهجة .
وعلى الصعيد الداخلي فقد أدمى قلوبنا جميعا حادث اصطدام أحد القطارات بأتوبيس مدارس مما اسفر عن مقتل 51 طفلا وإصابة 17 آخرين ، وتحمل مؤسسة ماعت الحكومة ممثلة في وزارة النقل وهيئة سكك حديد مصر ومحافظة أسيوط المسئولية الكاملة عن مقتل هؤلاء الاطفال ، وترى ان الإهمال هو الفاعل الحقيقي لهذه الجريمة النكراء .
كما تطالب المؤسسة بضرورة وضع خطط تعبر عن رؤية متكاملة لإصلاح مرافق الدولة والخدمات المقدمة للمواطنين ، وهو ما لم يتحقق بدون توسيع قاعدة مشاركة المواطنين ومنظمات المجتمع المدني على المستوى المحلي في إدارة ومراقبة هذه الخدمات ، كما ان ذلك يستلزم أن تضخ الدولة الاستثمارات الكافية في القطاعات التي تشهد تراجعا حادا في معدلات جودة الخدمة بها وخاصة خدمات النقل والمواصلات.
كما تؤكد مؤسسة ماعت على أن المحاسبة السياسية والقضائية للفاعلين والمتسببين في هذه الجريمة تستلزم ان تشمل التحقيقات المسئولين السابقين والحاليين عن المرفق وعدم الاكتفاء بإقالة المسئول الحالي أو محاسبة صغار الموظفين .
SKeyes Condemns Attack Against Journalists in Gaza
November 19, 2012
The Israeli forces targeted the Shawa and Al-Shuruq towers in Gaza, the Al-Arabiya TV, Al-Quds TV and Reuters offices, on Sunday November 18, 2012. Seven journalists were injured; photojournalist Khodr Al-Zahar, who lost his leg, Hussein Al-Madhoun, Ibrahim Labad, Mohammad Al-Akhras, Hazem Al-Daou, Darwish Bolbol, and Omar Al-Ifranji.
The SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom condemns the violent Israeli attack premeditatedly perpetrated against journalists covering the events and the Israeli shelling of residential neighborhoods. The attack carried out by armed forces against journalists and media outlets is as an attack against unarmed civilian targets and therefore a flagrant violation of the laws governing armed conflicts.
Also, the SKeyes Center urges the international community to immediately intervene and put pressure on the Israeli authorities, by all possible means, to end the destructive military operation against Gaza, protect journalists and unconditionally keep them away from any new aggression.
Bomb the Press
November 19, 2012
Author: Ali Gharib
Source: The Daily Beast
Yesterday, the American media outreach group the Israel Project sent out a release to journalists. It read:
Hamas has trapped at least 22 foreign nationals in the Gaza Strip. ...The move raises the possibility that Hamas is preparing to endanger journalists in order to heighten the risks of any Israeli operations which would seek to degrade Hamas's arsenal or intercept ongoing military operations. The tactic repeats one that the group has used in previous wars with Israel.
The reported news (sourced to the Israeli government) is indeed troubling, but the timing seems particularly poor this morning. Today, Israeli forces attacked two media buildings in Gaza, drawing round condemnations and notes of caution from media accuracy groups. Reuters reported that the Israeli government justified the attacks by explaining they were targeting "Hamas communications devices" atop the buildings. Nonetheless, eight journalists were injured in the attacks. TheAssociated Press released a video of smoke pouring from one of the buildings' roofs in the aftermath of the attack.
"Journalists are civilians and are protected under international law in military conflict," Robert Mahoney, the head of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a release. "Israel knows this and should cease targeting facilities housing media organizations and journalists immediately." Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was even more harsh, outright condemning the attacks. In a statement, RSF head Christophe Deloire said: "Even if the targeted media support Hamas, this does not in any way legitimize the attacks. We call for a transparent investigation into the circumstances of these air strikes. Attacks on civilian targets are war crimes and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. Those responsible must be identified."
Israel's media strategy centers on demonstrating that it's pursuing Hamas targets like missile stockpiles and military officials in the Islamist organization, all the while, apparently, expanding operations in response to each subsequent Hamas escalation. The short-sightedness of the tack mirrors that of the larger strategy, or lack thereof: the Israeli failure to realize that Hamas is here to stay, in large part due to the fact that its curriculum vitae contains more than just its role as an eliminationist terror group. Just as Hamas must end its morally bankrupt targeting of (or, for the more credulous, disregard for) Israeli civilians, so too must Israel acknowledge that it cannot at will hit Hamas "devices" that make up its non-military power structure in Gaza. That's precisely why there is no military solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
That's what NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin suggests in his tweet above, responding to the Israel Defense Force's warning to journalists. The notion that Mohyeldin and other journalists should not, as part of their regular reporting, be in contact with Hamas officials—the de facto governors of the Strip—seems as absurd as its parent notion: that only one side of this burgeoning war merits coverage at all. The Israel Project, as a pro-Israel media outreach outfit, certainly subscribes to this: the group routinely toes the Israeli government's line. But that doesn't mean responsible and well-intentioned journalists on the ground should abide. Just don't expect the Israel Project to put out a release expressing concern for them.
UPDATE: The Israel Project just put out another press release about "Hamas's War On Journalists," which, again, raises important issues about press freedoms in Gaza (which we have covered in these pages). Nary a word, though, from the Israel Project about the attacks on the Gaza media buildings.
SKeyes Condemns Murder of Three Palestinian Journalists in Gaza
November 21, 2012
The Israeli airstrikes killed three journalists in Gaza on November 20, 2012.
An airstrike hit the car of the Al-Aqsa TV cameramen, Hossam Salameh and Mohammad Al-Kowmi in the Al-Wihda neighborhood, west of Gaza, killing them both on the spot. Also, another airstrike targeted the car of the Al-Quds Educational Radio director, Mohammad Abou Eisah, in Deir El-Balah, south of Gaza Strip; he was also killed.
The SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom strongly condemns the crimes deliberately perpetrated by the Israeli army against Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Also, SKeyes calls on the international community to consider these murders tantamount to war crimes and asks international human rights institutions, particularly those in charge of protecting journalists, to condemn these criminal acts and work hard, by all possible means, to unconditionally put an end to these violations.
Focus on Yemen: Increasing Civic Participation Among Youth, Women
November 19, 2012
Yemen is a beautiful but low-income country which has unfortunately been recently been ravaged by increasing violence that has surrounded its Arab Spring transition. Only unified since 1990, relations between the northern and southern portions of the country are tenuous and development continues to lag. Yemen also has one of the largest gender education gaps in the world and it is estimated that only a third of the female population is literate. This is part of the reason why women are grossly underrepresented in Yemeni politics, with only 1 woman in the 301 member national parliament and only 0.6% of women in local councils. And although Yemen has one of the highest birthrates in the world, with 25% of the population between 15 and 24 years old, a tribal system has largely prevented youth from participating in politics. Since former vice president Mr. Mansour Hadi was elected president of a new unity government in February 2012, the country has launched a national dialogue process to create a new constitution. This national dialogue process will conclude with national elections scheduled to take place at the end of 2013, so it is imperative that all segments of society be encouraged to participate now, but particularly marginalized populations like women and youth.
The Foundation for the Future has been operating in Yemen since its very beginnings in 2007, addressing each of the Foundation’s focus areas, including civic participation, democratic governance, human rights and protection, media freedom, rule of law and accountability and women’s empowerment. Three particularly successful Foundation-supported projects in Yemen have sought to increase political participation for youth and women, carried out by the Attanweer Association for Social Development (Attanweer, or “Enlightenment” in English), the Middle East Foundation for Development (MEFD), and the Youth Development Organization (YDO). The projects were based in the three main Yemeni cities of Taiz, Sana’a, and ‘Aden and aim to involve female teachers in politics and the training of their students in civic participation as well as to create spaces where youth can confidently debate the social and political issues that affect them. The last project, conducted by YDO, also conducted research to investigate why youth are not participating in Yemeni politics and how this could be improved.
Attanweer is a Yemeni non-profit based in Ibb that aims to improve the socio-political status of women. Attanweer noted the respected position of female teachers within their communities and hypothesized that this educated group would be the ideal target for their attempts to increase women’s participation in Yemeni politics. After completing a successful project in Ibb, Attanweer repeated its efforts in the cultural and trade hub of Taiz, selecting 30 out of 96 female applicants to participate in its 5 two-day trainings. The women, who represented 18 schools from around the city, were already active in their communities but needed further training to become successful political candidates and to later train their students.
The trainees, however, faced a variety of challenges through the course of the project, primarily because partisan discussion is banned in Yemeni schools. Two of the 30 teachers were therefore forced to drop out of the training, but the rest were able to convince their superiors that they would be completely neutral when training their students. One participant was happy she had stayed in the training, saying that the sessions “broke the barrier of fear & now I have the power to be able to defend myself.” Another participant was so confident that she asked “Why would we not get elected?”
To make sure everyone else would support these energetic women, Tanweer held a 3-day conference for 21 political leaders on women’s political rights in Islam and international treaties. After the conference, the leaders agreed to support both the project and women’s political participation in general and received copies of a book on women’s political participation in Islam. In total, 1,000 copies of this book were distributed to local stakeholders, including civil society organizations and government ministries.
MEFD, like Tanweer, aims to enhance the values of civic culture among political parties’ youth, though their activities directly target youth rather than their teachers. After training 24 young women and 36 young men in Sana’a and ‘Aden in debate skills, MEFD set up a monthly forum in each city for youth to address the issues that matter the most to them. Since Sana’a is the political capital of the country, the youth there elected to discuss political topics, such as the southern attempt for independence and transitional justice. Youth in ‘Aden, on the other hand, concentrated on social topics, like unemployment, education, and drug usage. The forums were so successful that the resulting recommendations on transitional justice and the national dialogue process were included in the reports of the Ministry of Justice and the Committee for National Dialogue respectively. These reports were publicized widely in the media, giving the youth the feeling that they were really making a difference in their society. Besides that, the youth were grateful for the opportunity for networking and friendship with other young leaders.
YDO in Taiz also seeks to bolster youth participation in public life, but believes that more research must be done first to determine the best way to do so. It interviewed 300 social leaders and 340 youth and hosted a five-day research workshop on different aspects of Yemeni democracy and its effect on youth. The resulting research provided YDO with concrete recommendations that they then used to design 6 training workshops for 35 youth on topics like human rights, democracy, leadership, advocacy, and social media. The participants used their training to design an online newspaper including these subjects and traveled to schools and universities to promote the product.
Each project is an investment in Yemen’s future and the full extent of its impact will not be able to be measured until the next elections, if not years down the line. However, since each project reached both the grassroots as well as those in power with their message, there is little doubt that women and youth political participation will only increase in the future.
EFRR Defends Refugee Rights in Egyptian Courts, Detention Centers
November 4, 2012
While exact figures vary widely, Cairo, Egypt hosts one of the largest populations of urban refugees in the world. These refugees hail primarily from Sudan and Iraq, with substantial numbers from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Libya and face arbitrary detention for falsified crimes, threat of deportation, lack of access to public education and work permits, denial of the right of association, and violence perpetrated by those who see refugees as an easy target. When their rights are violated, many refugees fear approaching the police and don’t know how to make a criminal complaint. The Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights (EFRR) is an NGO that has been working since 2008 to address these issues, to ensure that refugees and migrants in the country are treated as dictated by the international treaties that Egypt has signed. They do this by providing individual pro-bono legal services to refugees that are seeking to organize refugee community groups, as well as educating refugees on their rights and establishing a network of Egyptian lawyers eager to defend them. The organization also hosts a legal hotline so that legal advice can be accessed for 24 hours a day.
EFRR was highly successful in providing its legal advocacy services during the two years of their grant. It has filed 361 cases in court and as a result, it was able to stop deportation procedures in 11 cases and has also obtained favorable decisions for many victims of crime, among other successes. For example, on May 31st, 2010, the state security forces in Egypt detained several Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers, accusing them of helping other refugees escape to Israel. Lawyers and families were prohibited access to the detained and one died in detention. On behalf of the families, EFRR requested that the High General Prosecutor conduct an open investigation of conditions in the detention center as well as the merit of the accusations lodged against the Sudanese refugees. In another case in May 2011, three Sudanese boys were playing football in the street when the ball strayed into a neighboring garden. The boys entered the yard to retrieve the ball, but the police were called and the boys were detained in a local police station until EFRR gained their release.
EFRR held 5 workshops for refugees and asylum seekers on their rights and distributed awareness brochures, as well as hosting a two-day conference for journalists, human rights organizations, and refugee community leaders to discuss media coverage of refugees in Egypt. It also trained 106 members of the NGO department of MOE on their obligations towards refugees under international and domestic law. Finally, EFRR worked on establishing a network of referrals and cooperation with other community service providers as well as international organizations like the IOM and the UNHCR.
October 4th, Day for Egyptian Women
October 2nd, 2012
Four of the Foundation for the Future’s past and present grantees, including Appropriate Communications Techniques for Development (ACT), the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE), the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR), and the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW) are leading the movement for women’s rights in Egypt, which will culminate in a vigil in front of the Federal Palace in Cairo on October 4th, 2012. 37 organizations, ranging from human rights and feminist organizations to political parties have signed a statement (AR, EN) demanding the inclusion of women’s rights in Egypt’s new constitution and legislation criminalizing sexual harassment. In a promotional Youtube video for the October 4th vigil, one woman explains why she will be participating in this movement:
“I am marching on October 4th to demand my daughter’s right to live in freedom and safety. I am marching on October 4th to demand safe streets, so that I don’t hear words that bother me. I am marching on October 4th to demand my rights in my country’s constitution and just representation.”
Official Page for October 4th, Day of the Egyptian Women: https://www.facebook.com/Oct4Women
To RSVP for the protest: https://www.facebook.com/events/429378540432876/?fref=ts
Special Youtube Links Explaining Why You should Attend this Protest:
First Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkI1vqAElXw&feature=youtu.be
Second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV5-K-Gh7Q0&lc=mCNXvORLHvFimABu78CRJpaX3009GwlOjYqrltmgepU&feature=inbox
Third video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8I-D1KhOCo&feature=youtu.be
October 4th, Day for Egyptian Women
The feminist movement, anti-harassment initiatives, civil society organizations, and political parties signatory to this statement call for a peaceful protest and human chain on Thursday, October 4, 2012 in front of the Federal Palace at 5 pm. The purpose of this protest-vigil is to:
1) Present Mr. President, the Dr. Muhamed Morsi, with a consolidated document including women’s demands for their rights to be enshrined in the new constitution
2) Present demands for legislation criminalizing sexual harassment, which has recently worsened in Egypt’s streets and which represents a dangerous social development that we must confront with serious resolve.
The aforementioned groups call upon all institutions, political parties, public figures, and anyone who believes in our cause for national justice, to take part in this protest-vigil. It also calls for the attendance of all media outlets, including newspapers and audio-visual outlets, to cover this important event.
The struggle of Egyptian women for political, social, and economic rights is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a fad or a Western import as the opponents to women’s freedom and societal progress claim. This is an integral part of human rights and another step in our long national history, when women joined men in the struggle against colonial and occupation forces, resulting in the death of many martyrs in the name of freedom and national dignity. Later, women joined in combating reactionary forces and produced several important female pioneers in scientific, political, economic, social, and cultural fields who proved their competence and reached the highest leadership positions in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government in spite of all the societal forces opposing both women’s liberation and renaissance.
Free societies are measured by their progress on the status of women, who God created to be on equal footing in her humanity with men, with the same rights and responsibilities as men.
Women will not accept a reversal of the gains they have made in education and work, nor will they give up their claim to full equality in regards to all the rights and responsibilities in the realms of state and family. Women will not give up on their demand to be represented in decision-making positions in a ratio equal to their presence in Egyptian society, without discrimination in terms of political orientation, race, or religion.
Women’s strength must not be underestimated, but rather, it must be valued as a necessary ingredient in Egypt’s efforts to take the place it deserves among the modern nations of the world and as a major regional power.
Signatories to the statement:
Human rights and feminist organizations:
1) Appropriate Communications Techniques for Development (ACT)
2) Association Honoring the Families of the Heroes of the Revolution
3) Egyptian Women’s Movement
4) The Foundation for Women’s Issues
5) The Egyptian Foundation for Family Development
6) Legal Foundation to Help the Family and Human Rights
7) Arab Women Alliance
8) The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE)
9) The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR)
10) Helem Establ Antar
11) The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW)
12) She Foundation
13) The National Front for Egyptian Women (15 political parties and organizations)
14) Egyptian Feminist Union
15) Egyptian Women for Change
16) Egyptian Writers Association
Initiatives Combating Violence Against Women (VAW)
17) Fouada Watch
18) Myself Initiative
19) Girl’s Revolution
20) Come Write our Constitution
21) Campaign Against Harassment
22) I Will Not Stay Silent About Harassment
23) Popular Campaign Against Harassment
24) Free Egyptian
25) Shame on You Movement
26) Egyptian Rebels Coalition
27) The Movement for a Second Revolution of Anger
28) Free Egypt Movement
29) Egyptian Civilian Movement
30) Egyptian Democratic Alliance
31) Judge Them
32) Liars Movement-Cairo University
33) The Youth Movement of the Mahrussa Governorate
34) Egyptian Social Democratic Party*
35) Constitution Party*
36) People’s Alliance*
37) National Progressive Unionist Party
*Participating only in the human chain against harassment
Tamkeen Releases Report on Poor Implementation of Jordanian Measures to Protect Migrant Workers
October 3, 2012
Tamkeen Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights stated in its report issued on October 1st that although Jordan is one of the first countries in the region to have passed legislations that protect migrant workers in the labor law, the laws are poorly applied. Migrant labor constitutes roughly forty percent of the Jordanian workforce, half of which is undocumented.
The report “Between A Rock and A Hard Place: Migrant workers caught between employers' abuse and poor implementation of the law” monitored the status of domestic workers and Egyptian workers in Jordan from 2011 until mid-2012. The report included the abuses that migrant workers in Jordan are subjected to such as: confiscation of passports, withholding wages, and poor living conditions such as inadequate sleeping places, long working hours, workplace injuries without adequate medical care, and denial of the one day off rule in addition to the mistreatment by employers. In addition, though the Ministry of Labor passed an amendment on September 2011 allowing domestic workers to leave the house of their employer without needing approval first, many are still held in confinement against their will.
This report was based on the cases received by Tamkeen from 2011 until the middle of 2012. During this period Tamkeen monitored 922 cases of different nationality migrant workers from different sectors. Over half of the cases were concerning employers’ or recruitment agencies’ confiscation of passports, which violates Article 18 of The Passports Law Number 3 (est. 2002) and Article 222 of the Jordanian Penal Code.
The report also criticized workers’ inability to gain work permits and residency permits of their own accord. Currently, only the employer can obtain these visas for the worker, though the worker is responsible for any fees or penalties, including immediate deportation, should the visa lapse. Tamkeen suggests issuing the work and residency permits for the worker without a connection to the employer so that a worker will not have to pay permit fees again if the employer changes during the year. This would relieve a significant financial border since each Egyptian migrant worker pays 849.50 JD, or $1,200.00 USD, for costs related to obtaining a work permit and insurance documents, costs that are rarely refunded by the employer. In addition, migrant workers are excluded from minimum wage laws, causing some to seek jobs in excess of 18 hours to cover the cost of their permit.
Finally, the report found that it was often difficult for migrant workers to pursue legal action against their employers since the Jordanian government requires everyone to retain a lawyer in cases that are worth more 1,000 JD. In addition, migrant workers are not able to claim their dues after two years have passed. Migrant workers cannot claim damage compensation after three years.
To view the report, “Between A Rock and A Hard Place: Migrant workers caught between employers' abuse and poor implementation of the law,” please visit: http://tamkeen-jo.org/books/website_eng.pdf
For more information, please contact:
Linda Alkalash: Amman- Jordan ( +962 79 640 4408) firstname.lastname@example.org
Taleb Alsaqqaf: Amman-Jordan( + 962 77 787 8688) Alsaqqaf: Amman-Jordan( + 962 77 787 8688) email@example.com
Al-Maqdese Defends the Rights of East Jerusalem Palestinians in Israeli Courts, Ministries
September 23, 2012
Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem are under Israeli occupation, but have difficulty accessing Israeli legal services due to cost and language inaccessibility whenever their rights are violated. Since the beginning of 2008, Al-Maqdese has operated two free legal clinics in East Jerusalem to tackle issues like right of residence, family reunification, travel restrictions, access to national social services, land confiscation, and the registration of children. In the past, Al-Maqdese has successfully lobbied for the renewal of a Wadi Al-Goz bus line, government flood compensation for 19 families from Wadi Al-Goz, and school seats for 124 Palestinian students in the Jerusalem Municipality.
The legal clinics host a legal library and work to monitor human rights violations, train new lawyers, and raise awareness among East Jerusalemites of their rights. The legal center interacts with 25 to 35 clients per day via phone, email, or face-to-face, setting up legal portals for clients to track their cases since most East Jerusalemites do not have mail service to receive notices from the Israeli government. Clients can also use the website to register complaints against the Israeli authorities, particularly regarding house demolitions, which Al-Maqdese then forwards to the Human Rights Council, UNRWA and the Red Cross for financial aid provision, or the relevant Israeli offices. With the Foundation for the Future grant, Al-Maqdese was proud to benefit 2,425 people in the first 9 months of 2012, already twice the number of those served in 2010.
These 2,425 people were served in a variety of ways. Al-Maqdese provided legal defense for 391 total cases (101 dealing with registration of children, entry to Jerusalem, and social security cards; 39 with worker’s rights such as contract mediation, unemployment and other benefits, and compensation; 68 with health insurance, denial of treatment, and access to education; and 45 with the detention of minors.) The organization also conducted 36 prison visits and accompanied 155 people to meetings at relevant government departments or courts. Finally, the group provided 921 technical assistance and legal advice services, consisting of the preparation of 543 forms, 132 notarized documents, 45 official books, 446 official translations, and 113 referrals. It also arranged for tax reductions and forgiveness for building violation fines, thereby saving its clients a total of 103 thousand shekels.
Two specific success stories dealing with family reunification and child registration vividly demonstrate the situation in East Jerusalem. Between 1967 and 2002, the Israeli Ministry of the Interior granted the legal status necessary to live in Jerusalem to residents of the Occupied Territories (West Bank and Gaza) married to Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. In May 2002, however, the government froze the handling of these family unification applications, though couples married before 2003 sometimes succeed in applying for a temporary permit for the non-Jerusalem resident spouse. Few would choose to leave Jerusalem to live in the Occupied Territories, as the Israeli government often revokes Jerusalem identity cards if the city is no longer the center of resident’s lives, thereby ending their ability to even enter the city on a day-to-day basis. Similarly, children born to a Jerusalemite resident but born outside of the city must go through the family reunification process in order to be able to live there legally with their parent.
Mr. Ahmed AlHaj Khalil returned to his home in East Jerusalem in 2011 after completing his studies in Malaysia to register his son born in 2008 in Malaysia. The Ministry of the Interior not only denied his request to register the child under the father’s i.d., they also informed him that the 3-year-old child would be deported back to Malaysia. It wasn’t until Al-Maqdese’s legal clinic involved itself in the matter that the deportation process was halted and the child finally registered under his father’s i.d. In another case, the wife of Mr. Mohamed Tarteer, as a resident of Shufat refugee camp and therefore a Jerusalem id holder, had been applying since 1996 to the Ministry of the Interior for a residency permit for her non-resident husband to legally live with her in Jerusalem. In 2000, Mr. Tarteer was issued a temporary residency card that must be renewed every year and still would not allow him to work in the area. Finally, Al-Maqdese succeeded in getting Mr. Tarteer a permanent residence permit in July 2012, allowing him to once again provide for his family and live with them in the camp.
Al-Maqdese for Society Development (MSD) is a civic non-profit and non-governmental organization that was established in Jerusalem on February 19th, 2007, by academics, doctors, teachers, and social activists. MSD works to protect and defend Palestinians' rights, ensure respect for the rule of law, and promote the principles of democracy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It is proud to host the largest and most comprehensive database on Israeli home demolitions since 1967, violations which it can disseminate to its mailing list of 1.5 million email addresses from all seven continents.
HDPG Educates Pakistani Women on their Legal, Religious Rights
September 6, 2012
In the Talibanized conflict zones of rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, women’s status is grim. Not only are there high rates of domestic violence against women and instances of “swara,” when women are given to another family to solve a dispute, the female literacy rate in the province is 22.89% and women are effectively prohibited from participating in political life. Women should be valued, however, as they play an important role in development for their participation in the informal and agricultural labor sectors. Women’s education has also been shown to lead to better reproductive and family health and improvements to familial economic status. Beginning in 2010, the Human Development Promotion Group (HDPG) has worked in this province to create awareness and advocacy regarding women’s civil and political rights through seminars, workshops, communication gatherings, and publications. It also built on the capacity and skills of several of its 26 partner community organizations in the region, registering them with the district government so they can benefit from local government funding.
Many of the seminars and workshops looked at women’s rights and gender equality through the lens of Islam, reasoning that most obstacles to women’s empowerment in the country come from customary law. Citing both Quranic passages and hadith, NGO representatives and religious scholars pointed out Islam’s opposition to female infanticide and the Prophet Muhammad’s position that parents should not favor their sons over their daughters and that every Muslim must seek knowledge. Other topics were discussed, such as the Prophet’s advice to a woman who had been married against her will that she had the right to invalidate the marriage as well as women’s right to property and inheritance. Beyond the theoretical, speakers also analyzed the social and legal aspects that limit women in Pakistani society today and reviewed the accomplishments of individual Pakistani women throughout history. In that vein, lawyers discussed the current rights of women in the Pakistani constitution, particularly the clause that “steps shall be taken to ensure full participation of women in all spheres of national life” (Article 34). Finally, the participants divided into groups to identify problems in their communities and propose solutions.
Approximately 759 individuals, 80% of whom were women, attended 3 seminars, 5 workshops, and 6 community gatherings on these topics. For those women that were unable to attend the workshops and seminars, HDPG distributed 3,500 brochures, 5,000 stickers, 250 banners, and 3,000 banners with messages about women’s rights, including verses from the Quran and hadith. During their research, the organization realized that women often did not even have ID cards, the basic requirement for casting a vote, nor did they understand the political system itself. However, in the wake of its many trainings, HDPG found that there was a 20% increase in female voters’ participation in the general election and that women’s participation in social sectors increased by 21%.
Human Development Promotion Group (HDPG) is not for profit, non-partisan NGO. Registered on May 8, 2000, it is striving for the social, economic and political development of the marginalized and underdeveloped sections of Pakistani society. HDPG has a comprehensive network of Community-based Organizations both for men and women throughout the province and its activities focus on research and advocacy, human rights, health and education, human resource development, and peace and disarmament.
Lebanese Transparency Association Allows Victims of Corruption to Report their Experiences
August 23, 2012
Lebanon suffers from endemic corruption within all levels of society and state. Ranked 127 out of 178 countries in TI’s 2010 Corruption Perception Index, corruption is a key obstacle to the political, economic and social development of the country and is a leading cause of political instability. The Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) blames a weak anti-corruption legal framework, a lack of protections for whistleblowers, and the competition for state resources among confessional groups in the post-Civil War era for the high instance of corruption in Lebanese society. In 2009, Foundation grantee LTA began a legal advocacy center in Beirut, complete with a hotline and pro bono legal advice for Lebanese citizens who were witnesses of corruption and wish to register complaints. With the 9-month grant from Foundation for the Future, the organization has expanded the reach of its awareness campaign and has attracted more calls to its hotline.
To raise awareness about citizen’s rights and to promote use of the hotline, LTA distributed brochures, car stickers, posters, and quarterly newsletters; placed newspaper ad in widely-read publications like Al-Akhbar; and arranged for tens of thousands of cell phone messages and emails be sent to random users throughout the country. In addition, the organization has been featured on two local TV channels and radio shows and two of its short documentaries were screened on two other TV channels. Though many campaigns concentrated on the Beirut and Mount Lebanon areas, LTA also made an effort to reach all of Lebanon with several mobile outreach sessions held throughout the country. In the 9 months since the Foundation’s funding began, the organization has received 248 total calls and has received 24 of these individuals in its offices for a face-to-face meeting with free legal counsel.
The most common questions asked to hotline operators were: how to file an urgent complaint before a judge, how to file a court appeal, and how to present a complaint to the General Attorney. The leading cause of complaint for hotline callers was the Ministry of Justice, followed by Ministry of the Interior. Some cases of rotten meat and spoiled yogurt were referred to the Consumer Protection Unit. Also working within a top-down approach, LTA has sent letters to the Ministries of Interior as well as Economy and Trade regarding specific corruption cases, and was contacted by the Ministry of Tourism for a meeting to improve the channel of communication between the hotline and several ministries. Finally, the organization presented a draft law to the Lebanese Parliament in April of 2010, intended to strengthen protections for whistleblowers.
LTA, which was established in May 1999, is Transparency International (TI)'s Lebanese chapter. It is the first Lebanese NGO that focuses on curbing corruption and promoting the principles of good governance. Specifically, LTA has supported capacity development of public authorities through anti-corruption training; Memoranda of Understanding have been signed with the Ministry of Finance and regular meetings are held to discuss fiscal policies, the budget and other financial operations. LTA is an official election observer and has worked on reforms concerning electoral law.
KURDS Encourages Vulnerable Kurdish Groups to Access Civil Law
August 15, 2012
Decades of political unrest and conflict caused by Saddam Hussein’s attacks on the Kurdish population and internal struggle between Kurdish factions has had a significant impact on the general public's awareness of, and ability to access, legal services. In rural areas in particular, this has resulted in a return to traditional modes of reconciliation and justice, which are rarely aligned with international human rights laws. The goal of this 12-month project is to address this gap: to raise awareness of legal rights, to educate the public on how to access legal services, and to provide an entry point to access legal advice, particularly among vulnerable groups like women and IDPs from Duhok Governorate. It is also hoped that the number of cases filed at the Duhok court will noticeably increase, showing that people are turning away from the usage of traditional institutions.
To achieve these goals, the organization is conducting legal awareness seminars in villages around Duhok Governorate, distributing posters and leaflets, establishing a legal consultation hotline, starting an office to provide in person pro bono legal counsel, and publishing a weekly legal advice column in a popular local newspaper. Since November 2011, KURDS has held 22 seminars training 932 participants, including 393 males and 539 females, focusing on types of laws, the importance of law in the daily life, and the differences (advantages and disadvantages) between traditions and law. The seminars also address the most prevalent legal problems in the region: property and land or rental issues, domestic violence, gender based violence (GBV), and suicide.
Many of the attendees later accessed free legal advice provided by KURDS, either through their hotline (17% of cases) or in person (83%). Since November 2011, the organization has provided legal counsel in 186 cases, including 5 civil law cases, 69 penal code cases, and 112 personal status code cases. For example, one woman sought advice after her husband divorced her traditionally and wondered how to pursue the case to receive her full legal rights and compensation. In another case, a man who wished to take a second wife was informed that he must obtain the permission of his first wife and fulfill other religious and legal conditions such as proving his financial ability to provide for a second family before proceeding with the second marriage. However, none consent to having their pictures taken and only half allow their full names to be recorded, suggesting a fear of community backlash.
Since its establishment in 1991, KURDS has implemented over 300 projects in Duhok, Erbil, Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah Governorates. KURDS has implemented projects in a range of different, yet related, sectors such as: physical reconstruction, water and sanitation, school renovation, voter education projects, election mechanism awareness, health, education, women social and political rights, violence against women, gender equity in rights and duties and capacity building programs. Simultaneously, KURDS aims to develop the socio-economic and environmental conditions of targeted areas, by identifying genuine needs that will lead to transitional development, improved emergency responses and relief assistance.
MADA Defends and Raises Awareness of Palestinian Journalist’s Rights
August 8, 2011
In 2011, Freedom House rated Palestine’s press status as “not free,” noting that although Palestinian laws generally outlaw censorship, exceptions are made if press threatens “national unity” or “Palestinian values.” In light of the instable security situation in the territories and the tensions between Fatah and Hamas, these exceptions are often employed to limit press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza. Therefore, “the PA Ministry of Information regulates all television and radio station licenses” in the West Bank and the Hamas government in Gaza requires all journalists to register with the authorities.
This is the formidable challenge that Foundation-sponsored MADA’s project, “Defending Journalist’s Rights in Palestine,” seeks to confront. The project’s goal is to enhance freedom of expression in the Palestinian territories through defending journalists in courts and monitoring their cases, conducting workshops about Palestinian and international laws that relate to freedom of expression, and furthering study and awareness of the Palestinian judicial system and freedom of expression.
In the first six months of 2012, MADA held three trainings for 52 journalists and journalism students in Jenin, Hebron, and Gaza. The trainings covered the definition of freedom of opinion and expression under Palestinian laws and international conventions, mechanisms of publication protection, charges that have been raised against Palestinian journalists recently, and how to seek redress from local or international justice should their rights be violated. Finally, the sessions brainstormed ways for journalists to use their medium in a positive way to promote freedom of expression. In the future, MADA plans to hold similar trainings for Palestinian security forces.
In the organization’s capacity as legal counsel, its lawyers have involved themselves in the defense of 4 journalists in the West Bank and 14 journalists in Gaza. MADA also endeavors to publicize such cases in local and international media outlets to pressure government authorities to drop charges against the journalists. After similar media intervention from the organization, President Mahmoud Abbas recently reversed the General Attorney’s decision to block 8 news website.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) is a nonprofit NGO that was established in 2006 to support journalists in the territories who continue to face numerous oppressive constraints to honest reporting. The vision of MADA is to end violations against journalists, reduce practices of self-censorship out of fear of reprisal, and facilitate Palestinian media in reclaiming its role as a professional, internationally competitive fourth authority.
CIHRS Advocates for Greater Arab NGO Participation in International Human Rights Bodies
July 31, 2012
The Foundation for the Future is proud to announce the fruits of its partnership with the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), a partnership that lasted from September 1, 2010 to May 31, 2012. The project was entitled “Human Rights Advocacy and Protection Program for the Arab Region” and was a part of the organization’s preexisting International Advocacy Program (IAP). IAP has taken the lead in promoting human rights in the Arab region at the UN Human Rights Council and other UN bodies, establishing the first office of its kind from the Arab region in Geneva to better coordinate constant access to the UN. CIHRS’ Geneva office offers other Arab human rights defenders who have never participated in international bodies training in UN and AU human rights mechanisms, effective communication methods, and professional advocacy campaigns to best expose human rights abuses.
Besides encouraging other human rights organizations to engage with international human rights mechanisms, CIHRS itself has participated extensively in the UNHRC sessions 15-18, providing 24 written interventions, 38 oral interventions, 24 side events, 19 press releases and 6 media activities. The Center primarily commented on the human rights situation in Arab Spring countries like Yemen, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain where protesters have disappeared, been tortured, or faced reprisals or trial by military courts for speaking out. It was also involved in discussions concerning the poor treatment of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, the Palestinian bid for statehood, the need for a follow-up to the Goldstone report on the Gaza conflict, the lack of UNHRC oversight mechanisms, religious and racial discrimination in Europe, and the omission of the Western Sahara from Morocco’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report. A UPR report is written for each UN member state once every four years and details state compliance with the human rights obligations set out in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other mechanisms. In 2011, CIHRS used its research skills to contribute to the Lebanese, Syrian, Bahraini, Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, and Sudanese UPR reports using coalition-building, information submission, lobbying missions, and national-level follow-up. The Center also published a shadow report to Morocco’s submission to the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) and helped draft a shadow report to the official Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry human rights report.
The Center has seen many successes thanks to its constant presence at UNHRC sessions. For example, Libya lost its seat on the Council and was referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) while Syria’s bid for a Council seat was blocked. After the Center explained how defamation laws are used to repress free expression in the Arab region, the UNHRC resolution on the defamation of religions was vetoed. In addition, language in an Egyptian resolution on “multiculturalism” was changed to exclude relativistic arguments concerning equality and a joint Chinese-Cuban resolution subjecting the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to a yearly financial and action plan review at the UNHRC was abandoned. Thanks to the information the Center provided on increasing human rights abuses in Arab Spring countries, new OHCHR offices will be established in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, and the former two countries have ratified several human rights treaties during their transition processes. Finally, 3 Special Sessions were convened on Syria and a fact finding mission and a Special Rapporteur were created to further monitor the situation. CIHRS brought to light Brazilian, Indian, and South African Security Council inaction on the subject of Syria, and consequently Brazilian representatives met with Center officials to discuss how they could improve Brazil’s policies on Syria. Similarly, several state entities from the Arab region, including Yemen, Iraq and Jordan have sent formal requests to cooperate with CIHRS.
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is an independent regional NGO founded in 1993. It aims to promote respect for the principles of human rights and democracy by analyzing the obstacles to full application of international human rights law and by disseminating human rights culture in the Arab region. It also aims to build a unified network of Arab human rights defenders in order to have more leverage to effectively pressure international and regional authorities. When the IAP program was first launched, no Arab NGO had ECOSOC consultative status but CIHRS has now achieved this distinction. CIHRS also enjoys observer status in the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and is a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).
Middle Eastern Youth Learn to Be Active Citizens
July 15, 2012
Stacia Tauscher’s quote, “we worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today,” perfectly describes the philosophy of the Palestinian organization, Teacher Creativity Center. Established in 1995, the Foundation for the Future has funded the Center’s “Project Citizen” since early 2011. The organization currently operates in 5 Middle Eastern countries, promoting active citizenship among 21,900 secondary school students. Active citizenship education might promote knowledge of rights and national pride, but it especially aims to engage the student within his community. Therefore, Palestinian high school students selected for Teacher Creativity Center’s (TCC) program have made a direct impact on their own lives by undertaking over 600 community development projects in 2011, called “Students Take Action.”
“Students Take Action” projects involve 4 steps. First, the student looks around his community to identify a problem, then researches the problem and pertinent existing public policies, then brainstorms several alternative plans to address the problem, and finally, develops and even implements the most viable alternative plan. Students then have the opportunity to present their projects at the district-level to earn prizes, like a new computer for their school. Not only do students learn about their system of government, they also utilize math skills to analyze data about the social problem and even use scientific skills when projects deal with subjects like the environment or public health.
The program’s success stories are plentiful. Its efforts have resulted in the construction of a sports center to combat student aggression in a Nablusi refugee camp, the creation of a public awareness campaign about the health risks of smoking nargileh, the establishment of a computer literacy course for parents in Abu Dees, and the launch of a girl’s vocational school in Ramallah. Students have also exposed instances of bribery, public corruption, and lax building construction standards throughout the West Bank. Says TCC Program Manager Hala Qubbaj, “We are so proud of these girls, they are only 15 and in three months they have achieved what many have been advocating for, for years…It’s a morale boost to witness such achievements from very young citizens.”
Once students have completed this first phase of “Project citizen,” they have the opportunity to continue their citizenship education and participate in TCC’s new debate competition. The debate program has been instituted in 11th grade classrooms in 16 schools throughout Palestine and has touched the lives of 1,240 students. Participants first compete against other classrooms in their school, then neighboring schools, then district schools, and finally, in a televised national event.
Since January 2011, TCC in Palestine has trained 210 teachers, 65 Ministry of Education supervisors, and 210 school principals to implement Project Citizen in private, public, and UNRWA schools throughout the country. TCC has trained 200 teachers in Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, and Morocco combined. Finally, 48 people have been trained to implement and judge the debate program throughout Gaza and the West Bank.
Teacher Creativity Center (TCC) is a non-government/non-profit organization established in May 1995 by five teachers who envisioned quality education which embodies human rights and civic education values, and which cultivates creative generations with the capacity to contribute to the construction of a democratic Palestinian civil society which is committed to human rights and the Rule of Law.
762 Yemeni Youth Trained in Human Rights and Citizenship
July 9, 2012
Half of Yemen’s 22 million citizens are under 16 years of age and the population is set to double by 2035. In general, these youths make up a large portion of unemployment and casualties from violence but rarely have representation in government or civil society. Limitations on freedom of speech in the country also limit the youth voice in both formal and informal communication channels. The Youth Leadership Development Foundation (YLDF) in Sana’a has been working since 2005 to empower youth with its economic center that develops youths’ job skills, a learning center for young girls, and trainings on human rights and citizenship. The Foundation for the Future aids in this last goal through its sponsorship of the project, “Youth for Human Rights-Training of Trainers.” The program provides youth from all 21 Yemeni governorates to learn about the foundations of international human rights and citizenship, particularly as they apply to women and youth, as well as share experiences among their peer group and learn conflict resolution skills. Though Yemen is a signatory of many international human rights treaties, these treaties are often not implemented.
From April 1 to June 30, 2012, YLDF held 36 trainings in 19 Yemeni governorates and reached 762 youth trainees in these short three months. The training sessions were faced with multiple challenges, including electricity cuts that rendered Powerpoint presentations useless, social norms that discourage simultaneous participation of young men and women, and regional security threats, but attendees still participated eagerly and gained a basic understanding of human rights principles. The trainings also sought to further develop the skills of 36 trainers representing 21 human rights NGOs across the country, who can then continue trainings on their own. To facilitate this goal, YLDF intends to choose one NGO from each of the five regions of Yemen to receive a small grant intended to train a further 100 students each.
The Youth Leadership Development Foundation (YLDF) is a non-profit NGO located in Yemen’s capital. Its envisions “a Yemen in which skilled, well-qualified and active young women and men play leadership roles smartly in all domains of society and enable Yemenis to contribute to a better world.” It has been the recipient of Foundation grants since July 2011.
“Happy Family” Project Reaches Rural Pakistani Women Using Trainings, Puppet Shows
July 8, 2012
In 2008, the Aurat Foundation estimated that at least 1 Pakistani woman every minute falls victim to domestic violence, which Human Rights Watch says accounts for 80% of the female population in the country. Since 2010, the Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Programme (CHIP) has been working to serve this population through its Foundation-funded project, “Promoting Women Rights through Enabling Women Survivors of Violence To Attain Social Inclusion.” The project is being carried out in 20 villages of Tehsil Sohawa, which is home to 200,000 inhabitants and is located in the Jhelum district in the Punjab Province. This area sees a particularly high incidence of violence against women and its villagers may lack awareness of national laws protecting women’s rights and/ or the local capacity to implement them.
In its 7th quarter, 266 women from 15 villages, including survivors of violence, benefitted from attending 17 training sessions on laws protecting women, family law, conflict resolution, assertiveness and decision-making, and income generation. 217 women of the 266 participated in refresher courses in these topics in the 8th quarter. After women completed the training sessions, human rights advocates followed up with participants to encourage their participation in women’s rights organizations and reinforce the messages taught in training sessions. Additional women who were unable to participate in the two-day trainings were also engaged in these personal meetings. Thanks to such efforts, CHIP discovered that many women survivors of violence (WSVs) lacked the National Identity Cards necessary to receive public services and so helped 30 women file for and receive the cards. In the 8th quarter, it also distributed 14 sewing machines to women in 9 villages to help WSVs there launch their own entrepreneurial enterprises.
Other events like 4 quiz nights about women’s rights and 17 puppet shows highlighting the importance of women’s education and inclusion in decision-making captured the attention of 123 men and 1215 children, in addition to 545 women. The success of the quiz sessions convinced CHIP to hold 20 further sessions in all 20 Sohawa villages in its 8th quarter, which drew a further 482 participants. International Women’s Day celebrations held in all 20 villages attracted some 443 women participants. Finally, CHIP arranged for the local radio stations and even cable television to broadcast public awareness messages promoting the concept of a “happy family.” Public awareness efforts were further bolstered during planning meetings with 20 women’s and 20 men’s local community organizations. In the future, the organization plans to continue similar activities as well as print public awareness posters and hold targeted training sessions specifically for police officers, lawyers, and media.
Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Programme (CHIP), a grantee of the Foundation for the Future, is a leading not-for-profit organization established in 1993. It enables individuals and organizations to make more efficient development efforts through the provision of value-led Human & Institutional Development (HID) services.
LEBANESE YOUTH EMPOWERED TOWARDS CITIZENSHIP
July 5, 2012
Following up a long civil war, Lebanon is still undergoing a challenging period to remedy the lack of civil law and strengthen the concept of a state in acountry where sectarian tension remain present.
In its effort to rebuild participatory democracy and rule of law, Lebanon is facingthe crucial need to empower youth through civic education in order to reinforce their commitment in local governance and community life.
With its two year project entitled “Expanding a civic education model to promote active citizenship and civic spaces among Lebanese school students”; the Lebanese Center for Civic Education (LCCE) with the support of the Foundation proposed an initiative to raise youth awareness on issues of citizenship public space and public policy. Through this project, LCCE aims at providing an educational model to urge Lebanese students at establishing and sustaining Project Citizen as an interactive and more practical model program.
With this perspective, LCCE organized a showcase with the participation of students coming from all Lebanese governorates on 15th may. During the showcase, several groups of students who took part in LCCE’s project exposed their project for which they have worked cooperatively throughout the academic year to present an array of issues such as children labor, school drops outs and motorbike accidents.
Students accomplished an impressive work by preparing a board tackling the identification of the problem, the research on the existing public policy dealing with this problem; the suggested policies to remedy the problem and the action needed or performed by the students to address the problem.
Students expressed their commitment to the project by going beyond the scope of the project. For instance, one group launched a public campaign and distributed brochure to raise people awareness about road accidents while another established contact with the municipality to help them addressing this issue. At the end of the showcase, medals were given to reward students for their effort to promote citizenship.
LCCE is very proud of the showcase and will keep on working to promote the principles of active citizenship and local participation with the aim to enhance youth’s understanding of public policy and public space issues.
The “Lebanese Center for Civic Education (LCCE)” was established in 2004 in the aim of spreading the concepts of active citizenship and democracy. Through its interactive educational methodologies, the center strives to empower Lebanese citizens to identify and monitor public policies and suggest peaceful alternatives and sensitize the public to human right related causes.
Groundbreaking approach to protecting women’s right in Pakistan
June 21, 2012
In 2011, Pakistan was ranked third most dangerous country for women in the world on the basis of cultural, tribal and religious practices harmful to women such as domestic torture, economic exploitation and deprivation from share in inheritance.
Despite the willingness of Pakistani’s women to reach gender equality, many women remain unable to struggle against those practices due to the lack of education to understand their right and the lack of support from their relatives.
With the perspective to help Pakistani’s women redressing gender imbalance, our grantee Alternative Initiatives for Development A.I.D provided an innovative mechanism through its one year project entitled “Protecting Women Economic Rights through raising awareness and supporting networks” which started in April 2011.
A.I.D organized working women groups, building their capacity in different skills, raising awareness of women on labor law, harassment and domestic torture. Simultaneously, a network of stakeholders was formed and sensitized on the need and mechanism for action against violation of women rights. As result, women are now familiar with types of law and regulation, department and organization working to secure women’s right and ways to get emergency help in case of violation of any of their right.
The project successfully provided legal aid for 9 women who went into court to defend their rights following up on domestic torture, humiliation, harassment or economic exploitation and a focal office was established to help women dealing with justice in district court Kasur.
The project raised awareness of 900 women against the actual target of 750 women on their rights promoting their economic independence, non-discriminatory wage for women worker and access to justice for women.
The project has accomplished remarkable achieving steps in changing the mindset of people and it is worthy to note the 90 per cent increase in reporting of women’s case to government departments which reflects the real impact of the project on women’s right in Pakistan.
Alternative Initiatives for Development was established in 2007 and is currently operating on projects to redress the social and economic situation of women in Pakistan.
Musawa Releases a Report on the State of Justice in Palestine
In April 2012, Musawa, the Palestinian Center for the Interdependence of Judiciary and Legal Profession with the support of the Foundation and the United Nations Development Program, issued a survey to collect opinions on the state of justice in Palestine. The report highlights negative and positive trends regarding the performance of the justice’s pillars from 2007 to 2011, and aims to provide a reference for decision-makers designing policies and remedial mechanisms. Musawa intends to use this new information to tackle the existing hindrances to the realization of rule of law and the impartiality and efficiency of the judiciary.
Musawa’s report established trends by compiling the opinions of the Palestinian public, law students and teachers, working and trainee lawyers and the members and staff of the general prosecution. The following issues were examined:
1. Trust in Palestinian legal system
2. Public satisfaction with Palestinian judicial system
3. Public satisfaction with reporting, procedures and judicial departments
4. Transparency of the Palestinian justice system
6. Criteria of staff appointments and advancement in Palestinian judicial system
Musawa wishes to overcome those issues and relies on the active participation of legislative, executive and judicial decision makers as well as civil society organization. The next step for Musawa will be to prepare a study focusing on possible solutions to the issues reflected in this report.
Please click here to read Musawa’s report in Arabic or in English.
Zakher Raises Awareness among 400 Palestinian Women on their Right to Inheritance
June 4th, 2012
Women in Palestine, especially those from traditional areas such as Shojaeya, Al Darj, Zaitoun, Tuffah and Sabra, suffer from a specific form of discrimination: the violation of their right to an Islamic inheritance.. With its January 2012campaigndemandingthat women receive their proper inheritance, Zakher aims at raising awareness and improving women’s rights..
Recently, Zakher released its first activity report detailing the implementation of their activities, their outputs, and the challenges and obstacles faced during the project. Through their 22 trainings and 20 workshops, Zakher wishes to strengthen women’s leadership so that they can then promote a culture of non-violence and spread knowledge within their communities.
Zakher also utilized informative tools such as brochures, posters and banners within their campaign and distributed these to change the popular mindset regarding women’s rights. However, Zakher was disappointed that they were unable to hold awareness-raising meetings for high school students thanks to the Education Department’s disapproval..
Regardless of this setback, Zakher is pleased to announce that 400 women from the East Gaza area have become quite knowledgeable about women’s rights to inheritance.
Zakher has been a registered NGO since 2003 and is considered as a pioneer in the defense women’s rights in Gaza.
Voter Education and Democratic Engagement Program (VEDEP) Continues to Gain Momentum Throughout Pakistan
May 16, 2012
Given that lack of awareness and education on the use of vote is directly linked to low female participation rates in democracy-building processes, Taraqee Foundation plans to create more forums and opportunities for women through its eighteen- month-long project entitled “Women empowerment through democratic opportunities,” a project it began in November 2011.
Recently, the Voter Education and Democratic Engagement program, part of Taraqee’s aforementioned project, was shared and disseminated through radio in four local languages including Urdu, Pushto, Brahvi and Balochi in an attempt to enhance women’s participation in the democratic process in Pakistan.
With this program, Taraqee Foundation intends to strengthen Pakistani women’s engagement in democratic dialogue and their participation in the political and development opportunities that target1000 marginalized women, civil society actors, and media in the disadvantaged Balochistan province . Therefore, Taraqee organized social mobilization efforts within the local community to promote women’s leadership. It will also create 50 women’s groups focusing on bolstering voter education and proactive participation in the democratic process.
Following up on the social mobilization, the community groups have organized their own discussion groups concerning the importance of the vote. Taraqee Foundation is also deeply involved in building women’s capacity and in raising their awareness of both socioeconomic and democratic rights.
Taraqee was established in 1994 and has worked with local communities in more than 10 districts of the Balochistan province and of advocates for positive change in the area by promoting linkages with other stakeholders of civil society.
Nomination of Attorney Ibrahim Barghouthi, CEO of our grantee MUSAWA, as a representative of Civil Society Organization within the technical committee against corruption in Palestine
May 26, 2012
Palestinian Authority receives one of the highest levels of humanitarian aid in the world and is subject to many critics on corruption. Therefore, greater emphasis has been placed on developing tools for responding to the criticisms and CSO’s work towards an efficient judiciary system has been remarkable.
For instance, the Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, also known as MUSAWA, aims at fostering the rule of law by monitoring and evaluating the Palestinian legal system but also through capacities building of Palestinian lawyers and human rights activists with the aim to enable them to monitor the performance of the Pillars of Justice.
With its project entitled “Legal Monitor”, Musawa intends to improve the compliance of the Palestinian justice system with domestic law and international standards through a comprehensive approach treating the social, cultural, economic, and political obstacles that hinder the proper implementation of the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession.
Recently, the President of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, issued a presidential decree on the formation of a ministerial and a technical committee whose objective is to struggle corruption through various tools such as the self-evaluation conduct of the implementation of the United Nations Convention against corruption and the activation of the participation of the Palestinian National Authority. The committees will also be in charge of coordinating the collection process of legislation and legal terms in regards to the anti-corruption themes from various stakeholders within the National Authority, and assess the proposed provisions and recommendations for amendments to be made to the legislation or practices relating to the work against corruption of the Ministerial Committee.
Musawa’s work has been acknowledged and accordingly, Attorney Ibrahim Barghouthi / CEO of MUSAWA was selected to represent civil society organizations within the membership of the Technical Committee which held its first meeting on 12/06/2012.
The evaluation process of the Ministerial Committee is expected to be completed by the end of September 2012.
Experts Discuss Local Administration and Decentralization in Egypt
May 13, 2012
Recently, the Egyptian Ministry of Local Administration approached Maat requesting its cooperation in enhancing the ministry’s plan for decentralization, an emerging issue in the country. Maat, Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, is a Foundation grantee and has been working since December 2008 to enhance links between Egyptian citizen and their representatives on local councils..
Throughout this “Citizen’s Voice” project, Maat has been working to increase the participation of local media professionals and civil society actors in the decentralization process. It has also been advocating for improvements to the legislative framework governing Egyptian local administration among the Egyptian society. To accomplish these goals, Maat held a two-day workshop called “Improving the Local Management System - Experiences of the Past - Aspirations of the Future” on the 21st and 22nd of April in Cairo.
For this conference, Maat Foundation gathered 42 participants, including local executives (heads of administrative centers), political science professors, local administration experts, lawmakers, and representatives of some political parties to discussa range of issues such as local administration, decentralization, and political participation in Egypt. Although the workshop was very successful, there were few female attendees, making up only 9 of the 42 participants..
Participants shared their point of view on local governance and established dialogue with high level leaders such as the secretary general of the local administration, Mohamed Abdel Zaher, and the head of Development of Local Administration department within the Ministry of Local Development, Dr Nehal El Megharbel. Moroccan experts also attended the workshop and allowed the discussion to gain momentum by sharing their experience.
Maat remains dedicated to promoting the rule of law, democracy, and human rights and has been a grantee of the Foundation since 2008.
Highlighting Regional Radio Networking in Pakistan
May 2, 2012
Given that the lack of rural access to media sources besides radio prevents Pakistanis from getting involved in social issues such as women’s rights, a new project by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) and Foundation for the Future seeks to develop the capacity of radio stations to produce and broadcast news. PPF, a Foundation for the Future grantee since October 2011, began this project with the aim of establishing a Pakistani national radio news network in Pakistan comfortable with discussing issues like gender justice and democracy. In the course of this “Pakistan Regional Radio Networking” project, PPF targeted 125 professionals from 25 radio stations as well as25 CSO and press clubs in 15 districts in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir to participate in workshops on radio material production over a period of 12 months.
From December 28th to 30th, 2011, PPF organized a three day training workshop for radio professionals in Karachi with special focus on gender justice and democracy. During the workshop, the journalists learned to highlight social issues on the radio since the radio is often the only source of information in rural areas. The participants expressed their satisfaction and emphasized the need to have more workshops to raise awareness of gender justice, poverty and violence against women.
A similar workshop on April 10th, 2012 in Lahore included the 6 women and 15 men who tackled issues like gender justice and economic empowerment. The participants prepared a news package and current affairs programs to be broadcasted on radio. Participants praised PPF’s efforts to promote radio journalism and acknowledged the organization’s many accomplishments.
To achieve its goals, PPF has developed a web portal with a database that includes articles and news bulletin for the use of stakeholders conducting research, studies, and projects in the field.
Mr. Owais, the director of the project recently underlined the success of the project by recalling that for the first time in Pakistan; almost ¼ of the total FM radios in Pakistan are daily broadcasting stories dealing with women’s issues.. PPF aims to further expand these efforts so that professionally-produced radio shows dealing with social issues reach5 million Pakistanis. Pakistan Press Foundation, an independent media research, documentation and training center based in Karachi, develops capacities of journalists and media institutions through activities that raise awareness of social and development issues in Pakistan. PPF has already trained thousands of journalists in Pakistan and has been a pioneer in developing professional standards for independent radio in Pakistan.
Highlight on Pakistani “Project Smart Vote” during Manchester’s Peace Week
April 19, 2012
Development Dimension Society’s (DDS) “Project Smart Vote”, funded by FFF, has been subject to widespread media coverage in Pakistan and abroad thanks to its success in enhancing civic participation among youth. It was therefore no surprise that DDS’s project was showcased during Peace Week in Manchester, UK, which seeks to spread a message of peace and tolerance among local communities in the UK and Pakistan.
DDS’s representative, Safdar Ali Khan, introduced activities carried out by “Project Smart Vote” from the 5th of April to the 30th of October 2011. He also presented a report on Pakistan’s parallel Peace Week and underlined that the project successfully reached 5,000 young people (18-35 years old) with its voting rights awareness program in 5 selected districts of Pakistan The project divided the young people into regional groups who recently celebrated Peace Week, encouraging further youth volunteerism and active citizenship. Mr. Khan himself was a participant of one Pakistani “Smart Vote” youth group. .
Therefore, he expressed his hope to expand activities in the near future to further inspire youth to play an active role in the development and the future of the country. Peace Week participants were inspired by Khan’s and expressed deep interest in contributing to Pakistani youth activities.
New Tool Promoting Good Governance for Palestinian NGO’s
April 4, 2012
Since May 2010, when FFF held a regional expert conference in Amman to discuss the best practices for better CSO accountability in the BMENA region, FFF has redoubled its efforts and promoted good governance by supporting organizations such as AMAN in Palestine.
In May 2011, AMAN Coalition for Integrity and Accountability NGO and FFF launched an 18month long project, “NGO Good Governance Certificate,” which creates a good governance accreditation system for Palestinian NGO’s. Despite the crucial need to build a national integrity and transparency system among Palestinian NGO’s, in the past, the lack of technical expertise and capacities prevented them from creating an efficient strategy to prevent corruption.
To tackle this issue, AMAN recruited a team of technical expert which designed a step-by-step assessment system on NGO’s performance and compliance in line with internationally-recognized criteria of integrity, transparency, and accountability.
So far, 24 NGOs have been targeted in the West Bank and Gaza and will be soon interviewed by the team of technical experts and an AMAN-appointed jury during a field visit. The team is expected to subsequently nominate the three best NGOs and the jury will name the one that should be awarded the title of the Best Governed CSO. With this project, the pioneering AMAN has created an important tool to ensure good governance and fight against corruption.
AMAN is the Palestinian National Chapter of Transparency International. It was established in February 2000 thanks to an initiative by a number of Palestinian civil society organizations working in the fields of democracy and human rights.
Beit el Hanan: Sheltering Abused Women in Beirut
March 22, 2012
Beit el Hanan, one of the Foundation’s grantees in Lebanon, recently conducted a training workshop on trauma therapy as part of its project entitled “Providing Safe Shelter for Women Victims of Violence”.
As a project of its newly established women’s shelter in Beirut, the organization has gathered 15 participants to establish standardized procedures for dealing with abused women and children arriving at the shelter. The process agreed upon during the workshop includes steps such as first setting appointment with a doctor, a psychologist, or a lawyer as a first step, and then rebuilding the woman’s life by training her and finding her a new home.
Workshop participants expressed a high level of satisfaction and it appears that women who have completed reintegration process already improved in dealing with their new life. A number of workshops for abused women were previously conducted at the shelter by speakers who shared their knowledge and means facilitated healing. For example, a poet showed workshop attendees that writing can have therapeutic properties and a doctor shared his expertise in dealing with grief.
Discrimination against women is a wide-spread in Lebanon and discriminatory provisions can even be found in the law itself. Creating a shelter to welcome women is only one of the steps taken by Beit el Hanan. The organization additionally works to prevent such abuses from happening in the future by advocating for women’s and children’s rights to be valued and respected.
Highlight on Two Moroccan Grantees- Part One
February 23, 2012
During a recent field visit to Morocco, the Foundation’s Grant Officer for North Africa took the opportunity to meet with our 7 grantees to discuss their challenges and successes in the implementation of their FFF-funded projects. This visit was fruitful for our grantees who were able to better understand how the Foundation can be of support in the conduct of their project, but also for our Grant Officer who got a better appreciation of the projects and the reality of the country.
Taking this opportunity, we have decided to highlight two Moroccan projects that have recently ended. The project presented here tackles raising awareness of civic participation necessity among youth population.
Initiated in mid-2010 by the Fès-based Centre des Droits des Gens (People’s Rights Center), the project “Civic and citizenship education promotion in the education system benefiting four regions in Morocco” has successfully concluded its activities in late 2011. During this project, the organization has implemented a series of activities promoting the core issues of citizenship, human rights and civic education in Moroccans schools.
Through tailored workshops and the realization of a forum on citizenship, the project was able to raise awareness to 384 students (including 190 girls),and to a significant number of teachers, officials from the Ministry of Education, members of the Human Rights Education (HRE) committee, activists from the organization and other partner organizations. This large population sample, educated to the concept of human rights, democracy, human dignity, tolerance, non-violent conflict management and non-discriminatory behavior, is reported to have been very enthusiastic about those constructive trainings.
The project was warmly welcomed by participants and considered as an important incentive scheme for future projects in Moroccans schools. Some youth participants built on their newly acquired knowledge, as well as on the project’s momentum, to further initiate other activities. They, for instance, launched a magazine to raise people’s awareness on human rights.
The Centre des Droits des Gens, on the other hand, remains committed to spreading its core values through the development of more efficient partnerships with the authorities in charge of education, with the hope to soon impact Morocco as a whole.
Alternative Initiatives for Development (A.I.D) Awareness Campaign Reaches 900 Women in Kasur, Pakistan
February 2nd, 2012
Alternative Initiatives for Development (A.I.D) has organized several awareness workshops in Kasur, Pakistan as part of the project entitled “Protecting Women’s Economic Rights through Raising Awareness and Supporting Networks”, funded by Foundation for the Future.
Workshops fostering awareness on women’s economic rights, women’s human rights & domestic violence were organized in a number of villages (Bazid pur, Hussain Khan wala, Noori wala, Ganda singh Markaz, Ratney wala, Mamman wala and Sodiwal) in the district of Kasur. Average female attendance was 20 (ranging from 14 to 25 of age) at each girl’s school. Participants expressed their appreciation and said that they would share their newly acquired knowledge with other females in the family as well as in the community gatherings.
The project consists of three components,
(1) Awareness Raising of 750 women on women’s human rights, economic rights and workers rights through establishing 50 centers at government schools in Tehsils (sub-district) of the district of Kasur.
(2) Access to Justice for 750 women providing free legal consultation and free litigation services for securing women’s rights.
(3) Networking of Stakeholders for mutual sharing, monitoring, reporting and collective action against violations of women’s rights in the district.
One of the main achievements of this project was to raise awareness for over 900 women. The project indeed initially targeted 750 women but due to its successful approach the number was exceeded by 150. The goal now is to reach more women and educate them about their basic human rights, economic rights and domestic violence.
The project has also provided legal assistance to 8 women who were victims of domestic torture, humiliation, harassment and economic exploitation. Five out of eight cases have been successfully concluded and women victims were justiced and regained their human and economic rights.
Ms. Sumera Haji Muhammad, an embroidery worker from the village of Bhalloo, North of Kasur, won her case in family court with the help of a penal lawyer of the project. A volunteer female lawyer working with the project was pursuing two cases of women who wanted to escape from domestic torture or economic exploitation and contacted project management for justice. Sumera Haji Muhammad was one of those who were facing humiliation and economic exploitation by their husbands. She claimed dissolution of marriage and compensation of expenses linked to her two sons whom she took care about on her own for a year. Her husband indeed eloped with another woman of the same village and never contacted Sumera for about a year. Sumera wanted divorce but the family of her husband refused. They wanted her to remain at their service, and so that her husband could sometimes come home and see his sons. Sumera refused to become servant instead of a dignified wife, but she did not know that Islam and Pakistani laws give right to a woman to get divorced and that the courts are very lenient towards women regarding this. Resource Teacher told her in a workshop held at her village that women are equal to men before law and religion. The teacher arranged her to meet with the project team in order to fill her case in the proper court.
After about a month and a half month, the court decided in favour of Sumera and dissolved her marriage. The court further ordered to apply for recovery of past expenses and issued a decree against her ex-husband.
Alternative Initiatives for Development (A.I.D) is an NGO exploring and implementing innovative approaches to sustainable development in rural and slum areas in Pakistan. A.I.D helps to meet the socio-economic needs of communities in these areas through building knowledge & skills, supporting networks and systems and securing healthy environments for future generations. A.I.D was established in 2007 and has been a grantee of the Foundation for the Future since April 2011.
Using Art as a Youth Empowerment Tool
March 12, 2012
In 2011, Egyptian CSO Gudran Association for Art and Development has successfully completed a project entitled “Domino: Spreading the culture of social peace and youth participation” and dedicated to using the arts to connect youth and spread the concepts of social peace, civic engagement and women empowerment.
Gudran indeed came to realize that despite the enthusiasm of youth for social changes, the lack of support and opportunities due to a high unemployment rate in Alexandria prevented them from playing an active part in the development of their community. To tackle this issue, Gudran imagined a project that would foster ideas of civic education, participation and disseminate social peace through activities promoting tolerance, cooperation, equality and self-initiative. Part of the project also focused on engaging youth in debates about the status of women in their communities and how to improve their position as citizens of Egypt.
With this perspective, and with support from Egyptian artists, it implemented capacity building activities which supported 48 young participants to express themselves on cultural and social topics, while enhancing their creative personal skills through artistic workshops. Simultaneously, others activities, such as seminars, additional meetings with Egyptians artists and the establishment of a cultural library were implemented to connect youth and make them actors of their communities. The masterpiece of Gudran’s project was probably a 2000 people gathering in Alexandria where youth activists of the Arab Spring were celebrated and engaged on topical issues.
After such a successful project, Gudran remains dedicated to developing other activities for youth, including theater, music and photography trainings to keep on stimulating youth positive participation and to strengthen their role in building their communities. Gudran Association for Art and Development was created thanks to a group of artists driven by a spirit of social responsibility to raise awareness about social participation of youth. Gudran was awarded a grant from the Foundation for the Future in 2010.
”MY RIGHTS TO INHERITANCE”: A NEW HOPE FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN GAZA, PALESTINE
March 5th, 2012
Zakher, from Gaza, received a grant from the Foundation for the Future in June 2011 to implement a comprehensive initiative which aims at raising awareness and eventually improving women’s rights to inheritance in Palestine. The lack of right to inheritance for women indeed accounts for a significant form of discrimination and violation of women’s right and the project seeks to contain this specific discrimination by fighting society’s ignorance on the provisions of law and religion regarding inheritance rights.
With this project entitled “campaign to demand the civil right of women to inheritance”, Zahker recently started the implementation of awareness raising activities in the Gazan society. Activities are to be implemented over a period of 12 months in Gaza city and will focus on specifics geographic areas such as Shojaeya, Al Darj,Zaitoun, Tuffah and Sabra, known for particularly denying women’s right to inheritance due to strong customs and traditions.
A core component of the project is the training of a group of activists who will in turn work on raising awareness among 50 prominent women so as to ensure the establishment of pressure forces on decision makers. Simultaneously, a network will be set up as a complement to forge partnership and relationship with local civil society organizations. Other activities such as workshops and awareness raising sessions in schools will be implemented with the task to challenge customs and common traditions to promote women’s rights by highlighting success stories.
With this project, Zakher anticipates to raise by 30% the rate of women demanding their right to inheritance in Gaza, despite the fact that the project represents a real challenge in view of the political environment, the current shape of the society and the willingness of competent authorities. Zakher is taking up the crucial task of strengthening the involvement of stakeholders, legal authorities but also increasing the issue of women’s inheritance in the media in order to create an appropriate environmental atmosphere for women to claim their rights.
Zakher is registered as an NGO since 2003. It is a pioneer in the defense of the cause of Women in Gaza and it is as such widely recognized.
Highlight on Two Moroccan Grantees- Part Two
February 29, 2012
Second highlight, the Moroccan project “Contributing to the Security Sector Reform in Morocco” implemented by the Centre d’Etudes en Droits Humains et Démocratie (Center for Human Rights Studies and Democracy) ahead of the Arab Spring protests which erupted in February 2011.
With this project, the organization has successfully striven ask for a reform of the security sector to be placed at the center of the democratic transition process initiated by King Mohammed VI. Indeed, it is argued that a modification and clarification of the security sector offers better protection to populations and increases respect of human rights among security providers.
The project was implemented in three phases, from legislation compilation to a round-table followed by a conference gathering prominent experts and representatives from civil society. A website compiling data on the topic was further created to support Moroccan institutions in the inception of a comprehensive reform.
The CEDHD conducted a thorough work in positioning the reform at the center of the debate even though it realized that this particular topic can prove extremely sensitive, if not taboo. However, with the round-table and the conference, actors of the security sector, of civil society, experts, and the media, agreed to debate the issue at length and were made aware of the crucial need for good governance in such a sector.
The CEDHD was created in July 2005 in Rabat (Morocco) by human rights activists. Its aim is to diffuse the culture of human rights and democracy. This particular FFF-funded project came at a crucial moment in history, pointing at a significant matter just months before major demonstrations in the country. It was also an opportunity for CEDHD to further develop its expertise in the field of security and to position itself as an expert in the region.
Promoting Women’s Rights through Enabling Women Survivors of Violence of Attaining Social Inclusion in Pakistan
February 16, 2012
In the project entitled “To Promote Women Rights through Enabling Women Survivors of Violence to Attain Social Inclusion” in Pakistan, Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Programme (CHIP) has successfully implemented the main goals and carried on with enhancing the social capacities of Women Survivors of Violence and strengthening the village based communal structure to institutionalize the concepts of human rights and justice.
CHIP has been working since its establishment in 2010 on promoting cooperation and linkages between village structures and institutions in order to foster human rights in remote rural areas by improving local connections and social awareness among the targeted community.
Training sessions, events and formations have been organized by CHIP in partnership with men and women community organizations, lawyers, medico-legal officers, police and media representatives. 472 mobilization sessions with 157 Women Survivors of Violence and 435 mobilization sessions with 148 family members of Women Survivors of Violence were conducted in 20 villages of Tehsil Sohawa District Jhelum, Punjab Province.
The sessions have successfully resulted in increasing participation of Women Survivors of Violence in social activities and in helping population to reduce misconceptions regarding divorce, child custody, domestic matters and women rights. Participants felt empowered by the trainings and encouraged to share the outcome with their community. CHIP also reports that participants felt they had gained confidence and interpersonal communication skills to participate in social activities.
Challenges, such as participation of policy officers and attendance of stakeholders in trainings, have been raised and CHIP is gathering a number of recommendations concerning their improvements.
Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Programme (CHIP), a grantee of the Foundation for the Future, is a leading not-for-profit organization established in 1993.It enables individuals and organizations to make more efficient development efforts through the provision of value-led Human & Institutional Development (HID) services.
MUSAWA Successfully Conducts Workshops in West Bank and Gaza
February 9, 2012
Implementing phase II of its FFF-funded project, MUSAWA-Palestine has conducted a number of workshops between June and December 2011.
In the context of the project Legal Monitor: Monitoring the Justice Sector in Palestine, The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, also known as MUSAWA, has conducted 5 workshops in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Gaza and Khan Younis. This “Legal Monitor” project aims at fostering the rule of law by monitoring and evaluating the Palestinian legal system. Another core task of the project (Phase II) is to build the capacities of Palestinian lawyers and human rights activists so as to enable them to monitor the performance of the Pillars of Justice.
Nine trainers, previously educated by MUSAWA during a workshop in Amman, were appointed to conduct the workshops in the West Bank while the trainers in Gaza were chosen among judges and lawyers with high expertise in the case of Gaza.
The selection of the participants was based upon five major criteria: gender, qualification, diversity, location, and application precedence. Throughout the selection process, a special emphasis was made on choosing equal number of male and female participants in order to guarantee gender mainstreaming.
In the end, 130 lawyers, trainee lawyers and human rights activists participated to the workshops and a questionnaire at the end of the training revealed that 87% of the participants believed that the training workshop contributed to developing their skills while 81% of the participants rated the effectiveness of the training as excellent or very good (and 13% rated the training as good).
MUSAWA further considers that the training sessions were very fruitful since the discussions blended between politics and legal issues, in addition to pinpointing and relating to real incidents. Those sessions were featured in many local newspapers, as shown below
Musawa is an independent civil society NGO established on March 18th 2002 as part of an initiative by lawyers, former judges, and human rights advocates devoted to guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession through: monitoring and documenting violations; and treating the social, cultural, economic, and political obstacles that hinder the proper implementation of the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession.
Tamkeen in the Jordan Times for Helping Underage Migrants
January 12, 2012
During a campaign to raise foreign workers’ awareness of their rights and the concept of human trafficking, Linda Kallash, president of the Tamkeen Centre for Human Rights and Legal Assistance, realized that some of the girls attending looked too young to work as domestic helpers. In collaboration with the Embassy of Indonesia, Tamkeen started conducting individual meetings with Indonesian helpers seeking refuge.
Kalash discovered that these girls were brought to the Kingdom in a manner suspiciously close to a form of human trafficking. “We contacted the labour and justice ministries to inform them of our findings, but have yet to receive any response from them. The problem is still ongoing and needs to be addressed”, Kalash stated to the Jordan Times.
In November 2011, the Foundation for the Future’s partner Tamkeen Centre for Legal Aid and Human Rights received the French Republic's “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” Award in recognition of its efforts in defending the rights of vulnerable groups.
Tamkeen is being funded by the Foundation for the Future since early 2011. A new grant for 2012 was approved recently by the Foundation Board of Directors in recognition of the great work done and results achieved by the Center.
To read the article on Jordan Times click here.
DDC’s Project Smart Vote gets widespread news coverage in Pakistan
January 5th, 2012
FFF funded “Project Smart Vote” has got widespread media coverage in the 5 regions of Pakistan where the project is implemented. The project is an awareness and civic educational program for voting rights, targeting young people (18-35 years old) in 5 selected districts of Pakistan, covering 2 provinces.
Its objectives are to promote peace, tolerance and democratic norms through youth trainings; to encourage volunteerism, active citizenship and facilitate accountability of elected representatives to their constituents, by empowering communities to voice priorities and demand responsiveness. It also seeks to provide information to electorate and facilitate interaction between elected representation and citizens.
A very high number of articles have been written about the project in Kasur, Lahore, Abbottabad and Mansera, highlighting the relevance and success of the project.