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06 July 2015 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
NPWJ press release
Press Conference on "Reinforcing the Role of Women in the Middle East and North Africa" - Monday 6 July 2015, North-West Cardo, 1st floor – EXPO 2015
By NPWJ, 02 Jul 2015
Women are an essential element in the development of individual countries all over the world, from the economic and social point of view as well as that of human rights. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in cooperation with, among others, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), has pleasure in presenting the project “Promoting Women Empowerment for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in the MENA Region”. The project’s objective is to reinforce the role of women through inclusive and sustainable industrial development in the Middle East and North Africa. The project is financed by the Italian Government, and will help boost the role of women in the economies of six countries through their six Ministries of Industry and Commerce. It will be combined with an offer of technical assistance to six national associations in the countries involved: AWTAD in Egypt, BPW-A in Jordan, Al Majmoua in Lebanon, AFEM in Morocco, BWF in Palestine and Femmes & Leadership in Tunisia. In particular, it will support the creation and development of businesses run by women, improving the business environment for female entrepreneurs and enhancing the role of women’s business associations in the provision of quality services at a national and regional level.
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Lebanese Hezbollah and Syrian army enter rebel-held border city
By Reuters, 05 Jul 2015
Zabadani on the second day of a major offensive to capture the border area around the Beirut-Damascus highway. The army, backed by Hezbollah, has long sought to wrest control of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, from the rebels who have held it since 2012, a year after the start of the Syrian civil war. The Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah's al Manar television station said its fighters and the Syrian army had entered the Jamaiyat district in the western part of Zabadani, about 45 km (30 miles) northwest of the capital Damascus. Footage showed ground troops entering parts of the city lying in a lush agricultural plain adjoining Lebanese eastern mountain range that includes the Qalamoun area. The offensive began on Saturday and was preceded by several days of aerial and artillery bombing of outposts held by a coalition of mainly Sunni Muslim jihadist fighters defending the city.
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Iran nuclear talks could go either way, says John Kerry
By The Guardian, 05 Jul 2015
John Kerry has said nuclear negotiations with Iran could go either way, 48 hours before a deadline for an agreement to be concluded in Vienna. The US secretary of state was speaking to reporters on Sunday as nuclear and financial experts from Iran and six global powers held long and increasingly fraught sessions on the text of an agreement aimed at resolving a standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme. Foreign ministers from the UK, France, Germany and Russia are expected to arrive on Sunday night to join the talks on Monday. Kerry emerged from the negotiations on crutches, the result of a recent cycling accident, and said he wanted to address press reports that a deal was at hand.
Egypt journalists face jail for reporting non-government terrorism statistics
By The Guardian, 05 Jul 2015
Egypt was accused of making a savage assault on free speech on Sunday, after its cabinet drafted a law that criminalises the reporting of terrorism statistics that differ from those the government provides. Under an article in the new terrorism law presented to the president for his final approval, journalists face at least two years in jail if they publish figures that contradict those that state institutions such as the army release. The article concerned outlaws the intentional publication of “false news or data about any terrorist operations that contradicts the official statements released by the relevant authorities”. The move follows the recent deadly attack by Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, in which the group narrowly failed to capture a town in a remote part of the Sinai desert, and killed a number of Egyptian soldiers. The army denied it had lost more than 17 men, and criticised foreign media outlets for reporting higher death tolls. Officials built on that criticism with Sunday’s draft law, a lengthy text that also extends punishments for other terrorism-related charges. Gamal Eid, the executive director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), a Cairo-based NGO, condemned the proposal, comparing it with the actions of the Nazis.
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Islamic State crisis: Air strikes target Syria stronghold
By the BBC news, 05 Jul 2015
Syria and Iraq in 2014. The US military described the 16 strikes as one of the largest assaults carried out in Syria so far. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 23 IS members were killed in the attack. The London-based monitoring group also said a US drone strike on a Raqqa school on Saturday killed six civilians, including a child. US military spokesman Lt Col Thomas Gilleran said: "The significant air strikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh [IS] the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq."
Tunisia's president declares state of emergency after hotel attack
By Reuters, 04 Jul 2015
Tunisia's emergency laws temporarily give the government more executive flexibility, hand the army and police more authority, and restrict certain rights such as those dealing with public assembly and detention. "Due to the terrorism risk, and the regional context, and spread of terrorism, we have declared a state of emergency," Essebsi said in a televised address. "The continued threat we face leaves the country in a state of war, where we have to use all measures necessary." A Tunisian gunman, said to have been trained in a jihadist camp across the border in Libya, opened fire killing foreign tourists, mostly Britons, in the resort of Sousse on June 26. The beach massacre struck a huge blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, prompting thousands of holidaymakers to leave and causing an estimated $500 million in losses for a sector that makes up seven percent of the economy. Authorities have moved to close down 80 mosques they said were operating illegally or spreading extremism which officials say helps recruit young Tunisians to Islamist militancy.
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