organization:ministry of foreign affairs

» Palestinian Organizations Denounce Israeli Court Decision On 2015 Murder Case–
May 14, 2019 1:27 PM - IMEMC News
▻https://imemc.org/article/palestinian-organizations-denounce-israeli-court-decision-on-2015-murder-case

Several Palestinian organizations, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, denounced Israeli court’s exoneration of a member of an extremist Jewish settler suspected of committing the murder of three members of the Palestinian Dawabsha family, in 2015.

The July 31, 2015 firebomb attack of the Dawabsha home in the occupied West Bank village of Douma, killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child and his parents in the fire, who were all burnt to death, while the older son survived the attack, suffering from severe burns.

The father Saad, 32, mother Reham, 27, and 18-month-old Ali were killed in the attack.

Wafa News Agency reported that in a plea bargain, the murder charges were dropped against the murder suspect, when he claimed that he was a minor at the time of the attack. (...)

#Impunité

Oman’s Boiling Yemeni Border

The Yemeni province of #Mahra, on the border with Oman, has not been reached by the war so far. However, Saudi Arabia – as Oman used to do to defend its influence – has started to support a large number of Mahari tribes. This has led to large community divisions in local tribal society, for the first time in the history of this eastern province. This support is not limited to the financial domain but also extends to the military. The spread of armed tribal groups has become a new feature in Mahra in light of the indirect Saudi-Emirati-Omani competition for regional leverage.

In 2015, Yemen’s president, Abdurabo Mansour Hadi, fled to the Yemen-Oman border when the Houthis, along with their former ally Ali Abdullah Saleh, decided to invade Aden to arrest him. The president traveled to the remote provinces of the desert until he arrived in Mahra, through which he crossed the border into Oman. In the meantime, the Saudi-led coalition began its military operations to restore the legitimacy that the Houthis had gained.

The border strip between Mahra and the Omani province of Dhofar is 288 kilometers long, starting from the coast of Haof district and ending in the heart of the desert at the border triangle between Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia: beyond the desert, there are few agricultural zones and the population lives along the border strip. Although the border area is divided between the two countries, the frontier communities in Mahra and Dhofar appear to be an ecosystem: tribes descend from a single tribe and share many historical, social and cultural constituents. In addition, they speak another language beside Arabic, namely “Mahriya” or “Jabali”, which is a Semitic language not spoken by the rest of Yemenis.

This social cohesion in border areas has led Oman to deal with this ecosystem as a first line of defense to protect its security from any break-in. To this end, Oman has strengthened its relationships with Mahra society and provided Omani citizenship for many personalities in the area, especially after signing the border agreement with Yemen in 1992. It has also made it easier for those who do not have Omani citizenship to move to Oman. Despite Yemen’s upheavals since 2011, Mahra province has not been affected economically because it relied on Omani markets to obtain fuel and food, depending especially on a major shared market, the Al-Mazyounah, which is a few kilometers from Yemen’s Shihen border-crossing. This explains why Mahra province managed to remain economically autonomous from the other provinces. At the same time, this contributed to protecting the Omani border from any security breakthrough by extremist groups: most tribes are also grateful to the Omani state for this status quo. This does not mean that illegal activities are absent from this area: the smuggling of goods and vehiclesis widespread and recently many human trafficking cases in Dhofar were also recorded, but all the people involved in such activities are Mahris.

However, the consequences of the war have extended to the border of Mahra province since mid-2015. The Houthis reduced the financial allowances of Mahra employees to a quarter of the amount required for the province, causing non-payment of salaries for many civil and military employees: many of them, especially non-Mahris, had to leave and return to their areas. This provoked a severe shortage of employees in security and service institutions: as a result, the then governor of Mahra handed out Mahra crossings to the tribes, surrounding the areas to take over the management of ports at a governorate level and transfer customs fees to the province’s account. Moreover, Oman provided the necessary fuel for the service facilities and distributed regular food aid to the population. In 2017, the tribes of Zabanout and Ra’feet began to quarrel over control of the Shihen crossing, each tribe claiming the port as part of its tribal area.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) began to be present in the province of Mahra a few months later at the beginning of the military intervention in Yemen. In 2015 the UAE trained about 2,500 new recruits from among Mahra inhabitants, although they reportedly did not create an elite force due to tribal refusal, while providing a lot of assistance to rebuild the local police and existing security services. It also distributed food baskets and humanitarian aid to the residents of Mahra districts through the UAE Red Crescent Society.

In the eyes of the sultanate, the UAE presence at its Yemeni border is perceived as unjustified: the two countries have disputes on several issues, most notably the border, especially after Oman accused Abu Dhabi of planning a coup in 2011 to overthrow Sultan Qaboos, which the UAE denied.

The collapse of Yemeni state institutions and the military intervention of the Saudi-led coalition stunned Muscat, which found itself having to cope with new dynamics and a no more effective border strategy: these concerns have turned into reality. In January 2016 the Omani authorities closed the ports in the Shihen and Surfeet areas, and a few months later al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized control of the city of Mukalla, the capital of Mahra’s neighboring region of Hadramout. The stated rationale for Oman’s move was to protect its border security from any breakthrough of extremist groups. It is here worth noting that AQAP has never been close to Mahra or its border areas, due to local society, strongly attached to traditional Sufism, which has never accepted al-Qaeda’s ideology. In late 2017, when a group of Saudi-backed Salafists tried to establish a religious education center in Mahra’s Qashan, protests were held against them because locals reject this type of religious belief.

However, observers believe that the real reason for the temporary closure of the ports was the result of political choices made by president Hadi and Khaled Bah’hah, the prime minister at the time: leaders of security and military services in Mahra were replaced by new leaders and the sultanate was uncertain regarding the future political direction of these appointments. It should be noted that, over the past few years, tensions have arisen between Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the one hand, and Oman on the other, because the sultanate adopted political attitudes not aligned with the Saudi-UAE politics in the region, especially in relation to Qatar and Iran.

Oman was also accused by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi of providing access to arms and communications devices to be delivered to the Houthis. In August 2015 Marib province authorities seized a shipment of arms and ammunition for the Houthis at one of its checkpoints. In October 2015, the governor of Marib declared that military forces took possession of Iranian military equipment (including advanced communications equipment) in the province: according to their statement, this shipment was coming by land from the Sultanate of Oman. In November 2015, the Yemeni army dismantled an informal network involved in the smuggling of arms and explosives, as well as of military communications equipment, which entered through Mahra ports, said the army. In October 2016, Western and Iranian officials stated that Iran had stepped up arms transfer to the Houthis, and most of the smuggling crossed Oman and its Yemeni frontier, including by land routes. This was denied by the Sultanate of Oman in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arguing that “the news of arms smuggling through Oman is baseless and no arms are passing through the lands of Sultanate”.

Despite these allegations, there are smuggling routes towards Yemen that seem easier than passing through the sultanate’s borders. The Yemeni coastal strip on the Arabian Sea extends over 1,000 kilometers: this is a security vacuum area and is closer in terms of distance to the Houthis’ strongholds. In any case, smuggled arms or goods cannot reach the Houthis in northern Yemen without the help of smuggling networks operating in areas controlled by the legitimate government forces.

In October 2017 the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a UAE-backed faction of the Southern Movement seeking independence for southern Yemen, tried to convince the former governor, Abdullah Kedda, to join the council, but he refused, asserting that he supports the authority of the legitimate government led by president Hadi. This disappointed the Saudi-led coalition, especially the UAE, which intends to promote the STC as the only entity representing the Southern Movement: the STC embraced the UAE’s agenda in the south.

The Omani influence on the tribes of Mahra was a major motivation for Saudi Arabia’s military reinforcement in the region. In November 2017 Saudi forces entered the province and took over its vital facilities, including al-Ghaidha airport, Nashton port and the ports of Srfeet and Shihen on the border with Oman. The Saudis also deployed their forces in more than 12 locations along the coast of Mahra, and dismissed the airport employees.

These developments worried Mahra inhabitants,pushing thousands into the streets in April 2018: they staged an open protest in the city of Ghaidha, demanding that Saudi forces to leave the facilities and institutions, handing them over to local authorities. Even famous Mahris such as Shiekh Ali Harizi, Shikh Al Afrar and Ahmed Qahtant, described the Saudis as an "occupation power"seeking to seize the resources of the province.

Therefore, the war in Yemen has opened a subtle but acute season of popular discontent and regional rivalry in Mahra, stuck in a three-players game among Saudis, Emiratis and Omanis.

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1109190102083911680/iD0gmTEe?format=jpg&name=600x314#.jpg

“You Cry at Night but Don’t Know Why”. Sexual Violence against Women in North Korea

Oh Jung Hee is a former trader in her forties from Ryanggang province. She sold clothes to market stalls in Hyesan city and was involved in the distribution of textiles in her province. She said that up until she left the country in 2014, guards would regularly pass by the market to demand bribes, sometimes in the form of coerced sexual acts or intercourse. She told Human Rights Watch:

I was a victim many times … On the days they felt like it, market guards or police officials could ask me to follow them to an empty room outside the market, or some other place they’d pick. What can we do? They consider us [sex] toys … We [women] are at the mercy of men. Now, women cannot survive without having men with power near them.

She said she had no power to resist or report these abuses. She said it never occurred to her that anything could be done to stop these assaults except trying to avoid such situations by moving away or being quiet in order to not be noticed.

Park Young Hee, a former farmer in her forties also from Ryanggang province who left North Korea for the second time in 2011, was forced back to North Korea from China in the spring of 2010 after her first attempt to flee. She said, after being released by the secret police (bowiseong) and put under the jurisdiction of the police, the officer in charge of questioning her in the police pre-trial detention facility (kuryujang) near Musan city in North Hamgyong province touched her body underneath her clothes and penetrated her several times with his fingers. She said he asked her repeatedly about the sexual relations she had with the Chinese man to whom she had been sold to while in China. She told Human Rights Watch:

My life was in his hands, so I did everything he wanted and told him everything he asked. How could I do anything else? … Everything we do in North Korea can be considered illegal, so everything can depend on the perception or attitude of who is looking into your life.

Park Young Hee said she never told anybody about the abuse because she did not think it was unusual, and because she feared the authorities and did not believe anyone would help.

The experiences of Oh Jung Hee and Park Young Hee are not isolated ones. While sexual and gender-based violence is of concern everywhere, growing evidence suggests it is endemic in North Korea.

This report–based largely on interviews with 54 North Koreans who left the country after 2011, when the current leader, Kim Jong Un, rose to power, and 8 former North Korean officials who fled the country–focuses on sexual abuse by men in official positions of power. The perpetrators include high-ranking party officials, prison and detention facility guards and interrogators, police and secret police officials, prosecutors, and soldiers. At the time of the assaults, most of the victims were in the custody of authorities or were market traders who came across guards and other officials as they traveled to earn their livelihood.

Interviewees told us that when a guard or police officer “picks” a woman, she has no choice but to comply with any demands he makes, whether for sex, money, or other favors. Women in custody have little choice should they attempt to refuse or complain afterward, and risk sexual violence, longer periods in detention, beatings, forced labor, or increased scrutiny while conducting market activities.

Women not in custody risk losing their main source of income and jeopardizing their family’s survival, confiscation of goods and money, and increased scrutiny or punishment, including being sent to labor training facilities (rodong danryeondae) or ordinary-crimes prison camps (kyohwaso, literally reform through labor centers) for being involved in market activities. Other negative impacts include possibly losing access to prime trading locations, being fired or overlooked for jobs, being deprived of means of transportation or business opportunities, being deemed politically disloyal, being relocated to a remote area, and facing more physical or sexual violence.

The North Koreans we spoke with told us that unwanted sexual contact and violence is so common that it has come to be accepted as part of ordinary life: sexual abuse by officials, and the impunity they enjoy, is linked to larger patterns of sexual abuse and impunity in the country. The precise number of women and girls who experience sexual violence in North Korea, however, is unknown. Survivors rarely report cases, and the North Korean government rarely publishes data on any aspect of life in the country.

Our research, of necessity conducted among North Koreans who fled, does not provide a generalized sample from which to draw definitive conclusions about the prevalence of sexual abuse by officials. The diversity in age, geographic location, social class, and personal backgrounds of the survivors, combined with many consistencies in how they described their experiences, however, suggest that the patterns of sexual violence identified here are common across North Korea. Our findings also mirror those of other inquiries that have tried to discern the situation in this sealed-off authoritarian country.

A 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry (UN COI) on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) concluded that systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations committed by the North Korean government constituted crimes against humanity. These included forced abortion, rape, and other sexual violence, as well as murder, imprisonment, enslavement, and torture on North Koreans in prison or detention. The UN COI stated that witnesses revealed that while “domestic violence is rife within DPRK society … violence against women is not limited to the home, and that it is common to see women being beaten and sexually assaulted in public.”

The Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), a South Korean government think tank that specializes in research on North Korea, conducted a survey with 1,125 North Koreans (31.29 percent men and 68.71 percent women) who re-settled in South Korea between 2010 and 2014. The survey found that 37.7 percent of the respondents said sexual harassment and rape of inmates at detention facilities was “common,” including 15.9 percent that considered it “very common.” Thirty-three women said they were raped at detention and prison facilities, 51 said they witnessed rapes in such facilities, and 25 said they heard of such cases. The assailants identified by the respondents were police agents–45.6 percent; guards–17.7 percent; secret police (bowiseong) agents –13.9 percent; and fellow detainees–1.3 percent. The 2014 KINU survey found 48.6 percent of the respondents said that rape and sexual harassment against women in North Korea was “common.”

The North Koreans we spoke with stressed that women are socialized to feel powerless to demand accountability for sexual abuse and violence, and to feel ashamed when they are victims of abuse. They said the lack of rule of law and corresponding support systems for survivors leads most victims to remain silent–not seek justice and often not even talk about their experiences.

While most of our interviewees left North Korea between2011 and 2016, and many of the abuses date from a year or more before their departure, all available evidence suggests that the abuses and near-total impunity enjoyed by perpetrators continue to the present.

In July 2017, the North Korean government told the UN committee that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that just nine people in all of North Korea were convicted of rape in 2008, seven in 2011, and five in 2015. The government said that the numbers of male perpetrators convicted for the crime of forcing a woman who is his subordinate to have sexual intercourse was five in 2008, six in 2011, and three in 2015. While North Korean officials seem to think such ridiculously low numbers show the country to be a violence-free paradise, the numbers are a powerful indictment of their utter failure to address sexual violence in the country.

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Sexual Abuse in Prisons and Detention Facilities

Human Rights Watch interviewed eight former detainees or prisoners who said they experienced a combination of verbal and sexual violence, harsh questioning, and humiliating treatment by investigators, detention facility personnel, or prison guards that belong to the police or the secret police (bowiseong).

Six interviewees had experienced sexual, verbal, and physical abuse in pre-trial detention and interrogation facilities (kuryujang)–jails designed to hold detainees during their initial interrogations, run by the MSS or the police. They said secret police or police agents in charge of their personal interrogation touched their faces and their bodies, including their breasts and hips, either through their clothes or by putting their hands inside their clothes.

Human Rights Watch also documented cases of two women who were sexually abused at a temporary holding facility (jipkyulso) while detainees were being transferred from interrogation facilities (kuryujang) to detention facilities in the detainees’ home districts.

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Sexual Abuse of Women Engaged in Trade

Human Rights Watch interviewed four women traders who experienced sexual violence, including rape, assault, and sexual harassment, as well as verbal abuse and intimidation, by market gate-keeper officials. We also interviewed 17 women who were sexually abused or experienced unwanted sexual advances by police or other officials as they traveled for their work as traders. Although seeking income outside the command economy was illegal, women started working as traders during the mass famine of the 1990s as survival imperatives led many to ignore the strictures of North Korea’s command economy. Since many married women were not obliged to attend a government-established workplace, they became traders and soon the main breadwinners for their families. But pursuing income in public exposed them to violence.

Traders and former government officials told us that in North Korea traders are often compelled to pay bribes to officials and market regulators, but for women the “bribes” often include sexual abuse and violence, including rape. Perpetrators of abuses against women traders include high-ranking party officials, managers at state-owned enterprises, and gate-keeper officials at the markets and on roads and check-points, such as police, bowiseong agents, prosecutors, soldiers, and railroad inspectors on trains.

Women who had worked as traders described unwanted physical contact that included indiscriminately touching their bodies, grabbing their breasts and hips, trying to touch them underneath their skirts or pants, poking their cheeks, pulling their hair, or holding their bodies in their arms. The physical harassment was often accompanied by verbal abuse and intimidation. Women also said it was common for women to try to help protect each other by sharing information about such things, such as which house to avoid because it is rumored that the owner is a rapist or a child molester, which roads not to walk on alone at night, or which local high-ranking official most recently sexually preyed upon women.

Our research confirms a trend already identified in the UN COI report:

Officials are not only increasingly engaging in corruption in order to support their low or non-existent salaries, they are also exacting penalties and punishment in the form of sexual abuse and violence as there is no fear of punishment. As more women assume the responsibility for feeding their families due to the dire economic and food situation, more women are traversing through and lingering in public spaces, selling and transporting their goods.

The UN COI further found “the male dominated state, agents who police the marketplace, inspectors on trains, and soldiers are increasingly committing acts of sexual assault on women in public spaces” and “received reports of train guards frisking women and abusing young girls onboard.” This was described as “the male dominated state preying on the increasingly female-dominated market.”

Almost all of the women interviewed by Human Rights Watch with trading experience said the only way not to fall prey to extortion or sexual harassment while conducting market activities was to give up hopes of expanding one’s business and barely scrape by, be born to a powerful father with money and connections, marry a man with power, or become close to one.

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Lack of Remedies

Only one of the survivors of sexual violence Human Rights Watch interviewed for this report said she had tried to report the sexual assault. The other women said they did not report it because they did not trust the police and did not believe police would be willing to take action. The women said the police do not consider sexual violence a serious crime and that it is almost inconceivable to even consider going to the police to report sexual abuse because of the possible repercussions. Family members or close friends who knew about their experience also cautioned women against going to the authorities.

Eight former government officials, including a former police officer, told Human Rights Watch that cases of sexual abuse or assault are reported to police only when there are witnesses and, even then, the reports invariably are made by third parties and not by the women themselves. Only seven of the North Korean women and men interviewed by Human Rights Watch were aware of cases in which police had investigated sexual violence and in all such cases the victims had been severely injured or killed.

All of the North Koreans who spoke to Human Rights Watch said the North Korean government does not provide any type of psycho-social support services for survivors of sexual violence and their families. To make matters worse, they said, the use of psychological or psychiatric services itself is highly stigmatized.

Two former North Korean doctors and a nurse who left after 2010 said there are no protocols for medical treatment and examination of victims of sexual violence to provide therapeutic care or secure medical evidence. They said there are no training programs for medical practitioners on sexual assault and said they never saw a rape victim go to the hospital to receive treatment.

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Discrimination Against Women

Sex discrimination and subordination of women are pervasive in North Korean. Everyone in North Korea is subjected to a socio-political classification system, known as songbun, that grouped people from its creation into “loyal,” “wavering,” or “hostile” classes. But a woman’s classification also depends, in critical respects, on that of her male relatives, specifically her father and her father’s male relations and, upon marriage, that of her husband and his male relations. A woman’s position in society is lower than a man’s, and her reputation depends largely on maintaining an image of “sexual purity” and obeying the men in her family.

The government is dominated by men. According to statistics provided by the DPRK government to the UN, as of 2016 women made up just 20.2 percent of the deputies selected, 16.1 percent of divisional directors in government bodies, 11.9 percent of judges and lawyers, 4.9 percent of diplomats, and 16.5 per cent of the officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On paper, the DPRK says that it is committed to gender equality and women and girl’s rights. The Criminal Code criminalizes rape of women, trafficking in persons, having sexual relations with women in a subordinate position, and child sexual abuse. The 2010 Law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Women bans domestic violence. North Korea has also ratified five international human rights treaties, including ones that address women and girl’s rights and equality, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and CEDAW.

During a meeting of a North Korean delegation with the CEDAW Committee, which reviewed North Korean compliance between 2002 and 2015, government officials argued all of the elements of CEDAW had been included in DPRK’s domestic laws. However, under questioning by the committee, the officials were unable to provide the definition of “discrimination against women” employed by the DPRK.

Park Kwang Ho, Councilor of the Central Court in the DPRK, stated that if a woman in a subordinate position was forced to engage in sexual relations for fear of losing her job or in exchange for preferential treatment, it was her choice as to whether or not she complied. Therefore, he argued, in such a situation the punishment for the perpetrator should be lighter. He later amended his statement to say that if she did not consent to having sexual relations, and was forced to do so, the perpetrator was committing rape and would be punished accordingly.

▻https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/10/31/you-cry-night-dont-know-why/sexual-violence-against-women-north-korea
#abus_sexuels #violence_sexuelle #viols #Corée_du_nord #femmes #rapport

Three million euro for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The Farnesina has allocated a contribution of three million euro to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from the Africa Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. It is to strengthen the reception and protection system for refugees in Niger.
The project, called “Strengthening reception conditions for persons in need of international protection in Agadez and in Niamey”, provides support for temporary reception and protection of refugees hosted in Niger, also in the context of the evacuation of vulnerable persons from Libya operated by the UNHCR. About 2,750 refugees and asylum seekers in Niger will benefit from the intervention.
The High Commissioner is committed to supporting refugees in many African countries along the main migratory routes headed for Europe, and particularly in Niger. There are over 344,000 refugees and displaced persons in Niger, plus about 1,500 particularly vulnerable individuals evacuated from Libya.
The recent Italian contribution is part of a broader Italian strategy to support the international organisations responsible for migrants and refugees. In 2017 Italy provided over 51 million dollars to the UNHCR for its activities, thus taking twelfth place among the largest donors of the Agency.

▻https://www.esteri.it/mae/en/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/comunicati/2018/09/finanziamento-di-tre-milioni-di-euro-a-favore-dell-alto-commissariato-delle-n
#Italie #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Niger #HCR #UNHCR

–-> Cette fragile ligne entre aide aux réfugiés et #externalisation des #contrôles_frontaliers... Aidons-les au Niger pour qu’ils ne viennent pas chez nous !

cc @isskein

V’la t’y pas que l’Ukraine part en morceau par l’autre bout : #Ruthénie_transcarpatique ou #Ruthénie_subcarpathique
(avec ou sans h, sub ou trans selon votre position par rapport aux Carpathes) #Moukatchevo / #Moukatcheve / #Munkács
(accord de Munich, 1938 et, surtout, leur violation impunément en mars 1939…)

UAWire - Ukrainian Foreign Minister warns of Russian hybrid threat in #Transcarpathia
▻https://www.uawire.org/klimkin-warned-of-a-russian-hybrid-threat-in-transcarpathia

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin stated in an interview with Radio NV that Transcarpathia is a high-risk region in terms of hybrid threats from neighboring countries. “I believe that Transcarpathia is a high-risk region in terms of hybrid methods. We must invest in it [to counter hybrid threats], otherwise we will create a situation that will cost us more,” said Klimkin.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that it was necessary to resolutely develop the appropriate policy for dealing with national minorities in Transcarpathia. He added that this was an important task that should be done in other regions of Ukraine with national minorities because Russia could exploit them.

“There are other regions where we have national minorities: Romanian, Bulgarian. We understand very well how Russia works with the Romanian and Bulgarian minorities. It can and will improve in applying hybrid methods. Every region needs a consistent and clear policy,” said Klimkin.

Each one teach one — IT skill sharing in #africa
▻https://hackernoon.com/each-one-teach-one-it-skill-sharing-in-africa-e5f72e3d809e?source=rss---

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*A19aBBY7Eha8_scmVE7i9Q.png

The other Digital Revolution — Empowering people by sharing and teaching IT skills in Africa. Illustration by Álvaro Secilla @ okay buenoEarlier this year, we at okay bueno had the chance to present the MVP of a digital platform we are currently developing in cooperation with one of the major German #development agencies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The pitch was part of an event hosted by SPDA, the Strategic Partnership Digital Africa, and it was an inspiring event that really opened my eyes to the digital challenges of developing countries.Some hours passed as we were testing the solution on location when Sinje approached me about the solution we built and evaluating potential synergies with the team at Learning Lions, which she was a part of and represented in some events.If you (...)

#education #startup #it-skill-sharing

Zakharova Tells Who Is Really Behind The Salisbury Anti-Russian Campaign - YouTube
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MNKqJxPcHg

Maria Zakharova, the official representative to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, tells the way it is.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ DUMBEST Lie Yet
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGEEnvwpqBU

On se demande pourquoi les dirigeants derrière choisissent tel ou tel visage féminin pour se faire représenter les deux côtés étant parfaitement libres de tendances anti-sexistes.

▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Huckabee_Sanders

Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (born August 13, 1982) is an American campaign manager and political advisor who was appointed White House Press Secretary to President Donald Trump in July 2017.

▻https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Zakharova

Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova (Мария Владимировна Захарова), née le 24 décembre 1975, est une journaliste et diplomate russe. Elle est la directrice de l’information et de la presse du ministère des affaires étrangères de Russie depuis le 10 août 2015

#USA #Russie #propagande #femmes

The Italian Council of State confirms its position on Bulgaria as a not safe country for the transfer of asylum seekers under the #Dublin Regulation.

With the decision n. 5085 of the 3rd of November 2017, the highest administrative Italian court annulled the transfer to Bulgaria of an asylum seeker under 604/2013 Regulation, confirming its orientation as already expressed last year with several other pronunciations ( n. 3998/2016 Reg. Prov. Coll., n. 3999/2016 Reg. Prov. Coll., n. 4000/2016 Reg. Prov. Coll. and n. 4002/2016 Reg. Prov. Coll.).

In this decision the Council of State affirmed that “there are no reliable elements that led us to believe that the condition of asylum seekers in Bulgaria can be considered respectful of fundamental human rights and can lead to a concrete risk of suffering inhuman and degrading treatments as foreseen in art. 3 par. 2 Reg. n. 604/2013”.

This is particularly relevant if we think that the administrative judges went beyond the informations provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In fact, in the opinion of the Council of State, this informations “doesn’t provide enough convincing elements regarding the effective respect of the reception standards in order to avoid the doubt that, up to now, there are still systemic deficiencies in the asylum seekers reception system” in Bulgaria.

This decision, that follows the legal precedents of the European Courts of Human Rights, reaffirms the fundamental principle that a judge must annul the transfer decree every time there is the reasonable doubt that in the outgoing country exists habitual infringement of human rights. According to these considerations, the highest administrative Italian court took in consideration the informations and data, used by the claimant during the appeal, gathered by the international N.G.O.’s and by the decisions of the European high courts.

The Council of State, in the present case, confirmed that there were a risk of suffering inhuman and degrading treatments in the eventuality of a transfer of the claimant to Bulgaria and for this reason annulled the transfer decree.

reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop, le 13.11.2017 (email de Lucia Gennari)
#renvois_Dublin #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Bulgarie #pays_sûr #Italie

Documents reveal how Israel made Amnesty’s local branch a front for the Foreign Ministry in the 70s
▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.777770

What the minister reported to the Knesset was that for a number of years, Israel had tried to influence the Amnesty’s activity from within. Documents collected by the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research and revealed here for the first time show that some of the people who headed Amnesty Israel from the end of the 1960s to the mid-1970s reported on their activity directly and in real time to the Foreign Ministry, consulted with its officials and requested instructions on how to proceed. Moreover, the Amnesty office was at the time supported by steady funding transferred to it through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: hundreds of Israeli pounds for flights abroad, per diem allowances, registration fees and dues payments to the organization’s headquarters.

The documents show that the most substantive connection was between the Foreign Ministry and Prof. Yoram Dinstein, who headed the branch between 1974 and 1976. Dinstein, an internationally renowned expert on the laws of war who later served as president of Tel Aviv University, had previously been a Foreign Ministry official and served as the Israeli consul in New York.

During his time as chairman of Amnesty Israel, years after he left the ministry, he regularly reported to his former colleagues on his activities and contacts with the international organization.

German Foreign Office
20 déc. 2016
Mourning the victims: The #BrandenburgGate is lit up in Germany’s national colors tonight #IchBinEinBerliner #BerlinAttack #Breitscheidplatz
▻https://twitter.com/GermanyDiplo/status/811263465956458496

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0IvtdeWQAA79EN.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1MA9s4WEAA7VXE.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1v2poGWgAANyb8.jpg

#amalgame

Arab coalition says targets Houthi forces after ship attack | World | Reuters
▻http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN122064

Arab coalition forces have launched operations against militia boats of Yemen’s Houthi group that struck a civilian logistics ship on a humanitarian voyage in a strategic Red Sea shipping lane, the Saudi-led alliance said.

The vessel, an Australian-built high-speed logistics catamaran under lease to the United Arab Emirates military, was attacked by Houthi fighters near the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen’s southern coast on Saturday. The coalition rescued its civilian passengers. No crew were hurt.

In a statement late on Saturday, the coalition said the vessel belonged to the UAE Marine Dredging Company “on its usual route to and from Aden to transfer relief and medical aid and evacuate wounded civilians to complete their treatment outside Yemen.”

Départ vers Israël d’un bateau turc chargé d’aide pour Gaza
AFP
01/07/2016
▻http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/994346/depart-vers-israel-dun-bateau-turc-charge-daide-pour-gaza.html

Un navire turc transportant de l’aide destinée aux habitants de Gaza a pris le large vendredi depuis un port du sud du pays, une initiative qui s’inscrit dans le cadre de la normalisation des relations entre Israël et Ankara annoncée en début de semaine.

Chargé de plus de 10.000 tonnes d’aide humanitaire, le Lady Leyla a quitté le port de Mersin vers celui d’Ashdod en Israël, pour une traversée censée durer une trentaine d’heures, a indiqué la chaîne privée de télévision turque NTV, précisant que l’aide devait être livrée aux habitants de l’enclave palestinienne avant la fête de fin du ramadan prévue mardi.(...)

#GAZA

Cet éditorial suggère qu’Israël doit profiter du coup au Brésil, au motif que le nouveau Président par intérim, Michel Temer, est un « ami d’Israël » : Israel missing opportunity to have ambassador at the Olympics
▻http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4809123,00.html

In August 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was appointing the former head of the Yesha Council as Israel’s ambassador to Brazil. The host of the upcoming Olympics objected to the appointment on the basis of the nominee’s ties to West Bank settlements. Israel attempted to solve the problem via quiet talks, but in March 2016, the decision was cancelled, and Dayan was assigned as the consul general in New York, instead.

After internal political scandals resulted in Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s suspension from power, the conditions were ripe to solve the crisis, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the decision to delay naming an ambassador for the time being to avoid the impression that the Brazilians’ refusal to accept Dayan had been successful. This means that Israel wants to “punish” Brazil for its handling of the matter.

Sources in the MFA expressed surprise at the delay, especially as Acting President Michel Temer is considered friendly to Israel. Temer attended former Israeli president Shimon Peres’s 90th birthday party, and Brazil’s new minister of foreign relations, José Serra, is considered very close to the Jewish community and even came in the 80s for a three-week visit to Israel.

Kenya to close all refugee camps and displace 600,000 people | Africa | News | The Independent
►http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/kenya-refugee-camp-closure-dadaab-worlds-largest-a7019461.html

http://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/05/08/22/dadaab-aerial.jpg

Kenya plans to close all of its refugee camps in a move that would displace more than 600,000 people.

The country’s government said it was shutting down the camps due to “very heavy” economic, security and environmental issues. Those due to close include Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world, home to more than 300,000 people on the Kenya-Somalia border.

Karanja Kibicho, Kenya’s secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, cited the influence of terror group Al-Shabaab as among the risks of keeping the camps open.

Et pendant ce temps, les Émirats semblent se considérer en état de guerre avec le Liban… (ces gens sont d’une subtilité)
▻https://www.mofa.gov.ae/EN/MediaCenter/News/Pages/23216-Leban.aspx

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has announced upgrading of the travel warning to Lebanon to a complete ban, with effect from On Tuesday, February 23 ، 2016. 

The ministry also decided to reduce the number of its diplomatic mission in Beirut to its minimum.

Why Abbas should rethink Palestinian support for Islamic coalition - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/palestine-join-saudi-arabia-coalition.html

Khreisheh charged that Palestinian participation in the Saudi-led Islamic coalition against terrorism, in the absence of a Palestinian army, is designed to divert attention from Israeli attacks taking place in Palestine. It is also designed to integrate Israel into the region by distracting from Israel as the real enemy of Arabs and finding new enemies such as Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, according to Khreisheh.

Al-Monitor contacted some Palestinian military commanders affiliated with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, but they refused to comment on the matter. Al-Monitor could not reach any official at the Palestinian presidential bureau or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain additional information and details.

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/palestine-join-saudi-arabia-coalition.html#ixzz3voGTeBOK

Soupçonnées d’être également dans la #coalition_à_l'insu_de_son_plein_gré, finalement les Maldives « se félicitent de l’initiative ». Ouf.
▻https://twitter.com/mdvforeign/status/677053561033781248

Maldives Government welcomes the initiative by the Saudi led coalition in the fight against terrorism

Pétition au Festival du Film de Locarno (en anglais, mais la liste des signataires est impressionnante)

Filmmakers to Locarno Film Festival: Don’t Give Israeli Apartheid a Carte Blanche
▻http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=2702

It has come to our attention that the Locarno Film Festival has chosen to place Israel as the center of this year’s festival in its “Carte Blanche” initiative, in cooperation with the Israeli Film Fund. This fund is an Israeli government-funded agency which receives support from the Israel Film Council, the government appointed film funding advisory body, as well as support from the Film unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs whose aim is to “promote Israeli films abroad with the support of the cultural attachés in the Israeli embassies throughout the world.”

We, the undersigned filmmakers and industry professionals, would like to express our deep concern with the fact that the Locarno festival is choosing to partner with the Israel Film Fund and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, despite the fact that Israel has not just continued, but intensified its decades-old occupation, colonization, and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.

We are particularly disturbed about the timing of this Locarno Film Festival decision to promote Israel, coming on the heels of Israel’s latest massacre in Gaza in the summer of 2014, where more than two thousand Palestinians were killed, including more than five hundred children. Locarno’s decision also follows the election of the most racist, far-right government in Israel’s history.

Given the current belligerence exhibited by Israel in its ongoing brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians and infrastructure, justified by the same Ministry of Foreign Affairs that you have chosen to be a partner of the festival, we demand that the festival organizers reconsider their relationship to the government of Israel, and withdraw their partnership with the Israel Film Fund, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all other official Israeli entities. If the idea is to support individual Israeli filmmakers or screen Israeli films, there are many ways to do so without accepting funding or other forms of support from the Israeli state and government organizations.

We make this demand in consideration of the Palestinian filmmakers who have lost their lives or their loved ones this year due to Israel’s military attacks. We do so in consideration of the many cultural centers, arts institutions and universities targeted by Israeli bombs and missiles. We do so because we are in solidarity with those who are under siege. Under these circumstances, the actions of the State of Israel cannot be treated as normal. We do so because some of us are under siege, clinging on to our art and our humanity and contributing to our collective struggle for freedom, justice and equality.

We hope that our colleagues and friends at the Locarno Film Festival will stand with us. We hope you will recognize the direness of the present situation, and that you will choose to stand for human dignity in the face of barbarity and injustice perpetrated against any and all peoples.

It is well worth revisiting the timeless words of the German philosopher, Walter Benjamin, from his Theses on the Philosophy of History:

“The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ’state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism. One reason why Fascism has a chance is that in the name of progress its opponents treat it as a historical norm. The current amazement that the things we are experiencing are ’still’ possible in the twentieth century is not philosophical. This amazement is not the beginning of knowledge - unless it is the knowledge that the view of history which gives rise to it is untenable.”

Sincerely,

Annemarie Jacir, Filmmaker, Palestine
Elia Suleiman, Filmmaker, France
Ken Loach, Director, UK
Mira Nair, Director, India/Uganda
Hany Abu-Assad, Director, Palestine
Mohammad Bakri, Actor, Palestine
Saleh Bakri, Actor, Palestine
Simone Bitton, Film Director, France
Joslyn Barnes, Producer, USA
Richard Horowitz, Composer & Producer, USA
Irit Neidhardt, Distributor & Co-Producer & Curator, Germany
Eyal Sivan, Filmmaker & Scholar, France/Israel
Rebecca O’Brien, Film Producer, UK
Walter Bernstein, Screenwriter, USA
Yasmine Hamdan, Singer, Lebanon/France
Jasmila Zbanic, Filmmaker, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Paul Laverty, Screenwriter, UK
Ossama Bawardi, Producer, Palestine
Karine Guignard, Actress & Hip Hop Artist, Switzerland
Hazem Berrabah, DOP, Tunisia
Abdel Salam Shehada, Filmmaker, Gaza/Palestine
Khaled Abol Naga, Actor & Producer & Director, Egypt
Marie-Pierre Macia, Producer, France
Ula Tabari, Filmmaker & Actress, France
Helene Louvart, Cinematographer, France
Kamran Rastegar, Music Composer, USA
Georgina Paget, Producer, UK
Zeina Durra, Filmmaker, UK
Rasha Salti, Film Programmer, Lebanon
Monica Maurer, Filmmaker & Journalist, Germany/Italy
Tala Hadid, Writer & Director, Morocco
John Greyson, Filmmaker, Canada
Hala Lotfy, Filmmaker, Egypt
Nicolas Wadimoff, Filmmaker & Producer, Switzerland
Dictynna Hood, Director, UK
Mai Masri, Filmmaker, Palestine
George Azar, Documentary Filmmaker, USA
Cat Villiers, Producer, UK
Mahdi Fleifel, Director, Amsterdam
Khalid Abdalla, Actor & Producer, Egypt/UK
Sally El Hosaini, Filmmaker, UK
Ounouri Damien, Director, Algeria
Enas Al Muthafar, Director, Palestine
Nicole Ballivian, Screenwriter & Director, USA
Najwa Najjar, Film Director, Palestine
Yahya Barakat, Film Director, Palestine
Nahed Awwad, Film Director, Palestine
Patrick Campbell, Producer, UK
Samir, Director & Producer, Switzerland
Alain Bottarelli, Producer, Switzerland
Palmyre Badinier, Producer, France
Stina Werenfels, Director, Switzerland
Frederic Choffat, Filmmaker, Switzerland
Saed Andoni, Producer, Palestine
Kamal Jafari, Filmmaker, Palestine
Nicholas Blincoe, Screenwriter, UK
George Khleifi, Filmmaker, Palestine
Dima Abu Ghoush, Filmmaker, Palestine
Najwa Mubarki, Casting Director, Palestine
Salim Abu Jabal, Filmmaker, Syria/Palestine
Majdi El-Omari, Filmmaker, Canada/Palestine
Jenny Morgan, Filmmaker, UK
Ramzi Maqdisi, Actor & Filmmaker, Palestine
Raed Helou, Filmmaker, Palestine
Dahna Abourahme, Filmmaker, Lebanon
Georgina Asfour, Filmmaker & Script Supervisor, Palestine
Azza El-Hassan, Filmmaker, Palestine
Rana Kazkaz, Filmmaker, USA/Syria
Mary Ellen Davis, Director, Canada
Norma Marcos, Filmmaker, Palestine/France
Hatem Alsharif, Writer, Jordan
Narimane Mari, Director & Producer, Algeria
Rashid Masharawi​, Director & Producer, Palestine
Omar Robert Hamilton, Writer & Director, Egypt
Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker, India
Susan Youssef, Filmmaker, Lebanon
Osama Abed, Screenwriter & Director, Palestine
Sylvain L’Esperance, Filmmaker, Canada
Rama Mari, Filmmaker, Palestine
Riyad Deis, Filmmaker, Palestine
Buthina Canaan khoury, Filmmaker, Palestine
Nasri Hajjaj, Writer & Filmmaker, Palestine
Jumana Manna, Artist, Palestine
Lyana Saleh, Director & Producer, France
Martin Duckworth, Filmmaker, Canada
Brett Story, Filmmaker, Canada
Hanna Atallah, Filmmaker & Producer, Palestine
Dr. Ezzaldeen Shalh, Film Critic, Palestine
Shannon Walsh, Filmmaker, Hong Kong/Canada
Nora Alsharif, Director, Jordan
Zain Duraie, Filmmaker, Jordan
Akram Safadi, Filmmaker , Palestine
Hicham Kayed, Filmmaker, Lebanon
Suha Arraf, Filmmaker, Palestine
Pacho Velez, Filmmaker, USA
Linda Mutawi, Producer, Jordan/Sweden
Khadijeh Habashneh Abu Ali, Filmmaker, Jordan
May Odeh, Director & Producer, Palestine
Liana Badr, Author & Filmmaker, Palestine
Sophia Al-Maria, Screenwriter, UK
Hanan Abdalla, Documentary Filmmaker, Egypt/UK
Maher Abi Samra, Filmmaker, France
Amber Fares, Filmmaker, Canada/Palestine
Thaer Alsahli, Director & Writer, Netherlands
Ashraf Mashharawi, Filmmaker, Palestine
Alisa Lebow, Filmmaker & Scholar, UK
Maysoon Pachachi, Filmmaker, UK/Iraq
Guy Sherwin, Filmmaker, UK
Haim Bresheeth, Filmmaker, UK
George Costigan, Actor, UK
John Smith, Filmmaker, UK
Miranda Pennell, Filmmaker, UK
Jill Daniels, Filmmaker, UK
Samir Abdallah, Filmmaker, Egypt/France
Claus Josten, Filmmaker, Germany
Ruba Blal Asfour, Actress, Palestine
Fenia Cossovitsa Producer, Greece
Alaa Al Ali, Multimedia Artist, Sweden
Yaser Fares, Artist & Filmmaker, Germany
Tarazan Nasser, Filmmaker, Gaza/Palestine Arab Nasser, Filmmaker, Gaza/Palestine
Larissa Sansour, Artist, UK
Mahmoud Al Massad, Writer & Director, Jordan
Dima Hamdallah, Writer & Producer, Jordan
Sherif Elbendary, Filmmaker, Egypt
Hamada Atallah, Costume Designer, Palestine
Khaled Jarrar, Filmmaker & Artist, Palestine
George Hencken, Filmmaker, London
Eyad Hourani, Actor, Palestine
Ridha Tlili, Filmmaker, Tunisia
Amer Shomali, Filmmaker, Palestine
Marco Pasquini, Documentary Filmmaker & Cinematographer, Italy
Kassem Hawal, Filmmaker & Writer, Iraq
Khalo Matabane, Filmmaker, South Africa
Yahya Alabdallah, Filmmaker, Jordan
Sabah Haider, Filmmaker, Canada/Lebanon
Sean Jacobs, Film Faculty, USA/South Africa
Rashid Abdelhamid, Producer, Palestine
Meriem Varone, Script Consultant, France
Firas Khoury, Director, Palestine
Leila Sansour, Film Director & Producer, UK/Palestine
Hakim Noury, Filmmaker, Morocco
Farida Benlyazid, Filmmaker, Morocco Khalil Benkirane, Filmmaker, Qatar

#Palestine #BDS #Boycott_Culturel #Cinema #Festival #Locarno

Khaleej Times - 09 July, 2014

Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Bahrain has the full sovereign right to take any measures it deems suitable to prevent foreign connections to present false and distorting information about Bahrain.

The UAE on Tuesday expressed its support for sovereign decisions taken by the Kingdom of Bahrain to ensure respect of foreign officials, visitors and diplomatic missions for diplomatic norms in regards to their contacts with local civil society segments and non-governmental organisations.

“Bahrain has the full sovereign right to take any measures it deems suitable to prevent promotion, through these contacts, of internal group that justify, instigate and commit violence and use their foreign connections to present false and distorting information about Bahrain,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

Kuwait claims progress on ending ‘sponsorship’
▻http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/206154/reftab/36/Default.aspx

KUWAIT CITY, May 18, (KUNA): Kuwait has achieved much progress towards the rescission of the Kafeel or sponsorship system applied in the country, a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said here on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters while opening a training course on the fight against human trafficking, held at the ministry, the chief of the ministry’s follow-up and coordination department, said Kuwait was compiling a report on the human rights situation in the country as a prelude to submitting it to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in February.

Kuwait is keen to fix any loophole or problem in national human rights law in order to find the optimum way to tackle the human rights issue in the country, he added.

Asked about US claims concerning failure to bring those involved in human trafficking cases to accountability, the Foreign Ministry’s official said: “Such claims are totally divorced from reality.” On the training course, he said it is the second course to be co-organized by the ministry and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as part of a national plan to promote the role and efforts of the State of Kuwait in the human rights field.

Saudi government to donate $300,000 to help end maritime piracy in Somalia
Text of report in English by Somali news website Mareeg on 18 September

The Saudi government announced yesterday that it would donate $300,000 to a trust fund that aims to abolish maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia and to support the prosecutorial legal process.

Prince Turki bin Muhammad bin Saud Al-Kabeer, undersecretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Relations in the UAE, made the announcement in his speech in Dubai during the 3rd conference against maritime piracy. The theme of the conference was “Anti-Piracy: A Continuing Task to Build Regional Capacity.”

Saudi Arabia is known for its active role in combating piracy around the world, as it greatly affects local and international sales of goods in the entertainment industry.

Last year, the government adopted the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) to further boost the Kingdom’s campaign against piracy.

The Kingdom also provided expert training courses for coast guards to identify, prosecute and apprehend pirates in the Arabian Sea’s borders.

Piracy along the Somali coast has threatened the international shipping industry since the Somali civil war.

International deliveries are frequently interrupted along the Somali coast, which has resulted in an unprecedented rise in shipping expenses amounting to around $6.6-6.9 billion a year, according to statistics provided by Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP).

Source: Mareeg website in English 0000 gmt 18 Sep 13

BBC Mon AF1 AFEauwaf 200913/mau

© Copyright British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

#piraterie #somalie

UAE Ministry Issues Lebanon Travel Warning » Gulf Business
▻http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/05/uae-ministry-issues-lebanon-travel-warning

Emirati citizens have been warned not to travel to Lebanon “for their own safety” due to the current situation in Syria spilling over the border, official news agency WAM has reported.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ advice against travelling to the country, which is popular with wealthy Arabs vacationing in the Middle East, echoes an identical warning it made in December last year.

The advice comes after hundreds of Syrians in the Lebanese city of Sidon held a demonstration on Sunday in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

“If necessary, holders of diplomatic and special passports planning to travel to Lebanon should obtain prior permits from the Ministry and should coordinate with it before departure by calling the Ministry on 02-4449600,” a statement from the Ministry said.

Holders of normal passports will be required to sign a pledge at the airport to take full responsibility when they travel to Lebanon.

Asylum seeker hunger strike in Luxembourg – photos by Paulo Lobo

In September 2011, a group of asylum seekers from the Assyrian minority in Iraq, led by Wilson Mikail, set up camp at the Place Clairefontaine, just outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg Ville. Having waited over 14 months for their applications for international protection to be processed without receiving any news, they began a hunger strike.

http://mondepasrond.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pl5.jpg?w=780

▻http://mondepasrond.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/asylum-seeker-hunger-strike-in-luxembourg-photos-by-paulo-lo

#migration #asile #réfugié #Luxembourg #photo #reportage #grève

Les sunnites pro-régime continuent leur campagne contre l’ambassade américaine, persuadés que les Américains sont derrière les aspirations démocratiques de l’opposition chiite.

On April 9, the daily Akhbar Al-Khalij reported: "The foreign minister has answered questions by MP Abdallah al-Dusari about the truth of an invitation extended by the US Embassy to Bahrainis to participate in its newly announced programme on political change, which is part of the Democratic Leaders Programme; about whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of this, and whether it was informed by the embassy; about whether this act complies with diplomatic rules and norms; about the ministry’s action to prevent any suspicious attempts; and about whether any ambassador was ever previously warned or prevented from doing any activities other than his diplomatic duty.

Qu’ils se rassurent dans le cas du Demcoratic Leaders Programme, le gouverneent semble avoir transmis les dossiers d’inscription aux ministères les plus acquis à la cause du régime actuel.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out the US Embassy’s memorandum to the Civil Service Bureau, which, in turn, referred it to the parties concerned. The Civil Service Bureau stated that the invitation was extended to the Ministry of State for Human Rights Affairs, Ministry of Social Development, and Bahrain Institute for Political Development.

Pro-government Akhbar al khaleej

Le discours de Morsi au sommet des non alignés à Téhéran, certains points intéressants oubliés par les médias

Arab Republic of Egypt - Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Statement Details
►http://www.mfa.gov.eg/English/Minister/Statements/Pages/StatementDetails.aspx?Source=6781921f-3993-444a-859e-ee26ce851de8&newsID=c87

L’hommage rendu à Nasser pour sa participation à la fondation du mouvement des non alignés

The early beginnings of the Movement started with a similar active participation by Egypt and its leadership, who truly represented, then, the will of the people. Yes, Nasser was representing the will of the Egyptian people to resist foreign hegemony on emerging nations back then.

Il fait référence à conférence de Bandoung de 1955, au moment où le pouvoir nassérien écrasait les Frères musulmans

Un très long développement est consacré à la Palestine et à la nécessaire solidarité avec ce peuple. Morsi réaffirme son appui à la solution de deux Etats

The issue of Palestine has been at the forefront of NAM’s priorities since the Movement’s inception and will remain as such until a just and comprehensive solution, that preserves the inalienable and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, is attained, including the establishment of a Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Après avoir condamné le régime syrien, il a répété sa volonté de coopérer à une solution, mais sans beaucoup d’enthousiasme semble-t-il. Il n’y a aucune référence négative (ni positive) à l’idée d’une intervention étrangère.

On its part, Egypt stands ready to cooperate with all relevant parties to stop the bloodshed in Syria and articulate a vision on what a future and free Syrian state would look like. Egypt has proposed an initiative during the recent Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Mecca that seeks to coordinate the efforts of the relevant regional parties to end this bloodshed as soon as possible.

Aucune mention non plus de la question nucléaire en Iran.

#Syrie #Nasser #Iran #non-alignés