Incoming US administration won’t take leaps in Syria
Will Tunisia, the only Success of the Arab Spring, be Ruined by a Police Protection Bill?
By Rima Sghaier | – ( Global Voices ) – As the Tunisian parliament considers a controversial police protection bill, protests erupted in the city of Bardo to oppose it. On October 6 and 8, human rights groups and a youth-led citizen movement dubbed Hasebhom (translated as “hold them to account”) rallied outside the parliament […]
Can Turkey’s Feminists prevent withdrawal in name of “Family Values” from Treaty banning Violence against Women?
By Arzu Geybullayeva | – (GlobalVoices.org ) – A website called Anit Sayac (Turkish for “monument tracker”) indicates the number “276” on its home page at the time of writing this story. It represents the number of women who were murdered in domestic violence attacks in Turkey—just in 2020. The counter is updated every day. […]
In northern Syria, COVID-19 Threatens Escalation of an already Dramatic Humanitarian Crisis
By Mousa Mohamed | – Translated by Mariam Abuadas | – ( GlobalVoices.org ) – The ongoing armed conflict in Syria has displaced over 1.6 million people who have fled mostly to the north of the country. The resulting catastrophic humanitarian crisis is now worsened by the impact of COVID-19 in the region. Photo of […]
Information warfare: COVID-19’s other battleground in the Middle East
By Saoussen Ben Cheikh | – ( Globalvoices.org) – COVID-19 has exacerbated existing political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, a region already marred by decades of conflict. Now, unscrupulous politicians blame their political enemies or neighboring governments for the spread of the novel coronavirus. Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros […]
How Middle East Governments are using Covid-19 as a Pretext to Crush Human Rights
By Saoussen Ben Cheikh | – (Globalvoices.org) – In response to COVID-19, governments around the world have declared states of emergency, allowing them to take exceptional measures to contain the pandemic. Liberal democracies from the United States, Canada to European countries, Malaysia and South Africa imposed emergency measures that restricted mobility under lockdowns. Likewise, in […]
Iran fails to contain COVID-19 as internal political clashes prevent a timely and unified response
By Ezzatullah Mehrdad | – ( Globalvoices.org) – Since the outbreak of COVID-19 started in Iran in February 2020, internal political clashes have prevented the authorities from adequately responding to the pandemic. As a result, Iran has become one of the worst affected countries: as of April 24, more than 88,000 Iranians have been infected […]
How Saudis and other Authoritarian Middle East Governments are using Covid-19 to Crack down More on Civil Liberties
By Khalid Ibrahim, Gulf Center for Human Rights | – ( Globalvoices.org) – Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain Alhathloul is one of many human rights defenders who remain in jail in the Middle East, despite multiple calls to release them amid COVID-19 fears. Photo credit: Loujain Al-Hathloul via OTRS system / CC BY-SA. COVID-19 cases […]
Yemen’s looming environmental disaster as Saudi Arabia and US Pursue War on it
Risk of a catastrophic oil spill, alarming water shortages and pollution, climate change, and other environmental disasters are adding to Yemen’s suffering