Global Campus Arab World: DEMA --->ARMA

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https://reponew.gchumanrights.org/handle/20.500.11825/564
Arab Master in Democracy and Human Rights Theses / Internship Reports written in partial fulfilment of master's degree

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    The EU and the Palestinian minority in Israel
    ( 2015) Cardarelli, Cristina ; Azarov, Valentina
    The EU is a major actor on the global scene. In foreign policy, it has a predisposition to act normatively, by exporting norms and making states comply with them. However, this is not always the case as the EU-Israeli relations demonstrate. In particular, an analysis of the EU approach towards the Palestinian minority in Israel will question the true potential of EU normative power to bring about concrete change – and discover the genuine human rights concerns that drive EU external actions. Despite the fact that the EU has not been totally insensitive towards the minority, no consistent polices have been developed so far. This is mostly due to two reasons: the existence of weak legal framework on minority rights and the close interconnection between the status of the minority and the Jewish character of Israel. Because of that, EU actions have been mostly driven by cost-benefit calculations, rather than norms. However, a reconceptualization of the minority is needed. On one hand, a deeper engagement with it will close the gap between EU declarations and actions. On the other hand, by implementing the status of the minority there is possibility to re-discuss the Jewish character of Israel from within.
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    Protection of labour rights of Undocumented Migrant Workers against severe labour exploitation in the EU: a case for supporting clandestine workers in Belgium
    ( 2015) Taha, Suhail ; Knockaeret, Jan
    Today in democratic Europe, hundreds of thousands of migrants are deprived of basic social rights, and are exposed to various forms of severe labour exploitation; which has become a phenomenon in the European Union member-states. Difficult economic and social circumstances are the driving forces that cause migrants to work in conditions that do not adhere to the minimum legal and employment standard. The employers are taking advantage of the vulnerable situation of these migrants, many of whom live in constant fear due to their illegal status. In Belgium, ironically, serious violations against undocumented migrants often take place in Brussels, the city where most of the EU legislations are adopted and enacted. The professor of migration at Oxford University, Bridget Anderson, refused to frame the tragedy only as an immigrant issue, stating that the issue of illegal immigration is rooted in deeper problems such as global inequality, injustice, neo-liberal capitalism, and wars in countries neighboring Europe. While Bridget Anderson criticized the current policy mind-set by introducing the concept of ‘violent humanitarianism’ referring to EU responses and policy on migration that rhetorically aims to implement humanitarian objectives, while in terms of practice it contributes to the suffering of victims by choosing ‘violence’ or military response to this tragedy. Most illegal immigrants are often at the bottom of the Belgian labour market, forced to take up menial jobs that locals are not interested in, as stated by Reynieri. OR.C.A refers to them as “The hidden face of our neoliberal economic system”, while PICUM says that Migrant workers take up the ‘3-D’ jobs, namely dirty, degrading and dangerous. The first part of the report presents the EU legal framework for combating forms of labour exploitation. The report also sheds a light on the EU policy on migration, while examining its objectives, and assessing the current debate whether the policy in place focuses more on criminalizing or decriminalizing the undocumented migrants. The second part of the report highlights the situation in Belgium, where exploitation of undocumented migrants prevalent. Finally, the report presents reflections based on research work conducted in collaboration with OR.C.A organization for Rights of Undocumented Migrant Workers, of which it includes an interview with an undocumented victimized worker. This report aims to highlight the gap between the EU legal frameworks for protecting labour rights of undocumented migrants against exploitation, and the vulnerable living conditions and exploitation of the undocumented. As for now, the EU has put into legislation many directives that address the rights of the undocumented migrant workers, namely the Employers Sanctions Directive, the Anti-Trafficking Directive and the Seasonal Worker Directive. However, civil society organisations have called upon the EU to call upon member states to transpose the provisions of the directives into their national law, and to create new mechanisms that will ensure implementation of the laws that will guarantee the protection of the undocumented community against prevalent forms of severe labour exploitation in the EU, such as slavery, servitude and forced labour.
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    Civil society in exile, reconciliation and the future of Syria: the role of the emerging Syrian civil society in Lebanon
    ( 2015) Welander, Marta ; Itani, Hala
    As the polarised violent conflict in Syria continues without end in sight, Syrians continue to flee into neighbouring countries in search of safety and security. The displacement of Syrians en masse into Lebanon over the past few years means that there are now Syrians from a wide variety of socioeconomic, sectarian and ethnic backgrounds, together forming a microcosm of Syrian society in Lebanon. Within this exiled population, many Syrians with strong entrepreneurial abilities from different political projects have taken the opportunity presented by the relatively enabling civil society environment in Lebanon to set up different forms of civil society groups. While no official register of these organisations exists, field research in Akkar, Beirut, Bekaa Valley, Shatila, and Tripoli, managed to identify a total of 34 Syrian-led civil society actors across Lebanon. Fourteen of these groups were examined more closely, through interviews and direct observations. The majority of the researched Syrian actors work in response to the suffering of fellow Syrian refugees, while some focus on easing the tension between Syrians and their Lebanese host communities, and others yet again conduct and disseminate research. The research suggests that Syrian civil society in Lebanon ought not to be misunderstood as merely a form of charitable service provision or temporary pastime activities of exiled Syrians. Rather, the analysis of the research findings suggests that the emergence of a Syrian civil society in exile presents a unique phenomenon. Instead of waiting passively for a ceasefire and a political settlement to be reached, these Syrian groups are seizing the opportunity to develop and grow as civil society actors in exile, hoping to play a role in rebuilding Syria at a later stage. However, the emerging civil society will require international support in order to sustain its work and develop organically. While the international community can play an important role in this context, it needs to recognise the specific and fragile circumstances in which the Syrian civil society actors are operating. A number of concrete recommendations are derived from the research findings, proposing ways in which the international community could support the emerging Syrian civil society in exile.
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    Regionalization of human rights: towards an Arab human rights system? : the Charter, the Bodies, and the Court saga
    ( 2015) Amghar, Hassnaa ; el-Ahmadi, Mohsine
    The evolution of the International system for the protection and promotion of human rights, or the United Nation System, has led to the regionalization of human rights with the growing of regional human rights protection systems in importance steadily over the past few decades. The MENA Region does not have a regional human rights system of its own, but most of its States are covered by at least one of the five above-mentioned regional systems, namely the African Human Rights System, the Arab Human Rights System and the European Human Rights System, notably the case of Turkey. This paper is to examine the emerging Arab Human Rights System championed by the League of Arab States, which is the newest regional systems. Studying the Arab Human Rights System is important mainly because of the size of the population that it is meant to cover and the current turmoil in the Region it is meant to cover. A well functioning human rights system can provide answers to many of the causes of the turmoil and hence improve the lives of the population of the region; however, as things stand presently, a lot of changes need to take place before establishing such a system and achieving these ends.
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    Freedom of expression and opinion : case study Palestine, Morocco
    ( 2015) Namari, Razan ; el-Ahmadi, Mohsine
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    Evaluating and suggesting an adjusted shape of DE.MA program
    ( 2015) Saoud, Mohamad Alhussein ; Benoît-Rohmer, Florence
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    The role of NGOs in women’s empowerment: the case of Tunisia
    ( 2015) Bennis, Hafsa ; Bouraoui, Soukaïna
    CAWTAR is an international NGO based in Tunis that implements projects and programs in the Arab world, in cooperation with local NGOs. The main goal of CAWTAR is to eradicate discrimination against Arab women and to reduce inequalities through the promotion of research, education and training. During this internship, I became aware of the crucial role NGOs play in women’s empowerment, especially in countries where the States fail to guarantee gender equality and a decent life to all citizens. In fact, women’s empowerment became very popular in the last decade and NGOs proved being an efficient actor in this field, helping States to eradicate poverty and guarantee gender equality. In this report, an attempt has been made to define empowerment in the general context, and to present it in the Tunisian one through examples of programs that have been carried out by three NGOs: CAWTAR, LET and TAHADI.
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    The role of the CNDH in protecting freedom of speech in Morocco : an analysis of the CNDH’s memorandum on the draft legislation of the 2014 Press Code
    ( 2016) Evers, Lise ; Gunn, Jeremy
    This research report sets out to examine the effectiveness of the role of Morocco’s National Human Rights Institution, the Conseil National des droits de l’Homme (CNDH), in protecting the freedom of speech. The effectiveness is investigated through a thorough analysis of the recommendations of the CNDH on the draft legislation of the Press Code of 2014. By comparing the recommendations of the CNDH with those of the NGO Reporters Without Borders on the same draft legislation as well as with the CNDH’s work on women’s rights, it attempts to investigate whether the CNDH effectively protects the freedom of speech. The analysis shows that the CNDH prioritizes certain human rights issues, such as women’s rights, over more sensitive topics such as the freedom of speech. This prioritization coincides with the priorities of the royal authority. This results from two procedures that undermine the independency of the CNDH: firstly, the CNDH directly reports to the king and secondly, the king appoints the CNDH’s president and board members who set the priorities of the Council’s work on human rights. Accordingly, the effectiveness of the CNDH in protecting the freedom of speech can be considered as limited.
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    Palestine refugees from Syria in Lebanon : dynamics of secondary forced displacement
    ( 2016) Nørgaard, Jesper Jais ; Lahoud, Carine
    The protracted conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, has caused a mass refugee movement as well as internal displacement of millions of Syrians and is largely considered as one of the most catastrophic humanitarian crises since World War II. Lebanon, being one of the last countries in the region imposing strict regulations on entry, has received a disproportional number of Syrian refugees. As of March 2016, the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon counts nearly 1.5 million people. An overlooked minority in the current crisis are Palestine refugees from Syria and their inherent vulnerability when it comes to secondary forced displacement. They face many similar challenges to their Syrian counterparts but also dissimilarities connected to their Palestinian identity and refugee status. The asymmetry in treatment and experience stems from a specific regional historic and political context that since 1948 has shaped the relationship between Palestine refugee communities and their host countries; this becomes evident when examining the Lebanese context. The dynamics of secondary forced displacement in the case of Palestine refugees from Syria in Lebanon can be analysed by applying a theoretical framework of Giorgio Agamben and Liisa Malkki. However this theoretical framework has to be challenged and qualified by exploring the actual lived experience of everyday life of Palestine refugees from Syrian in Lebanon in order to provide a more full, elaborative and dynamic depiction of the situation they are facing.
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    Youth cultures and change in Tunisia : towards understanding youth networks dynamics in the context of social movement and subcultural theories
    ( 2016) Tadros, Nadia ; Mzoughi, Chaker
    The thesis questions the relationship between Tunisian youth values and practices and their impact on the process of social and political change, the work will show the significance of combing subcultural theory and the social movement theory to analyze the different network dynamics that youth groups engage in Tunisia as a mediator between their values and practices. Furthermore, the thesis will compare the different types of youth networks of subcultures and mainstream cultures both institutionalized and noninstitutionalized. The Hypothesis of the thesis is that youth who belong to institutionalized subcultures have more dynamics targeted at achieving social and political change by opposing to the values of society and introducing new meanings and practices in the Tunisian context than youth who belong to institutionalized mainstream cultures. In order to test this problematic, a qualitative research method was applied to five Tunisian youths. The results were able to verify the hypothesis with three cases out of the five tested cases.
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    Practices of memory in transitional justice : the construction of a collective memory in Tunisia
    ( 2016) Taha, Nora ; Mzoughi, Chaker
    This report sheds light on the critical relationship between transitional justice and memory. I examine how memorization processes within the context of transitional justice are presented as a healing mechanism for victims. I assess how these processes are often politicized, I examined how this politicization may occur in two instances: firstly, when memorization is practiced by the state for the purposes of building a national collective narrative through practices such as commemoration and creation of truth commissions or memory laws; new regimes use these practices to regain its authority in the public sphere and to give a sense of legitimization to their official narratives. Secondly, politicization may occur through the acts of civil society, their memorization turns into revolutionary conduct to oppose the official narrative of the new regime, hence their processes turn into a continuation to refuse and oppose forms of power, or either to demand an acknowledgment in the official institutions. I observe how politicizing these processes; whether by highlighting certain versions or ignoring others, affect the process of constructing a national and collective memory, and how it affect victims and their rights to truth and memory, which risks the idea of being re-victimized again in the process.