IFI Executive Summary | November 2011
A Generation on the Move: Insights into the Conditions, Aspirations, and Activism of Arab Youth Rami G. Khouri, Shahida Azfar, Charles Harb, Nasser Yassin, Moussa Shteiwi, Yazan Doughan, Abla Rouag-Djenidi, Dina Shehata, Barbara Ibrahim, Gregory Gause, Christine Asaad, Muneira Hoballah, Jad Melki, Mark Levine, Waad Ibrahim, Rodda Leage, Ivana Chalmers, Karen Abi Saab, Sarah Tabbara, Joe Khalil, Zina Sawaf, Carine Allaf, Diane Singerman, Nicola Bull, Shereen El Feki, Lucas Nielsen, Ayman Zohry, Mohammad Younis, Ahmed Younis, Leah Pybus, Tim Jacoby, Eileen...
A one - day expert group meeting called for by the UN special rapporteur on VAW Ms. Rashida Manjoo was convened in the UNFPA New York headquarters on Wednesday October 12, 2011. Sixteen experts from different corners of the globe presented papers that portrayed the regional idiosyncrasies of manifestations, root causes and consequences of gender - motivated killings (femicide and feminicide). Besides papers that presented concepts and related conceptual challenges, the presentations covered selected countries from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South East Asia, Canada and Europe...
Working Paper Series #5 | July 2011
Europe’s Lopsided Foreign Policy: Israel, Lebanon and the PalestiniansStuart Reigeluth
Europe is in the process of creating a common foreign policy. This is a difficult task since, as a supra-national entity, the European Union must take into consideration the different interests of its 27 member states. These interests usually coincide more than they diverge and thus European member states contribute resources and personnel to new EU mechanisms for both external and internal conflict management and rule of law efforts. Externally, these efforts have...
سلسلة أوراق عمل #2 | أذار 2011
حصار غزة ليس خطأ بل غير مشروع : وضع الحصار بين القانون الدولي واستجابة الأمم المتحدة نورا عريقات
منذ اندلاع الانتفاضة الفلسطينية الثانية، عزّزت إسرائيل فكرة أنها طرف مشارك في نزاع مسلح دولي في الضفة . وبناء عليه، تزعم أنه يمكننها أولاً، أن تلجأ إلى الدفاع عن النفس بموجب المادة 51 من ميثاق الأمم الغربية وقطاع غزة المتحدة، وثانياً، أن تستخدم قوة تتجاوز تلك المسموح بها خلال إنفاذ القانون، حتى في حالة وجود احتلال تطبّق فيه قوانين الاحتلال . يؤكّد قرارا مجلس الأمن 1368) 2001 (و 1373) 2001 ،(اللذان أقرّا رداً على هجمات 11 أيلول / سبتمبر على الولايات المتحدة، على أن...
Research and Policy Memo #2 | March 2011
Partisan Urban Governance Restricts Access to Public Space Fadi Shayya
As well as their many ecological, environmental, and cultural advantages, green urban public spaces are the inalienable right of every citizen.
Dating back 350 years, Beirut’s unique 330,000 m2 park is part of the historical Horsh Al-Sanawbar that once measured more than 1,250,000 m2 . Today the park is concealed from the lives of many Beiruti residents and visitors. Less than 20% is open to the public—with restrictions on practices—whilst over 80% is fenced off with barbed wire and...
Research and Policy Memo #2 | March 2011
Partisan Urban Governance Restricts Access to Public Space Fadi Shayya
As well as their many ecological, environmental, and cultural advantages, green urban public spaces are the inalienable right of every citizen.
Dating back 350 years, Beirut’s unique 330,000 m2 park is part of the historical Horsh Al-Sanawbar that once measured more than 1,250,000 m2 . Today the park is concealed from the lives of many Beiruti residents and visitors. Less than 20% is open to the public—with restrictions on practices—whilst over 80% is fenced off with barbed wire and...
Working Paper Series #2 | March 2011
Is It Wrong or Illegal? Situating the Gaza Blockade between International Law and the UN ResponseNoura Erakat
Since the Second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, Israel has advanced the notion that it is engaged in an international armed conflict both within the West Bank as well as Gaza. Accordingly, it argues that it can 1) invoke self-defense, pursuant to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, and 2) use force beyond that permissible during law enforcement, even where an occupation exists and to which the laws of occupation apply. UN Security Council...
Paper | January 2011
Constructing Security Council Resolution 1701 for Lebanon in the Shadow of the ‘War on Terror’Karim Makdisi
This article argues that the ‘war on terror’ gave global meaning to the 2006 Israel– Lebanon war and to the construction of UN Security Council resolution 1701 that authorized the deployment of robust UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL). It uses a critical, discursive approach to argue that UN resolutions have embedded in them a particular, powerful discourse, in this case the ‘war on terror’. This discourse grounded a global struggle for and against US...
Oxfam GB commissioned the pilot study discussed in this report in order to understand further the context that shapes men’s gender roles and affects their behaviours, practices, and attitudes towards gender equality, with an explicit focus on VAW.
Human trafficking and its link to migrant domestic labor in Lebanon is a complex, sensitive, and challenging issue. It raises numerous questions and demands further exploration.
On December 9, 2009, a Lebanese criminal court sentenced a Lebanese woman to 15 days in jail for repeatedly beating Jonalin Malibago, her Filipina maid, three years earlier. Lebanese newspapers hailed the case a landmark victory for the country’s estimated 200,000 migrant domestic workers (MDWs), many of whom report abuse at the hands of their employers. The case illustrated the positive role that the judiciary can play in protecting MDWs, even though the sentence was lenient given the violation. But it also raised at least one significant question: was the Malibago verdict a rare instance of...
IFI Working Paper Series #4 | July 2010
Media Habits of MENA Youth: A Three-Country SurveyJad Melki
This pilot study surveyed 2,744 university and high school students in Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. It asked about their media consumption and production habits, and about their attitudes towards certain media.
Among the significant findings, the survey found the participants highly adept at using new media. They spent considerable time consuming new and traditional media, but much less time producing media content. For instance, the vast majority of participants indicated...
ورقة خلفية | حزيران 2010
الشباب البحريني والهويةفاطمة علي
في عامنا هذا (2010) يكمل مصطلح ”الهوية“ ستين عامًا منذ بدء المحاولات الاولى لتوظيفه في المجال التداولي كمصطلح يدل على نوع من فهم الخصوصية لدى الفرد عن نفسه أو الجماعة عن نفسها في مقابل خصوصية الآخر (أبيه، 2004،صفحة 65). غير أن اللافت أن كل هذا الوقت لم يكن كفيلا بمعالجة الغموض الذي يشوب مسألة الهوية ومعانيها المختلفة
وإذا كان خطاب الهوية قد شغل العالم الغربي منذ انتهاء الحرب العالمية الثانية فإن العالم العربي لم ينشغل بهذا الخطاب إلا حديثا، أو فلنقل فقد غزت خطابات الهوية المكتبة العربية، بدءا من التسعينات وحتى الألفينات غزوا، حيث جرى...
Background Paper | June 2010
Dilemmas of Identity and Cultural Diversity among Ammani YouthYazan Doughan
This report is an overview of the research conducted as part of Takween’s project on Identity & Cultural Diversity in the city of Amman. Using the method of discourse analysis, it investigates the politics of identity among Ammani youth, particularly those from marginalized ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Our research focuses on anxieties around issues of ethnic and national identity among this group and detects shifts in identity politics from older to younger generations in the city...
Background Paper | June 2010
Dilemmas of Identity and Cultural Diversity among Ammani YouthYazan Doughan
This report is an overview of the research conducted as part of Takween’s project on Identity & Cultural Diversity in the city of Amman. Using the method of discourse analysis, it investigates the politics of identity among Ammani youth, particularly those from marginalized ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Our research focuses on anxieties around issues of ethnic and national identity among this group and detects shifts in identity politics from older to younger generations in the city...
Background Paper | May 2010
“Scratch the Past – This is OUR Soundtrack: Hip Hop in Lebanon”Angie Nassar
In Lebanon’s cultural politics of music, hip hop emerges as an instrument for contesting inherited forms of meaning by socializing alternative discourse - with its own ideological terms, creative yearnings and lexicon of ideas - into the public sphere. Perhaps only a small interruption against the repetitive, exacting beats of the social order, but this is not about volume or even flow. It is about testing the limits and pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. Hip hop in...
Background Paper - May 2010
Youth Mobilization in Egypt: New Trends and OpportunitiesDina Shehata
Civic participation among youth in Egypt is alarmingly low. According to a recent survey, which confirms the findings of various earlier surveys, only 2% of youth are participating in volunteer work, only 5% participate in youth centers and sports clubs, political parties, unions and associations and housing and school boards, and only 16% of all eligible young voters voted in a previous election (The Population Council, 2010).
In spite of these grim statistics, there are some indications that...
Key Findings of Research Paper Produced as Part of the AUB Tobacco Control Research Group | April 2010
The Economics of Tobacco in Lebanon: An Estimation of the Social Costs of Tobacco Consumption (Key Findings)Jad Chaaban, Nadia Naamani, and Nisreen Salti
This document presents the key findings of the social costs of tobacco consumption in Lebanon.
ان كتاب "الدليل إلى معرفة أحوال المرأة" الصادر عام 2010،هو ثمرة للتعاون القائم بين الهيئة الوطنية لشؤون المرأة اللبنانية وصندوق الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي للمرأة ، في إطار البرنامج الإقليمي لدعم الحقوق الإنسانية للمرأة UNIFEM في مناطق المغرب والمشرق.
