Conclusions and Policy Recommendations based on the Böll Lunch Debate ‘The Situation of Syrian Refugees in the Neighbouring Countries: What Role Should the European Union Play?’ organised by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union in cooperation with IKV Pax Christi on 27 November 2013.
One of the most important focal points of overlapping and competing interests of both established and emerging powers is the Middle East. This region is an arena where the new rules of the game are being developed and acted out. This publication attempts looking at the effects of the global shift of power on the Middle East to explore the perspectives of the region to become a partner in an emerging multi-polar system, rather than a stomping ground or even a battlefield for the interest and the prestige of others.
With contributions by Azmi Bishara, Parag Khanna, Hermann Schwengel, Vitaly Naumkin, Ibrahim Saif, Yasmeen Tabaa, Sven Behrendt, Mingjiang LI, Praful Bidwai, Ziad Abdel Samad, and Kinda Mohamadieh.
As the six-year transitional period defined in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement draws to a close, Sudan is sliding into another crisis. The Heinrich Böll Foundation, which has been working both with civil society partners in Sudan and on Sudan-related issues in the German context for several years, has put together this publication in order to reflect on such scenarios.
With contributions by Alex de Waal, Atta El-Battahani, Marina Peter, John Yoh, Roland Marchal, and Peter Schumann.
This conference was held on November 2-3, 2007 and tackled the darker side of the environment-conflict-nexus, but also the opportunities for find common ground over environmental issues.
The report is a documentation of a regional conference "Freedom of Expression in Music", that was held in Beirut from 7 to 8 October 2005, in collaboration with Freemuse - World Forum on Music and Censorship and Irab-Arabic Association for Music. The report does not give a full picture of music censorship in the Middle East and North Africa. It does, however, give a picture of a region that – like many other regions of the world – experiences both traditionalist and modernist tendencies, civil and religious trends as well as struggles for self-determination and cultural diversity against cultural domination.
Homosexuality is a subject that induced the persecution of a lot of individuals and the shed of their blood.
The situation in Lebanon is not as dangerous as in other countries in the Arab world for those individuals whose sexual orientation does not comply with that of the majority, but it is not less serious. Threats of death, humiliations, blackmails, attacks, marginalization, discriminations, rejections, depressions, suicide attempts, shame, guilt, emotional life ruined, isolation, are in great majority the load of the openly or clandestinely homosexual persons living in homophobic societies.
'Unpacking the Dynamics of Communal Tensions: A Focus Group Analysis of Perceptions among Youth in Lebanon' is a pilot study on a prevailing trend in Western Asia, namely communal tensions. The study aims to dismantle the dynamics of communal tensions through a focus group analysis that targets the largest segment of the Arab population: youth between the ages of 18 and 25. Lebanon is used as a case study to steer the debate and increase the understanding of the factors fermenting communal tensions that are the root causes of conflict.
This publication describes a new start of cooperation between Europe, the United States, and regional partners in the Middle East to tackle the challenges in Iraq and to help bring peace, stability, and sustainable development to the wider region.
With contributions by Layla Al Zubaidi, Bülent Aras, Megan Chabalowski, Richard Gowan, Faleh Jabar, Daniel Korski, Sami Moubayed, Daniel Serwer, and Heiko Wimmen
