“Party Building in the Middle East”
December 22nd, 2010 by Jason
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) has released a new article titled “Party Building in the Middle East.” Written by Les Campbell, NDI’s senior associate and regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, the article seeks to “enumerate some of the key achievements of democracy assistance in the Arab world over the past decade; describe the strategies democracy assistance practitioners employ in their work; and explain, through four case studies and the voices of recipients, how specific interventions have contributed to the advancement of democracy in the Middle East and north Africa.” The case studies include Yemen, Morocco, the West Bank and Gaza, and Egypt.
Posted in Civil Society, Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Elections, Foreign Aid, Morocco, NGOs, Palestine, US foreign policy, Women, Yemen | Comment »
Reactions to the QDDR
December 16th, 2010 by Jason
The release of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) has so far been received with cautious optimism. Josh Rogin writes that several development NGOs have “praised” the QDDR, while also expressing skepticism: “Paul O’Brien, vice president of policy and advocacy campaigns for Oxfam America, noted that while the QDDR clearly puts ambassadors and chiefs of missions at the head of country teams as the so-call ‘CEOs’ of American diplomacy, it doesn’t tackle how the inevitable conflicts between short-term foreign policy objectives and longer-term development goals are resolved.”
Connie Veillette, writing at the Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance blog, says that there are “many things to like,” including a “focus on improving hiring, staffing, and filling the mid-level gap through more flexible mechanisms.” However, she does list several points of “unfinished business,” including “how will State and USAID grapple with managing more than two dozen government agencies engaged in some type of foreign assistance program?” Siddartha Mahanta sounds a pessimistic note: “the United States diplomatic corps might get a major boost in power and personnel. Realistically? They probably won’t.” He goes on to describe the political roadblocks facing the reforms, and how Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who has advocated for cuts in the State Department budget and is set to become the chairperson of the House Foreign Services Committee, may prove to be uncooperative.
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Foreign Aid, NGOs, US foreign policy, US politics | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Corruption Challenges in Yemen”
December 10th, 2010 by Jason
On Friday the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) joined with the Embassy of Yemen to present “Corruption Challenges in Yemen,” a presentation by Dr. Bilkis Abouosbaa, Vice-Chairperson of the Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC). A portion of the documentary film “Destructive Beast: Corruption in Yemen” was also shown.
(To read full notes, continue below the fold or click here for pdf.)
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Posted in Civil Society, DC Event Notes, Foreign Aid, NGOs, Reform, Women, Yemen | Comment »
Egypt: Domestic Monitors Face Challenges
November 22nd, 2010 by Jason
Bahey el-din Hassan writes in Al Masry Al Youm that civil society and human rights organizations face three major challenges in monitoring Egypt’s November 28 elections: First, the groups must obtain permits from the High Elections Commission (HEC), a process that has become increasingly opaque. “Although the HEC set 7 November as the deadline for human rights groups to submit applications to monitor elections, it set no date for the issuance of permits,” he writes. Also, the HEC “mandates that monitors be impartial, but how can the commission, with its limited resources, evaluate thousands of monitors for bias? Or is it planning to outsource the job to the security apparatus?” The second major hurdle for groups is a lack of accurate information, a problem exacerbated by the “deplorable state” of the HEC itself. The third challenge are the restrictions placed on the press. “The regime launched a quiet coup in October that restructured TV and print media and placed enormous restrictions on the free flow of information. This means that election monitors will do their job in the dark,” according to Hassan.
Al Masry Al Youm also reports that the head of the HEC, Al-Sayed Abdel Aziz, has now “definitively” stated that “there would be ‘no monitoring’ of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, stressing that the role of civil society and human rights organizations would be limited to ‘following’ the elections rather than ‘monitoring’ them.”
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Human Rights, Journalism, Middle Eastern Media, NGOs | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Egypt’s Political Future: The Parliamentary Elections and Beyond”
November 18th, 2010 by Jason
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace held an event on Thursday titled “Egypt’s Political Future: The Parliamentary Elections and Beyond.” The speakers for the event were Michele Dunne, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment and editor of the online journal, the Arab Reform Bulletin, and Amr Hamzawy, research director and senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. The discussion was moderated by Jennifer Windsor, the associate dean for Programs and Studies at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown.
(To read full notes, continue below the fold or click here for pdf)
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Posted in Civil Society, DC Event Notes, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Islamist movements, Muslim Brotherhood, NGOs, Political Parties, Reform, US foreign policy | Comment »
Egypt: Mubarak Insists Elections Will Be Fair, NGOs Disagree
November 10th, 2010 by Anna
At an NDP conference today, Hosni Mubarak said: “I reiterate the desire, of myself and my party, for free, transparent elections, conducted under the oversight of the High Elections Commission and civil society.” Various civil society groups, meanwhile, have called attention to shortcomings in the electoral process. Yesterday, the Forum of Independent Human Rights NGOs criticized the government’s crackdown on media and civil organizations, predicting in a report titled “Rigging the 2010 Parliamentary Elections in Egypt” that the upcoming vote “will not meet the international standards for free and fair elections.”
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, NGOs | Comment »
Bahrain: Election Monitoring Efforts Announced
October 8th, 2010 by Evan
Bahraini officials recently announced the details of domestic electoral monitoring efforts for the October 23 parliamentary election. Justice Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Khalifa said that 300 citizens, four NGOs and the Bahrain Human Rights National Commission will monitor the vote. In an interview in The National, Al Khalifa dismissed the calls for international monitors, saying “It’s a matter of educating our people. We are a national institution and we are organising for the national election.” Opposition leaders responded to the announcement by saying that while the government goes to great lengths to create the illusion of legitimacy, the electoral process in Bahrain remains deeply flawed. Districts have been drawn to give the ruling Sunni minority an advantage, the country’s convoluted polling system gives the regime the ability to influence elections, and the government recently took control of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, one of the key NGOs tasked with monitoring the election.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections, Freedom, NGOs | Comment »
Egypt: No Free and Fair Oversight of Elections
September 27th, 2010 by Jason
The lack of independent judicial oversight during the November parliamentary elections “raises expectations of fraud,” according to an article in Al-Masry Al-Youm. The lack of oversight can be traced to the 2000 elections when “‘…the country experienced its first ever free elections, as the constitutional court had decided that each ballot box had to be supervised by a judge,”’ says Nasser Amin, the general director of the Arab Center for Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession. In part because of this rule, the Muslim Brotherhood was able to mount a real challenge to the NDP in 2005. This precipitated the amendment of Article 88 of the Egyptian constitution in 2007, which established an “11-member official electoral monitoring committee, composed of judges and non-partisan public figure,” that the opposition views as corrupt. Leftist Tagammu Party leader Refaat al-Saeed said the committee resembles a secret organization: “’Where is the headquarters of this committee? What phone number does it have, or email address?’”
The article goes on to list other concerns, including the presence of government backed NGOs, the use of manual voting lists rather than computerized lists, and the possibility that the NDP is actively negotiating with opposition groups to simply award them a set number of seats in parliament: “‘…it (the government) will distribute the 100 seats that it won’t keep for the NDP between the Wafd, Tagammu and Nasserist Parties as well as independents, keeping 344 seats for members of the dominant party,’” Amin, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Judiciary, NGOs, Political Parties | Comment »
Egypt: US “Interested in the Integrity of These Elections”
September 27th, 2010 by Anna
Speaking at the US Embassy in Cairo over the weekend, the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Tamara Wittes emphasized the need for Egypt’s upcoming elections to be free and fair. According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Wittes asserted that Egyptians should be allowed to participate peacefully in political activities, and that “[i]t is important that we see an open electoral process that the Egyptians feel is fair.” She also spoke about US support for nongovernmental organizations in the country, saying: “We firmly believe that civil society plays a powerful role in holding the government accountable.” In addition, Wittes stressed that the United States, as well as other governments, are “interested in the integrity of these elections” and will continue to engage with the Egyptian government to ensure that democratic principles are upheld.
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, NGOs, US foreign policy | Comment »
POMED Notes: “What’s Next? Prospects for Iraq’s Democratic Future.”
September 20th, 2010 by Jason
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) held a panel discussion today to discuss the ongoing political impasse in Iraq. The event was moderated by Michael Svetlik, the Vice President of Programs for IFES. The speakers for the event were Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy at the CATO Institute, Perry Cammack, a professional staff member for Senator John Kerry who focuses on the Middle East, and Sean Dunne, IFES Chief of Party in Iraq.
(To read full notes continue below the fold or click here for pdf)
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Posted in Civil Society, DC Event Notes, Elections, Foreign Aid, Freedom, Iraq, Judiciary, Kurds, Military, NGOs, Political Parties, Public Opinion, Sectarianism, US foreign policy | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Egypt at the Tipping Point?”
September 17th, 2010 by Anna
On Friday, David Ottaway gave a talk at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars titled “Egypt at the Tipping Point?” Ottaway – who is a senior scholar at the Wilson Center and the former Bureau Chief for the Washington Post in Cairo – discussed the findings from his recent paper, published in the Wilson Center Middle East Program’s Summer 2010 Occasional Paper Series. The talk was introduced and moderated by Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program.
(To read the full event summary, continue below. Or, click here to read the pdf.)
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Posted in DC Event Notes, Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Elections, Events, Freedom, Human Rights, Islamist movements, Journalism, Middle Eastern Media, Military, Muslim Brotherhood, NGOs, Political Parties, Protests, Public Opinion, Reform, US foreign policy | Comment »
Syria: Egyptian Activists to Protest Detention of Syrian Blogger
September 17th, 2010 by Anna
Sarah Carr of Daily News Egypt reported yesterday that a group of Egyptian activists from the Arab Network for Human Rights Information and the April 6 Youth Movement plan to demonstrate outside Syria’s embassy in Egypt on Sunday. They are calling for the release of 19 year-old Syrian blogger Tal el-Melouhy, who has been in detention for nine months. El-Melouhy reportedly wrote and published pieces in support of the Palestinian cause on her blog “Medawwenty,” and was arrested last December. A few weeks ago, the blogger’s mother wrote an open letter to President Al-Assad in which she stated that she received promises from security officials that her daughter would be released by the start of Ramadan. According to Egyptian activist Mohamed Maree, al-Melouhy’s young age is part of the reason that Egyptians are protesting, and said: “Tal will be a symbol of human rights abuses in Syria. During the protest we will call for her release in addition to the release of other prisoners of conscience.”
Posted in Egypt, Freedom, Human Rights, NGOs, Protests, Syria | Comment »
Afghanistan: Time to Negotiate With the Taliban?
September 15th, 2010 by Jason
With parliamentary elections three days away and the beginning of a major offensive outside of Kandahar, worries about the coalition’s mission in Afghanistan are growing. Gilles Dorronsoro spotlights the deteriorating security condition in the country: “While it is still safe in Kabul, you can feel the Taliban tightening its hold around the capital.[…] The Taliban have a great deal of influence, but even where they haven’t established control, the Afghan government doesn’t enjoy any support.” Even NGOs are beginning to acknowledge the Taliban’s influence in the country: “The NGOs negotiate directly with Taliban leaders to ensure access to the Afghan people and carry out their programs. The process has become so formalized that international groups can now expect to receive a paper that is stamped and sealed by the Taliban outlining the permissions granted.” Dorronsoro concludes that it is time to begin negotiating with the Taliban and possibly bring them into a new coalition government, “…with assurances that Al Qaeda will not operate in Afghanistan again…”as part of the agreement.
Posted in Afghanistan, Elections, Islamist movements, Military, NGOs, Taliban, US foreign policy, al-Qaeda | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Peace Building in Dangerous Places”
September 14th, 2010 by Jason
The United States Institute of Peace held a panel discussion today that included four of its successful grantees. The event was moderated by Andrew Blum, a program officer at the Grant Program and opening remarks were given by Ambassador Richard H. Solomon, president of the USIP. The panelists for the event were Dr. Abdel-Mitaal Girshab, of the Institute for the Development of Civil Society in Sudan, Masood Karokhail of the Tribal Liaison Office in Afghanistan, Aari Mohammed of INSAN Iraqi Society, and Dr. Maria Emma Wills of the Historical Memory Commission in Colombia.
(For complete notes continue below the fold or click here to read as a pdf.)
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Posted in Afghanistan, Civil Society, DC Event Notes, Democracy Promotion, Foreign Aid, Iraq, Middle Eastern Media, NGOs, Sectarianism, Sudan | Comment »
POMED Notes: New America Foundation “A New Way Forward? Rethinking U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan”
September 8th, 2010 by Jason
The New America Foundation held a panel discussion today to introduce the Afghanistan Study Group’s paper, “A New Way Forward: Rethinking U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan”. (PDF here) The panel members were all members of the study group, although not all of them signed the finished product making for an interesting discussion. The panel included Paul Pillar (Director of Graduate Studies, Center for Peace and Security Studies, Georgetown University and former intelligence officer), Matthew Hoh (Former Foreign Service Officer and Marine, Director, Afghanistan Study Group), Steve Coll (President of the New America Foundation), Brian Katulis (Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress), Charles Kupchan (Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, Professor of International Affairs, Georgetown University,Author, How Enemies Become Friends), Darcy Burner (Director, American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation), Robert Pape (Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago Director, Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism Author, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism), and the event was moderated by Steve Clemons (Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation Publisher, The Washington Note).
(Continue below the fold for full notes or click here for PDF)
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Posted in Afghanistan, Civil Society, DC Event Notes, Foreign Aid, Freedom, Human Rights, Islamist movements, Military, NGOs, Pakistan, Sectarianism, Taliban, US foreign policy | Comment »
Yemen: Ceasefire in the North and Military v. Develop Aid
September 2nd, 2010 by Jason
Brian O’Neill at Always Judged Guilty brings to our attention two recent articles in the Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal on developments in Yemen. The Atlantic article deals with the recent ceasefire between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels in the north of the country. As O’Neill points out, “…the divisions are not cut-and-dried. This doesn’t fit the normal Sunni-Shi’ite clash we like to read about.” The WSJ article describes a growing gap between military assistance and civilian development assistance that one U.S. official describes as, “… tend(ing) to encourage a negative perspective in Yemen that all we care about is U.S. security.”O’Neill backs up this concern: “This seems on the face to be exactly what many are warning against- pumping in a flood of money to enhance the security services while leaving the massive underpinning structural issues untouched.” He goes on to define the “frustrating paradox of nation-building policies” as, “you can’t build a well while being shot, and the shooting won’t stop until there’s a well.”
On a more hopeful note, the National Democratic Institute has an article out describing their program to bring Yemeni youth together to teach them conflict resolution techniques. According to NDI, “With almost half of Yemen’s population under age 15 and another one-third aged 15 to 29, a significant percentage of the population is growing acclimated to violence as the primary means to address or resolve conflict.” The program focuses specifically the resolution of tribal conflicts and has already seen some success at the local level.
Posted in Civil Society, Islamist movements, Military, NGOs, Yemen, al-Qaeda | Comment »
Iraq: Shortcomings in Social Service Provision
August 30th, 2010 by Anna
Recent reports have highlighted Iraq’s struggles to provide adequate social services to its citizens. For al-Jazeera yesterday, Victoria Fine profiled the troubled health care system in Iraqi Kurdistan. She describes the obstacles that patients face in getting access to doctors, surgeries, and other state-based medical services, which are officially free in Iraq. To cope, Fine writes, many citizens have turned to “a loose network of NGOs,” including international humanitarian organizations, to access care. In part, the obstacles in accessing medical services stem from a shortage of surgeons and urgent care physicians. Political realities also pose difficulties, according to Fine - a constituent of a particular political party, for example, might “run into problems” by appealing to another party for funding or services.
In a story on Iraq’s recent electricity shortages, Charles Recknagel writes for Radio Free Europe that “the amount [of electricity generated in Iraq] is still woefully inadequate to meet ordinary Iraqis’ needs,” despite improvements in recent years. Historically, electricity shortages have been blamed on the insurgency - the considerable weakening of the insurgency, however, “puts the spotlight for the electricity problems squarely on the government’s ability to deliver a better future.” Ali al-Saffar, an Iraq expert at the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, estimates that Iraq is meeting only 46% of the demand for electricity, and blames “government bureaucracy, corruption, and unwillingness to get things done.” Recknagel concludes that eliminating some of the “bureaucratic entanglements” limiting power supply might “put Iraq more firmly on the free-market course it needs to become economically and politically strong enough to survive as a democracy.”
Posted in Iraq, NGOs, Political Parties | Comment »
Lebanon: Civil Society Speaking out for National Unity
August 11th, 2010 by Jennifer
Over 25 representatives from Lebanese civil society and NGOs attended a series of workshops on national unity and citizenship yesterday. The event– organized by the Makhzoumi Foundation and the Christians of the Orient and the Collective for Training on Development Action (CRTDA) –emphasized the need to form a common definition of Lebanese nationality over and above sectarian divisions; push for amendments to restrictive laws; and enact social reforms. Specifically, the workshops highlighted empowering women, improving education, and increasing access to health care as important steps to achieving a stronger sense of citizenship. According to Reem Zaben, project coordinator at CRTDA, “We need to encourage integration and we have to work together to develop a common concept of the state and of what our rights are within this state.” More workshops are reportedly planned for after Ramadan, while the CRTDA also intends to complete a report by the end of the year analyzing problems in the provision of social services to Lebanese citizens, and explaining the aggravating affect the situation has on sectarianism within the country.
Posted in Lebanon, NGOs | Comment »
Egypt: Khalid Said Case Continues
July 26th, 2010 by Jennifer
Protests over the June 6 death of Khalid Said continued over the weekend, as several groups organized events in advance of the opening of the first trial of the two policemen involved, which is set to begin tomorrow. In Alexandria, about 2,500 Egyptians assembled on the Corniche, including members of the National Association for Change (NAC), Eksab Haqak, Egyptians Against Corruption, and Egyptian Women for Change. The group held banners with the slogans “We Are All Khaled Saeed” and “No to the Emergency Law, No to Torture.” In Cairo, police broke up a protest by black-clad members of the Facebook group “We’re All Khaled Saeed” as well as a demonstration along the Nile Corniche, in which two NAC activists were arrested. Attorney Mohamed Abdel Aziz cited 5 goals to the protests: to force the Egyptian government to sign an anti-torture protocol; to institute mandatory dismissal of any police officers accused of torture; to monitor police stations; to expand the definition of torture in Egyptian law; and to institute more severe penalties for police brutality against citizens.
The protests also came following a new development in the Khalid case, as Ali Qassem, Said’s uncle, alleged last week that nine men joined by Egyptian security forces attacked and threatened one of the witnesses, Tamer el-Sayed Mohamed, trying to coerce him into altering his testimony.
Posted in Egypt, Human Rights, NGOs, Protests | Comment »
Arab Civil Society — Not as Powerful as Thought
July 26th, 2010 by Farid
Rami G. Khouri writes in The Daily Star that foreign scholars and donors have viewed Arab political culture “through the lens of three arenas”: government, the private sector, and NGOs. Khouri argues that civil society, though “flourishing” in the region, has had a limited impact on democracy promotion in the Arab world. He proposes that the assumption that greater civil society will “spur a more democratic culture” in the Middle East “remains unproven,” stating that foreign governments and Arab activists continue to view the issue using “outmoded categories of analysis.” Khouri explains that the division between the private sector, the state, and NGOs is increasingly “blurring” in the Middle East and that while “state services are declining in quality,” services provided by the private sector attract the rich who can afford them, while the poor must rely on the low-quality services of the deteriorating state apparatus. Also, Khouri points out that NGOs in the Middle East are often led by “people whose day jobs are in the government, often in high places” and other social elites who use NGOs as “proxies” for political participation in autocratic Arab states, in which political institutions usually have “limited credibility and impact,” according to Khouri.
Posted in Civil Society, Democracy Promotion, NGOs | Comment »
