Syria

Syrian Women on the Opposition Side Play a Direct Role at Peace Talks

March 23, 2017

GENEVA — As the latest round of the United Nations-led Syrian peace negotiations gets underway here, Syrian women activists are demanding — and playing — a central role. Achieving the goal of a democratic, inclusive Syria, in light of the country’s decades-long history of patriarchy is not easy. Many Syrian men — and some …

Gender-Based Violence, Syria, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Women Are Invisible at the Syria Peace Talks

February 23, 2017

by Rafif Jouejati

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Jan. 22, millions of women around the world took to the streets to march for equal rights, equal representation and equal access in all avenues of public and private life. On Jan. 23 in Astana, Kazakhstan, 55 delegates met to try to reach an agreement on the war in Syria. …

Syria, UN Special Envoys, Women, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

Feelings Hurt, Yemeni-Americans in New York City Protest the Trump Immigration Ban

February 2, 2017

by Dulcie Leimbach

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Thousands of Yemeni-Americans in New York City turned out to peacefully — if not passionately — protest the White House ban on immigrants entering the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. The protesters waved American and Yemeni flags, shouting slogans like “United we stand against the Muslim ban.” Held …

Geopolitics, Libya, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

Take a Look: Global Refugee Law and US Areas Affected Most by Trump Ban

January 31, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

The public furor and enormous protests by many thousands of Americans nationwide have led experts to try to explain where the decisions made by Donald Trump fall short of legality in both national and international law. From Hollywood to the world of sports to the corridors of the United States Congress, people are saying …

Cities, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

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Educators on the UN Denounce Trump’s Crackdown on Refugees

January 28, 2017

by Irwin Arieff

More than 700 educators and students, meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York recently, called on the international community to protect refugees’ lives, encourage countries to take in “large numbers of refugees and migrants” and do more to ensure they get an education and are protected from sexual and gender-based violence. Acting as …

Education, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

The Syrian War and the Refugee Crisis: Spawning the Rise of the Far Right

December 21, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

The butterfly effect teaches us that seemingly insignificant actions can have enormous future consequences. A tiny pair of fluttering wings can disturb the air in a way that helps trigger a hurricane halfway around the world. Witness Syria, where the Arab Spring made its debut in 2011 in the form of a tame wave …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council, Syria, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Universal Breast-Feeding Goals Blocked by Industry, UN Report Suggests

June 14, 2016

by Dulcie Leimbach

Although more countries have been passing laws to promote and to protect breast-feeding, the breast-milk substitutes industry continues to present a formidable challenge to achieving universal breast-feeding goals, a new report by United Nations agencies and a large advocacy group reveals. The laggards? Some of the richest regions in the world. Europe, for example, …

Health and Population, Syria, UN Agencies, Women

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How Syrian Women Landed at the UN Peace Talks and What It All Means

May 10, 2016

by Maria Luisa Gambale

GENEVA — Like approaching a mirage, in early 2016 Syrian women have made significant steps closer to the central negotiating tables of the extremely fragile intra-Syrian peace talks. It’s a process that Syrian women and the United Nations have been building since mid-2013. And in the Geneva III peace negotiations — structured so far as …

Syria, Women

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Fleeing Violence, Syrian Women Try to Cope in Turkey and Lebanon

April 6, 2016

by Johanna Higgs and Liga Rudzite

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Amima and Fatima Jebari are Syrian sisters who fled last year to the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, after the Free Syrian Army entered their village in the north, they said, and violence ensued between the rebel group and the government forces of Bashar al-Assad in the …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Middle East, Refugees, Syria, Women

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There Is No Military Solution for Syria

March 20, 2016

by Barbara Crossette

Only close cooperation between the United States and Russia can end the “terrible tragedy” in Syria, says Lakhdar Brahimi, the highly respected international mediator in the Middle East for more than two decades. Brahimi, who led United Nations missions in Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq before becoming the special joint envoy of the Arab League …

Middle East, Syria

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Syrian Women’s Group Welcomes Its Country’s Long-Awaited Truce

February 27, 2016

by Dulcie Leimbach

As the first temporary truce in years has begun in Syria, the Syrian Women’s Advisory Board, a new entity organized by the United Nations, expressed hope that the long-awaited pause in the civil war would mean that “Syrians will wake up with the hope of resuming their lives among their families and loved ones …

Security Council, Syria, Terrorism, Women

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UN to Investigate at Least Seven Cases of Chlorine and Mustard Gas Use in Syria

February 22, 2016

by Dulcie Leimbach

Seven possible cases of chemical weapons use in Syria — including chlorine and mustard gas — have been identified in a preliminary report released by a United Nations panel investigating who has deployed toxic weapons in the country’s civil war, now heading into its sixth year. No one has been apportioned blame by the …

Disarmament, Peace and Security, Syria

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Syria’s Academics, Caught ‘Between a Hammer and a Hard Place’

February 7, 2016

by Barbara Crossette

He can’t risk the lives of family members by identifying himself by name, but he is willing to tell his story, a reflection of what has happened to intellectual life in what was once a center of higher education in the Middle East. He was a respected professor at Damascus University whose world fell …

Education, Middle East, Syria

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Syrian Women Are Ready to Participate in UN-Led Geneva Peace Talks

January 20, 2016

by Dulcie Leimbach

While new Syrian peace talks organized by the United Nations remain tentatively scheduled to begin on Jan. 25 in Switzerland, a substantial group of Syrian women is preparing to convene in Geneva starting that day to demand an equal place at the negotiations table. Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, who …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Middle East, Syria

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As Syrian Peace Talks Take Shape, How Will Women Take Part?

December 26, 2015

by Dulcie Leimbach

When the United Nations Security Council recently approved timelines to begin peace talks and institute a national cease-fire in Syria, the language in the resolution gave no hint of the magnitude of such undertakings, nor did the congratulatory speeches afterward by diplomats delve into the details. That means the nitty-gritty work is left to …