After weeks of difficult consultations and deliberations among main political power breakers in Lebanon, a new government of technocrats and specialists was born this week. The new Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, a university professor and former education minister, included six female ministers in his cabinet for the first time in the country’s history. Difficult and sometimes frustrating consultations made by Prime Minister-elect, Hassan Diab, over the 33 odd days before the birth of Lebanon’s new cabinet were just the beginning of a massive task fraught with daunting economic, social and political challenges facing the new prime minister and his team. Already many Lebanese and foreign observers have claimed that Diab’s cabinet was orchestrated by Hezbollah, despite the high-profile presence of a six-woman strong component of ministers holding some key posts.

Multiple Women key posts in Lebanon’s new cabinet

Zena Akar became Tuesday the first woman in an Arab country to hold the post of Defence Minister, along with the post of Deputy Prime Minister. Akar was the executive director of Beirut-based research and consultancy firm Information International, founded by her husband Jawad Adra, who is one of the country’s most prominent businessmen. Other portfolios given to female ministers included: Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm who served as a professor of law at Saint Joseph University in Beirut, where she directs the Centre for Legal Studies and Research for the Arab World. Najm is the niece of former culture minister Naji Boustani, who served in the short-lived Omar Karami government from 2004 to 2005.

The new Information Minister, Manal Abdel Samad, holds a doctorate in law from the esteemed Sorbonne University in Paris. A relatively unknown name, Samad worked in the Finance Ministry since 1997, leading the Tax and Auditing Authority, eventually working in the government group that first created and implemented VAT in Lebanon. She later became a lecturer at AUB and Saint Joseph University, teaching administrative leadership, public finances and fiscal studies. She is currently also affiliated with the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy. Labour Minister Lamia Yammine, 45, is among the younger of the cabinet appointees, as well as being a relative outsider. An architect and professor at the Lebanese University in Tripoli and a board member of a wood design company in Lebanon. Ghada Shreim who was appointed as Minister for the Displaced, is a professor at the Lebanese University. Prime Minister Hassan Diab appointed Armenian Vartine Ohanian as youth and sports minister. Ohanian become the first female Armenian to hold a cabinet position in Lebanon’s history. A social worker by profession, Ohanian is the director of Zvartnots Educational Center. Her candidacy was proposed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

Multiple challenges and mounting unrest face Diab’s team

As Diab’s newly formed cabinet got down to business Wednesday, a day after it was formed, protests continued to rage through the capital Beirut and other Lebanese cities, mainly by ousted Prime Minister Saad al Hariri supporters who have rejected the nomination of Hassan Diab for the job from day one. Many have questioned the ability of the new cabinet’s ability to tackle Lebanon’s daunting economic collapse symptoms, stifling debts problem or put an end to the spiralling wave of unrest which have ravaged the country and crippled much of its near- dying economy.

Thousands of mainly pro-Hariri young protesters rampaged through the streets of Beirut, near the Parliament and other city-centre venues, smashing windows of shops, banks and restaurants. Clashes with riot police followed as protesters closed major roads around the capital and refused to leave the streets. They accuse the newly formed government of being no more than a rubber stamp for the same political parties they have been protesting against, and accusing them of unprecedented high-level political and economic corruption. Diab’s sympathetic statements with protesters and open-arm overtures towards them, have done virtually nothing to dampen their mounting anger and intensifying protests.

Whether Diab’s cabinet will manage to get the crucial financial and economic aid from rich Arab states as well as that of some EU nations, badly needed to get Lebanon form the bottleneck of away from the brink of total bankruptcy and inevitable economic collapse, remains an answered question. Moreover, it is unclear how the new Lebanese government is going to properly function unless security and order are completely restored. Diab’s mission could by far become the most difficult in the country’s post-civil war era; should the university professor succeed in pulling a miraculous formula that takes Lebanon to a safe bank, given the merciless river of protests and raging unrest, the man’s name will, deservedly, go down in history books as one of the great saviours of Lebanon from total collapse.

L'articolo Major Challenges and Spiraling Protests Face New Lebanese Cabinet proviene da InsideOver.

Women now outnumber men in the American workforce for the first time since the Great Recession ended a decade ago. According to a new IMF study, male labour has declined globally as female participation in the labour force has increased.

The “Employment Situation Summary”, data released from the US Labor Department, reveals that there were “notable job gains” in growing industries that hire more women, such as retail trade and healthcare, while industries that hire more men, such as mining and manufacturing, are shrinking.

The ESS shows that, last month, women in the US held 50.04% jobs. They also gained 139,000 jobs while men only gained 6,000 jobs within the same period. This can be attributed to advances in technology which has increased the need for labour in service jobs, but decreased the need for jobs that require manpower. Technological advancements, for example, have ushered the rise of automation in manufacturing, construction and other male-dominated industries.

Julia Pollack, labour economist at American labour firm, ZipRecruiter, argues that technological advancements have given a “boost” to women, opening up jobs that were previously male-dominated.

“The sectors that are growing, like education and health care, are predominantly women’s employment,” Ariane Hegewisch, the program director of employment and earnings at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, told The Wall Street Journal.

“Looking at the 21st century, it is really amazing how profound some of the [sex] segregation is in the labor market.”

“It’s a milestone because it’s really heralding the future and not just telling us where we are today,” said Betsey Stevenson, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan and an Obama administration economic adviser.

“As women get into more senior positions, it creates more space to hire more women and brings more equality into management decisions,” Stevenson continued. “It’s one of those things that’s self-reinforcing and keeps on going.”

The last decade has seen major shifts in labour force participation in ‘advanced’ economies. These changes will affect the global economy in the next century.

“Participation has increased among prime-age women and, more recently, older workers, but it has fallen among the young and among prime-age men,” the IMF study recounts.

The study accredits these shifts in part to an increasingly ageing population, and the after-effects of the global financial crisis. The global financial crisis, for example, increased the share of two-income households as families now struggle to survive on a single-income salary.

The report also accredits these labour changes to: “labour market policies and institutions [working] together with structural changes and gains in educational attainment”.

The United Nations has predicted that the rising ageing population in ‘advanced’ economies, combined with slowing population growth will shrink total population growth in half by the middle of this century.

“The burden will fall on those currently considered to be of working age, who in a few decades will support close to double the number of elderly people they do now. Unless more people participate in labour markets, ageing could slow advanced economies’ growth and, in many cases, undermine the sustainability of their social security systems,” the IMF study states.

Furthermore, technological advancements have the potential for economic division in the future.

“Technological progress that enabled routine jobs to be automated may have reduced the demand for less-skilled labour in advanced economies and made certain jobs obsolete,” the study continues.

“While these global developments benefit the economy as a whole, and create new opportunities in other sectors, workers may be unable to take advantage of these opportunities due to lack of relevant skills and training, preferences, hardship involved in relocating geographically, or an inadequate return compared with their previous earnings.”

Labour changes are a challenge for global geopolitics and economics. Increased sex equality in labour markets are a celebratory milestone, but rising nationalism and xenophobic border closures in ‘advanced’ economies are not sustainable under this new labour system. The input of immigrants in increasing population growth, boosting the economy, and taking care of the older generations out of the workforce is indispensable.

Economists and policymakers must keep abreast of a rapidly changing labour market to ensure equality in all spheres of society.

L'articolo Women Now Outnumber Men in the American Workforce proviene da InsideOver.

Croatia, a country with a population of almost 4.2 million, well-known for its scenic Adriatic coast went to the polls on the 22nd of December, 2019 to elect a new President. However, with no clear winner in sight, the elections went to a second round on the 5th of January where Zoran Milanovic defeated incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

Many around the world can instantly recognize Kitarovic for her fancy appearances at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, draped in her country’s flag, showing her passion and support for the national football team. A former ambassador to the United States and a George Washington University graduate, Kitarovic was also the country’s first post-independence female President.

In her way stood Zoran Milanovic, the country’s former Prime Minister from 2011 to 2015 from the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. Similar to Kitarovic, Milanovic also worked at the Croatian foreign ministry, was an advisor to the European Union and NATO in Brussels and has a master’s degree in European Union law. He joined the SDP in 1999.

The elections which have been viewed in the country as a form of renewal, were to the expectations of many, a success. The exit polls showed that Milanovic won the second round with 54% of votes, whereas, Kitarovic gained 46% of the votes. During the first round, the results looked like this: Milanovic with 29.6% of votes while Kitarovic took home 26.7% of votes.

Even though the role of the President in the small Mediterranean nation holds no concrete significance, the President does have a say in the running of the foreign policy and crucial defense matters.

The Social Democrats and the Croatian Democratic Union have been dominating the political scene in Croatia ever since its separation from Yugoslavia in 1991. Fast forward to 2020, Croatia is revelling in its role as the President of the European Union but major tasks remain ahead; the United Kingdom’s exit from the bloc, the accession of Albania and North Macedonia and the important decision on the seven-year budget for the European Union.

Even though Kitarovic’s defeat could be seen as inevitable, one must ask whether the new changes that the former Prime Minister and now President Milanovic will bring, will be acceptable or not? The social democrat says he has many new ideas and a vision that would help in resolving the problems that Croatia is currently embroiled in. However, leading experts believe that although this may come as a sign of victory, the changes would take time to implement. Croatians voted for progress and the results would give Brussels the idea that it’s not backtracking on its commitment of pursuing liberal democratic principles.

Milanovic’s main election promise was to fight corruption but the problems don’t just end there. Croatia is also facing the core issue of a stagnant economy and an influx of refugees from neighboring Serbia. Many Croatians are leaving the country due to the lack of employment opportunities. They’re finding jobs elsewhere in countries which have a comparatively better status and are more economically stable. Throughout his election rallies, Milanovic vowed to unite the country together and seek the return of the youth who have headed for newer pastures.

Milanovic has also promised to focus on the health and education sectors of Croatia, saying that he will reform institutions which have failed to produce the best outcome for citizens. He says the country will become more progressive by fighting for the rights of same-sex couples who have been left obscured under the tenure of conservative catholic Kitarovic. He says these trends are technically ‘unstoppable’ as they have a human element attached to them.

Croatia joined the European union in 2013 and also happens to be the bloc’s newest member. The European Union just recently gave Croatia the green signal for Schengen despite facing numerous security and migratory challenges in the region.

Zoran Milanovic will take office on the 19^th of February but this time around the President will have a more solid profile due to Croatia’s EU Presidency.

Milanovic differs in many ways from Kitarovic whom he says is corrupt, overlooks the problems of Croatians and someone who can’t differentiate between ‘public and private property.’ During the highly-anticipated presidential debates, Milanovic left no stone unturned by elaborating his manifesto and also lashing out at Kitarovic.

The elimination of corruption, overseeing a growing economy, no preferential treatment for politicians, uniting the divided nation and turning incompetency into progression are some of the values that Milanovic claims. How successful they will be, only time will tell.

The former Croatian PM also believes that the European Union is the country’s biggest ally rather than the United States. He will be on the offensive in mending lost relations with neighboring states.

The experience of Milanovic could play an important role in determining the future of Croatia. By tackling fiscal policy problems and allowing more businesses to operate in Croatia, the idea might sound safe but its effectiveness will only be determined by the moves Milanovic makes. Hit or miss, they could be costly.

L'articolo The End of Kitarovic’s Croatian Fairytale proviene da InsideOver.

In an interview with the Metro eight years ago, Boris Johnson described his morning routine “virtually erupt[ing] from bed like a rocketing pheasant. I then go for a run, because if you go for a run in the morning, nothing can get worse.” However, he doesn’t seem to have time for running anymore while his political career is moving fast and high.

Boris Johnson is probably the most controversial figure in the history of British politics; liked by some, hated by many. A majority fail to believe he tells the truth, yet people still vote for him and will probably do so on the 12th of December –  the date of the UK General Election – because he promotes himself as the only one able to reunite a divided country, despite being a very divisive political figure.

His message is a simple one: “Get Brexit Done” which is exactly what the nation wants after three and a half years of endless discussion. Johnson’s fictitiousness claims appear to play well with many who have been seduced to believe that being a member of the EU is a problem and that there is some sort of ‘Nirvana’ once the UK leaves.

He has given a clear answer to the demands of the people, regardless of the accuracy of his pledge. “‘Get Brexit Done’ is itself a lie because it lacks meaning; there is no apparent or revised deal, there is only a withdrawal agreement which leads to the conclusion of negotiations that the PM says will be ended by December 2020; which is impossible,” Gavin Esler, journalist and author of the book “Brexit Without The  Bullshit: The Facts on Food, Jobs, Travel and the NHS,” said. The slogan is short, catchy and has received a good reception. People are too busy to pay too much attention to politics and lack the time to deeply analyse the manifestoes of each candidate, so an easy and direct claim is likely to attract the attention of the British public and garner votes.

Boris Johnson’s adversary,  Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is somewhat distrusted, being considered an ardent socialist, but the Prime Minister is a simplifier of complicated matters and this makes his campaign powerful, although details may be omitted for the sake of simplified claims.

Boris the unruly one

Boris Johnson, born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, grew up wanting to be ‘King of the World’. Lacking attention to detail, he has followed no strict rules to build his success, instead, he has just followed his instinct. He has unruly platinum blonde hair to look non-conventional and disruptive. Supporters praise him as an entertaining, humorous and popular figure with an optimistic inclination and a spontaneous enthusiasm. He is fascinated by Winston Churchill and people accuse him of modelling himself on the wartime prime minister ‘without possessing a scintilla of Churchill’s greatness,’ Andrew Gimson, the author ‘The Adventures Of Boris Johnson’, remarked.

He became Mayor of London defeating Ken Livingston twice and was running the non-Conservative and Labour-leaning city by surrounding himself with valuable lieutenants and directing them. Whilst campaigning against Livingston, he avoided telling jokes in an attempt to show he could look more serious, but once in the office he never stopped tainting his political career with blunders, some worse than others and far from humorous.

Johnson has been accused of dishonesty, elitism, of using racist, sexist, islamophobic and homophobic language and has been the subject of several biographies; most of them harsh and ruthless. Furthermore, in 2015, in Japan, he managed to flatten an opponent in what was supposed to be an informal game of rugby. The player he tackled was a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy. “I’m so sorry,” Johnson told the child afterwards.

“There is not a single thing he did as the Mayor of London that will be remembered,” Gavin Esler said recalling his mistakes.

He removed many buses and replaced them with others which were more polluting; he firmly supported the proposal of the Garden Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge over the River Thames which has never been built. He bought three water cannons for more than £322k that had never been used and were inevitably sold for scrap.

“I talked to audiences all around the country and to those who admire Boris Johnson and I always ask: What has he achieved that you most admire? And they can’t answer,” Esler explains us.

“He was such an incompetent Foreign Secretary. I talked to a lot of British diplomats and they said he is fundamentally lazy, he doesn’t read the briefs he doesn’t know what he is talking about. Thinking about what he has achieved, I can’t think about anything else except what he has achieved for himself,” Esler concludes.

Boris the populist

Boris Johnson is an old Etonian classicist who has made efforts to let people believe he is ‘one of them’. He has sold himself as an anti-élite and anti-establishment leader; with a simple and crystal clear message, he has become a successful populist and a cogent demagogue.

Jo Swinson, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, harshly attacked him saying that: “Boris Johnson only cares about Boris Johnson and he will do whatever it takes, sacrifice whoever is needed to get what he wants.” One may think he wants to “Get Brexit done”, but Ms Swinson didn’t mean that.

BoJo’s life has been about becoming Prime Minister, “not out of some burning desire to make people’s lives better, but out of some sense of Etonian entitlement because it’s what people like him get to do,” Swinson concluded.

When he misled the Queen over his proroguing of Parliament, a few weeks ago, there was an Ipsos Mori poll asking people if they believed he had prorogued parliament for the reasons he said. 70% of British people answered stating that they didn’t believe him, but some of those people are likely to still vote for him. The great paradox Great Britain is facing now is that, even if people, or some of them, really believe Johnson is not telling the truth because of his persuasive attitude, he may still become PM.

Even members of his family, fail to believe he is telling the truth either: Jo, his brother, quit his ministerial task and seat while Boris was in office saying he was “torn between family loyalty and the national interest,” while Rachel, his sister, is a broadcaster and pro-remain campaigner who is often interviewed about her brother’s lies and defaults.

His strength is represented by being the opposite of a stereotype, the exception to the rule. He appears to connect with people even if he is considered to be unable to achieve what he claims. Due to a disregard for truth that has come to characterize global politics, many voters start from a base assumption that politicians are dishonest.

Fake and true lay at the same low level, making big promises and getting away from them seems to provoke no outrage; nothing seems to be enough to convince an individual to say: ‘I will never vote this person anymore’. Boris Johnson is currently benefiting from the scepticism he has created, while his opponents are likely to pay the price of it.

Boris and the women

Boris has always been rather furtive with matters of his personal life. Whilst being questioned during a recent radio interview, he refused to disclose how many children he had or whether he was involved in their lives. Wikipedia reads “At least five.”

It is known that he has four children with his ex-wife Marina Wheeler and it is believed that he has one or possibly more from other relationships, though Johnson has always refused to discuss this. His current partner, Carrie Symonds, is the former Conservative Party’s Head of Communications. She is supporting Johnson’s campaign while another women is publicly struggling from his alienation.

Jennifer Arcuri, a 34-year-old American entrepreneur, is the reason why journalists keep on asking Boris Johnson why he gave her £120,000 in public money while he was Mayor of London and why she was given privileged access to three foreign trade trips led by him. The PM has refused to comment about any relationship with Arcuri stating that: “Everything was done entirely in the proper way” and denying any conflict of interest.

At the end of October, the Government Internal Audit Agency concluded that a grant of public money to Arcuri’s High Tech Company, Hacker house, was ‘appropriate’. During a radio phone-in show, on LBC, Johnson was questioned over past comments he had written about women during his time as a journalist. An article written in 1995 on the Spectator reads that: “Single mothers are producing a generation of ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate children” arguing that social housing available to single mothers was ‘an enticement’ for them to become pregnant.

On an article published on the Daily Telegraph last year, he described women who wear burkas looking like ‘letter-boxes or bank robbers’. He repeatedly said any claims in which he had expressed sexist and racist opinions in articles were a misrepresentation of his view. He further apologised if any offence was taken, but declined to rescind any of the stated views. Boris Johnson was sacked by The Times for lying.

Boris could win and lose the election at the same time

Sir Max Hastings, editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, told the Financial Times that Mr Johnson was a ‘brilliant journalist’ who was one of his “favourite colleagues.” Asked by TalkRadio to give an opinion, he added: “He’s always been a fantasist. He’s never had much grip on reality,” concluding that “He’s less fit to be Prime Minister than my labrador”.

Despite Johnson’s ex-boss’ point of view, one person appreciates his personality: Donald Trump. There is an affinity between the two; they were both born in New York, President Trump in an upper-class environment, Boris Johnson in a middle-class family, they are both divisive figures: strongly admired and harshly hated, and they are populist leaders sharing a tough relationship with mass media due to the accusations of being buffoons and, above all, liars.

The Washington Post, every three months, counts and publishes how many lies Mr Trump has told since he has been in office. In the first half of October, after 993 days in the presidency, The Fact Checker stated he made more than 13,400 ‘false or misleading claims’. Despite this statement, the latest Economist and YouGov poll, conducted right before Thanksgiving, showed that a majority of Republicans, 53%, think Donald Trump is a better president than the first Republican elected to that position, Abraham Lincoln.

Commenting on the results, the CNN website reads: “The poll demonstrates one of the historical givens of American politics: facts, evidence, expert opinion, rational analysis, and historical consensus fail to matter when it comes to political preference. Perhaps they also demonstrate a given of human nature: feelings, self-image, self-interest, life-long influences, birth and parentage, group affiliation and economic and social status are all-powerful forces that often determine what we think and how we vote.”

Boris Johnson is also struggling with trust and honesty issues in his country. Peter Oborne, a British well-known journalist, is part of the team that launched the website “boris-johnson-lies.com” which gathers “The lies, falsehoods and misrepresentations of BJ and his government.”

However, Boris Johnson has other anxieties to deal with.

“What we don’t do traditionally as loving allies and friends, is get involved in each other’s election campaigns,” Mr Johnson said during a radio interview that he did not wish to receive any endorsement from Donald Trump (coming to London for the NATO summit). Johnson and his party fear that whatever comments made could damage their political campaign with one week to go until the end. 

But Johnson has also something else to concentrate on. His last nightmare is that of winning the general election but losing his Uxbridge constituency. The Sunday Times showed how tactical voting campaigns could damage the PM and six senior Tories. “The calculations were made by putting private poll findings and 270,000 voter interviews conducted by YouGov through a Datapraxis computer model, which analyses the specific demographics of each seat,” the newspaper explained.

Johnson has a 16-point poll lead against Labour in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Nonetheless, the analysis showed that if 13% of voters now intending to vote  Liberal Democrats or Green defect to Labour and turn-out is high, then Johnson could lose his seat even if he could win the election.

L'articolo Boris Johnson Could Win and Lose the Election at the Same Time proviene da InsideOver.

About six hours from Nairobi is the little village of Umoja. The dusty plains are golden in the light of day and farm animals roam in the sweltering heat. A babble of children’s laughter fills the air. Adorned in vibrantly coloured Samburu clothes and necklaces, women go about their mundane chores. It looks like any other community in Kenya, with the exception of one marked difference – no men live in Umoja.

Africa frequently comes under heavy criticism for its patriarchal traditions and subordinate roles that are enforced on women. Yet, Umoja’s system is matriarchal – one that has continued to prosper and strive.

The Samburu – a sub-tribe of the famous Maasai people – have strict rules that govern women. Samburu women are generally regarded as the property of their husbands and have little rights. They are not allowed ownership of things such as land or animals, and are subjected to forced marriages to much older men, female genital mutilation, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. During the 1990s, there were numerous rapes reportedly committed by British soldiers in the region. A case for over 1,400 Samburu women, who claimed to be raped, was filed against the military. Following this spate of alleged sexual violations, women said that their husbands beat them due to the taboo attributed to rape. They were chased from their homes for bringing shame and dishonour to their spouses. Rebecca Lolosoli was also one of those to receive a severe beating from her husband.

When a handful of them found themselves facing homelessness, Lolosoli came up with the idea of a sanctuary for those who were fleeing sexual and domestic violence. In 1990, she founded Umoja, which means “unity” in Swahili. Word soon spread about the all-female safe haven; more women – who travelled from far and wide – started to turn up with their children to seek refuge. Before long, Umoja was home to a mélange of outcasts – those fleeing genital mutilation, child marriages, rape, violence, abusive marriages, and other social norms that infringed upon basic human rights.

“We are always under men,” explained Lolosoli, the chief of Umoja, in an interview with the NY Times. “The men treat us like nothing. You are there to give them children. We’re like property, and we’re mistreated.” “We’ve seen so many changes in these women,” she added. “They’re healthier and happier. They dress well. They used to have to beg. Now, they’re the ones giving out food to others.” According to Samburu tradition, there is no such thing as divorce. From time to time, a husband still wanders into Umoja – unannounced and livid – demanding that his wife returns home. When he gets disgruntled or aggressive, the solution is simple – the local authorities are called and he is promptly removed.

“Sometimes a man will come in and want to beat his wife,” said Lolosoli. “He’ll see that the woman’s earning some money and wearing nice clothes. She’ll always tell him to go away. You should see his face when she says, ‘I don’t need you anymore.” Over the years, the women have stared adversity in the eye. Men from neighbouring villages have brought court cases against them, and in 2009, Lolosoli’s husband, armed with a gun, charged into the village – intent on killing her and anyone else who stood in his way. Yet, the women have remained steadfast and their will has never wavered.

Although they live frugally, they have been enterprising and resourceful when it comes to sustaining their livelihood. To supplement an income, they run a tourist campsite adjacent to where safaris travel through. Many of these visitors are often curious to see the fabled village where women wield absolute power in a largely male-dominated nation. A small entry fee is charged to those wishing to visit. And the women of Umoja craft and sell traditional flamboyant jewellery, which their visitors often purchase. The village now has its own school. And importantly, the women of Umoja own the land that they are on.

L'articolo The Village Where Men Are Banned proviene da InsideOver.

Ask the average person what he or she thinks about Eritrea, and it would not be surprising if the response is one of bewilderment. Bordered by Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, the Red Sea meanders effervescently around the coastline of this secretive African country–except any romanticised imagery is quickly dispelled. Regarded as one of the worst human rights abusers in the world, Eritrea’s most notorious accolade is being called the “North Korea of Africa”.

Born out of bloodshed and turmoil, Eritrea initially fought for its independence from Ethiopia for three decades until finally being liberated in 1991. Between 1998 and 1999, a border struggle with Ethiopia–regarded as one of Africa’s bloodiest wars–sealed its fate with further chaos and poverty.

President Isaias Afewerki, the first and only ruler since 1993, has governed his people in a one-man dictatorship, frequently coming under heavy criticism from the UN for human rights violations. His government has implemented strict restrictions on freedom, speech, religion, and movement, and no real judiciary–meaning arrests with no trials and widespread use of torture, beatings and sexual abuse is rampant. Independent media is banned; countless journalists have been arrested and after many years, their whereabouts still remain unknown.

With the highest amount of refugees in the world, over a thousand Eritreans flee every month to escape poverty, persecution, and a compulsory national service, which a UN Commission of Inquiry in 2016 labelled as “enslavement.”

Amnesty International Ethiopia and Eritrea researcher, Fisseha Tekle, explained:

“The country enforces a mandatory military service that is extended indefinitely. Many conscripts are held in the national service for decades. Evasion of conscription or deserting national service posts attracts serious punishments including imprisonment in harsh conditions, torture, and ill-treatment. Young Eritreans are forced to leave the country due to the indefinite nature of the national service, which does not offer viable alternatives. The salaries they receive are too low to sustain the families. At the same time, there are no livelihood alternatives within Eritrea–even if people manage to avoid conscription. Without clearance from national service, people are not able to pursue a career, business, or even open a bank account.”

Many have fled to Ethiopia, Sudan, Isreal, and Libya–often in an effort to make it to European countries. This increasing diaspora of refugees, predominantly trying to escape the national service, fall victim to human traffickers.

“Leaving Eritrea without an official permit is a crime punishable with arbitrary detention,” Tekle continued. “Eritreans face serious violations and abuse en-route to Europe like kidnapping for ransom in Sudan and Libya; being caught up in civil war (Libya); or death by drowning when trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.”

A 23-year-old Eritrean man, who was kidnapped by traffickers near Sudan, detailed his ordeal in a Human Rights Watch interview:

“The first group of kidnappers said I had to pay $3,500. They blindfolded all of us and chained our hands and legs together. They threatened to remove our organs if we didn’t pay. Even though my family paid, they didn’t release me but instead sold me to a second group.

“The second kidnappers said we had to pay them $33,000 because they had bought us from the first group, so we had to help them get their money back.

“They beat me with a metal rod. They dripped molten plastic onto my back. They beat the soles of my feet and then they forced me to stand for long periods of time, sometimes for days. Sometimes they threatened to kill me and put a gun to my head. They hung me from the ceiling so my legs couldn’t reach the floor and they gave me electric shocks. One person died after they hung him from the ceiling for 24 hours. We watched him die.

“Whenever I called my relatives to ask them to pay, they burnt me with a hot iron rod so I would scream on the phone. We could not protect the women in our room: they just took them out, raped them, and brought them back.”

Eritreans have made it as far as the United States, generally flying to Central or South America and then going overland to the U.S. border to seek asylum.

John Stauffer, President of The America Team for Displaced Eritreans, has assisted many such refugees over the years. He said:

“The human rights abuses in Eritrea are purposeful and are intended to subjugate the people in order to maintain control.  Thus the refugee problem with Eritrea is rather unusual or even unique among refugee-generating countries.  From other countries, people are fleeing civil war or disease or poverty; but from Eritrea, they are running away from abuse inflicted by their own government.”

“Our helping hand has provided assistance in detention centres in Libya, Russia, Sudan and Romania; in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Uganda and Botswana; on the streets of Khartoum and Philadelphia and Addis Ababa. From all of these we have received urgent calls for help. And remarkable help has been provided on the ground by UNHCR, IOM, MSF, and by various NGOs.

The Eritrean government remains unwilling to reform or to be open to democracy and so, its people continue to be marred with perils and human right violations.

L'articolo One of the Worst Human Rights Abusers You Never Heard of proviene da InsideOver.

There is a new form of modern slavery, and in the Middle East it is legalized. It’s called kafala. A form of abuse against women workers, especially domestic workers, in which the state is complicit.

In Lebanon this issue concerns 250 thousand women. 65% of the country’s female workforce have experienced conditions of forced labor and slavery. They are often raped, impregnated, abused, beaten up, separated from their children, exploited, isolated, underpaid, and when they are not useful anymore, they are sent back to their country of origin by their employers. Between January 2016 and April 2017, 138 migrant workers have been repatriated after their death.

In addition to Lebanon, in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE the Kafala is a common practice. Lebanon is the destination of many women workers, coming especially from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and the Philippines. The system requires that these workers have a “national” sponsor. Usually the “sponsor” is their employer who is also responsible for their visa and their legal status. This gives their employer great power over them.

The practice has been criticized by numerous human rights organizations. The salaries of these workers are very low, in some cases less than 200 dollars per month. One Lebanese employer out of five bans the worker from leaving the home. The motivation for this is to safeguard their investment: hiring a worker costs between 2 to 3 thousand dollars, which would be wasted if the worker tries to escape. The reasoning behind this is that a domestic worker should not have relationships out of their employer’s home, since they could be a distraction or would “corrupt” the family.

The functioning of this system is straightforward: women workers willing to migrate for work contact agents located in their country. These agents have relationships with agencies located in the countries the women would be travelling to, which can organise to sponsor workers in exchange for money. A lot of money. The women often run up debt, in the hope of attaining a new life. That is how they end up as slaves.

Aisha, 20 years old, is originally from Ethiopia, arriving from Addis Abeba. She was able to save herself because she seeked help from the NGO “Immigration Community Center”. We meet her at the office on Mar Mitr street, in the center of Beirut. She was wearing a short black skirt and a t-shirt with the writing “I love Paris”. She has already experienced harm at the hands of men. Aisha worked for a family in Beirut, and had come to Lebanon with high hopes.

“I dreamed about a normal life. Instead, I was cheated – she says looking down. They treated me worse than an animal. I used to work from 14 up to 16 hours a day. They didn’t feed me. They beat me up, they humiliated me. They didn’t pay me. They forced me, and on the rare occasion when I was allowed to rest, I slept on the balcony. It was a nightmare.

Lynn is 40 years old and comes from Philippines. She has bleached hair and colored nails, a bit like Lebanese women. she came from Manila. She has been in Beirut for 20 years. She was a girl when she arrived. Joking, she says that during these years she “learned Arabic, as the “madame” of the house wanted to speak only Arabic”. «Before I came to Lebanon I lived for a few months in Saudi Arabia – she says – There I used to work in a hospital, then they moved me to Beirut, they told me I would stay here for just 6 months. I have been here for 20 years».

She says that in the house of the family she is still working for “everything is controlled through cameras and recorders. At home I do all the work, I take care of all the family members. During the weekends we move to the mountains. There I grow marijuana to be trafficked. But I cannot mention it. I”m forced to stay quiet and accept everything. Working for those people is worse than working for the Mafia.”

The situation is the same for hundreds of women workers, so institutions and NGOs are getting busier trying to stop exploitation and violence. At the front is the European Union, Caritas Lebanon, ILO (International Labour Organisation, the NGO Kafa (Enough) and the Migrant Community Center. Ghada Jabbour, the director of Kafa, explained that these women workers are often “trapped”, they undergo “physical and sexual violence, they are isolated, they don’t eat, they work in the houses of every member of the family and are not paid for their work.”

According to Zeina Mezher, national project coordinator of ILO, this is simply forced labour. “They are forced to work for a predetermined person, they are confined to the house, they don’t have a social life and cannot find another job. ILO is working so that the Lebanese government can sign a protocol condemning the forced labor in our country.”

But there is no time to waste, as related cases of suicide are becoming more and more frequent. This is confirmed by Farah Salka, director of the Migrant Community Center: “Many try to escape and die jumping into the void. One month ago an Ethiopian women worker jumped off the balcony of her employment agency and died.” At the beginning of June another Ethiopian women was found dead in the city of Belida, in the South of Lebanon, hanging from the branch of a tree near her employers house with a small chair next to her. For those who do manage to escape, most of the time they are arrested. There have been 337 arrests in April alone.

L'articolo Kafala, third millennium slavery proviene da InsideOver.