Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (commonly known as Euro-Med Monitor and sometimes as Euro-Med HRM[1][2]) is an independent, nonprofit organization for the protection of human rights. Its main objective is to raise awareness about human rights law in the area and to influence the international community to take action against human rights violators.[3][4]

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
FoundedNovember 2011 (2011-11)
FounderRamy Abdu
TypeNon-profit
INGO
HeadquartersGeneva, Switzerland
Location
ServicesProtecting human rights
FieldsLegal advocacy, Media attention, direct-appeal campaigns, research, lobbying
Websiteeuromedmonitor.org

Richard Falk, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,[5][6] serves as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.[7][8][9]

In a speech before the United Nations Human Rights Council on October 1, 2020, Euro-Med Monitor complained about an Israeli campaign aimed at impeding the work of human rights organizations in the Palestinian territories. The speech said that the campaign included preventing Amnesty International’s officer Laith Abu Ziyad from accompanying his mother to East Jerusalem to attend her chemotherapy sessions; the deportation of Omar Shakir, Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in the occupied Palestinian territories; and the continued harassment of Euro-Med Monitor’s chairman, Ramy Abdu, and staff.[10]

As of May 21, 2021, the United Nations Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations postponed action on the group's application for consultative status, "as the representative of Libya requested details about the outcome of its research into human rights violations in his country and how it managed to deploy 60 researchers without the recognition of local authorities."[11] On September 2, 2021, the committee postponed the action again, "as the representative of Bahrain asked about the contractual relationship with another group and funding."[12] The action faced yet another postponement in September 2021, "as the representative of Israel asked for details on its relationship with two main funding entities".[13] On 1 September 2022, the committee postponed consideration because "the representative of Bahrain asked for a list of workshops and training programmes it organized in 2020 and 2021 including dates, locations, partners and sponsors".[14]

Foundation

Euro-Mediterranean Human Right Monitor was founded by Ramy Abdu[15][16][17] in November 2011 in Geneva, where it maintains its headquarters, facilitating access to European institutions of governance and law—its primary targets and audience.

Management

Euro-Med Monitor's strategic direction is guided by its Board of Trustees, which includes human rights professionals including professors, academics, lawyers, advisors and international activists. Richard A. Falk is the chairman of the board of trustees.[18] Members are: Christine Chinkin, Noura Erakat,[19] Celso Amorim, Lisa Hajjar,[20] Tareq Ismael,[21] John V. Whitbeck and Tanya Cariina Newbury-Smith.[22][23]

In 2020, Maha Hussaini, Euro-Med Monitor's Strategy Director[24][25] won the Martin Adler Prize, awarded by the prestigious Rory Peck Trust, for reporting for Middle East Eye from Gaza.[26][27]

Work

Women's Leadership Incubator (2017-2019) project was funded by the Swedish Kvinna Till Kvinna[28] organization and aimed to empower women in the Gaza Strip to defend their rights and create their own sources of income. The project was based on funding and training local non-governmental organizations staff through capacity-building programs to support women and enhance their social and economic participation.[29]

Euro-Med Monitor launched an innovative project to provide training and mentorship to young Palestinians who are ambitious about serving in different jobs available in the field of human rights. The project adopted the training-mentorship-production (TMP) model, where participants first receive training, then get linked with experts serving as their mentors, and finally are encouraged to utilize their skills and connections to contribute to the advancement of human rights in different ways while continuing to receive expert advice and close mentorship aiding their professional development.[30]

In cooperation with the University of Jordan, Euro-Med Monitor carried out the Summer Human Rights Program, focusing on human rights during armed conflict. The project targeted students from seven Arab countries, including Yemen, Libya and Syria. The purpose of the program was to spread peace and human rights culture and promote adherence to international standards agreed upon in international law during armed conflicts[31][32][33]

The WikiRights project aimed to train university students and recent graduates in conflict zones to improve the human rights content on Wikipedia. Euro-Med Monitor offered free workshops to train students on several techniques to modify Wikipedia articles in both Arabic and English[34]

Watering the seeds was a project launched by Euro-Med Monitor in 2017. It aimed to support budding youth groups who fight for human rights and freedoms in war-torn countries. The support includes material and logistical support, consultations, organizing training courses. The targeted organizations have managed to accomplish wide-scale of human rights achievements that varied from documenting violations, implementing initiatives, launching campaigns and projects to support marginalized groups, victims of violations, and vulnerable communities.[35]

In September 2022, Farah Maraqa, one of seven Arab employees of Deutsche Welle fired[36] in February, subsequently sued DW and won her case. The court ruled that her dismissal on charges of anti-Semitism was "legally unjustified". Euro-Med Monitor carried out an investigation finding Maraqa’s articles in question had been taken out of context and that a Deutsche Welle commissioned inquiry contained "several instances of embracing a pro-Israeli narrative against Palestinians."[37]

We Are Not Numbers
We Are Not Numbers
AbbreviationWANN
EstablishedFebruary 2015
PurposeTelling the stories of victims in conflict areas
Official language
English
Parent organization
Euro-Med Monitor
FundingDonation
WebsiteOfficial Website
Main article: We Are Not Numbers

We Are Not Numbers is a project launched by Euro-Med Monitor international secretary Pam Bailey and Ramy Abdu in February 2015 to provide workshops for young writers from Gaza on writing English-language articles and stories, as well as producing English-language content material for social media, in order to reach Western audiences.[38][39] The programme provides each participant with six months' training with native English-speaking mentors,[40] and began with around 40 young people from Gaza writing on an English-language blog while receiving mentoring from experienced authors and journalists. The aim was to open a window to "the people behind the numbers in the news".[41]

A year later, the project had grown to involve more than 75 writers from Gaza, and was supported by mentors including Susan Abulhawa, Miko Peled, Alice Rothchild and Ben Norton.[42] In August 2016, Bailey was denied entry to Israel, despite having a permit to enter Gaza, on account of her 'illegal' work. A lawyer suggested she had been added to a blacklist of Palestinian and international NGOs involved with human rights advocacy.[43]

In 2019, a collection of works from the project was published in German as the book We Are Not Numbers: Young Voices from Gaza (German: We Are Not Numbers: Junge Stimmen aus Gaza).[41]

WANN also launched a Hebrew-language website called We Beyond the Fence in 2020 to provide Israelis with access to Palestinian articles, poems and personal essays about life in Gaza.[44] As of 2021, WANN was involved with 30 NGOs and other organizations,[45] and in 2023, the programme accepted its 17th cohort of prospective Palestinian writers.[46]

Publications

Euro-Med Monitor regularly publishes reports on many different topics relating to the human rights situation in Europe and MENA, including,

Migrants and Refugees

In September 2021, Euro-Med Monitor and ImpACT International documented widespread state-sponsored violations of human rights against African migrant workers in the UAE. The two organizations released a report based on about 100 interviews with migrant workers from African countries who confirmed that the authorities carried out a massive campaign of arrests against about 800 African workers in the country.[47][48][49]

In January 2021, Euro-Med Monitor released a report indicating that the Frontex was involved in illegal pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean.[50]

In December 2020, Euro-Med Monitor released a study in cooperation with the York University to address the risks that refugees with disabilities in Turkey face, including lack of adequate care and social services.[51]

In December 2017, Euro-Med Monitor and Amsterdam International Law Clinic issued a report on the legal position of ‘Stateless Persons’ in the EU, shedding light on the EU's laws concerning stateless persons.[52]

In September 2014, Euro-Med Monitor revealed information about the fate of hundreds of migrants after their ship wrecked in the Mediterranean,[53]

Arbitrary Detention

In April 2021, a group of 22 influential academics signed a Euro-Med Monitor petition demanding the government of Saudi Arabia to release former minister Abdulaziz Al-Dakhil.[54]

In July 2020, Euro-Med Monitor released a report on Jordanian government measures against teachers, including arresting teachers’ syndicate leaders and shutting down the syndicate.[55]

In March, 2021, the group sent a letter to UK authorities signed by 15 UK MPs and peers to highlight the case of Michael Smith who is detained in Dubai. The Independent quoted Dr. Tanya Newbury-Smith, a Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor trustee, as saying: "There has been strong backlash against Dubai over its detention and treatment of Princess Latifa, and her case is one of many."[56]

Treatment of Civilians During Armed Conflict

On May 24, 2022, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and UN Women Palestine organized an art exhibition, titled "I am 22, I lost 22 people," showing paintings made by a survivor of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza during the Israeli military attack on the Strip in May 2021. The survivor, Zainab Al-Qolaq, displayed the suffering she had experienced from the moment her house was bombed and her 12-hour stay under the rubble until she found out that she had lost 22 members of her family, in addition to the internal struggles she has been facing since that time.

Euro-Med Monitor and UN Women Palestine released a booklet that gathered al-Qolaq's paintings and texts describing the psychological impact of the incident and presenting information about the targeting of the al-Qolaq family house.[57][58]

References
  1. "Euro-Med HRM: Saudi Arabia has forcibly disappeared 3 Libyans". Middle East Monitor. December 11, 2018.
  2. "Euro-Med HRM calls for disclosure of maps for mine sites in Libya". Marsad Libya.
  3. "Who We Are". Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  4. "Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor | UIA Yearbook Profile | Union of International Associations". uia.org.
  5. "OHCHR | Special Rapporteur on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  6. "Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk (A/HRC/25/67) [EN/AR] - occupied Palestinian territory". ReliefWeb. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  7. The New Arab Staff (April 9, 2021). "Israel's refusal to cooperate with ICC 'admission of war crimes', says rights group". english.alaraby.co.uk.
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  53. Akram, Fares; Kershner, Isabel (2014-09-20). "Fleeing Gaza, Only to Face Treachery and Disaster at Sea". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  54. Editor, David Maddox, Sunday Express Political (2021-05-18). "Academics demand Saudi releases an ex-minister who complained about human rights abuses". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-08-15. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  55. Amman, Jassar al-Tahat. "Jordan arrests hundreds of teachers after violent clashes". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  56. "MPs demand government action to help Briton with HIV locked up in UAE for a decade despite pardon". The Independent. March 7, 2021.
  57. Al-Mughrabi, Nidal (2022-05-26). "Gaza war survivor commemorates victims in paintings". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
  58. "Zainab Al-Qolaq, a Survivor of an Israeli Airstrike on Gaza in May 2021 Tells Her Story". UN Women – Palestine Country Office. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
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