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Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor

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Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
FoundedNovember 2011; 13 years ago (2011-11)
FounderRamy Abdu
TypeNon-profit
INGO
HeadquartersGeneva, Switzerland
Location
ServicesProtecting human rights
FieldsLegal advocacy, Media attention, direct-appeal campaigns, research, lobbying
LeaderRichard Falk
Websiteeuromedmonitor.org

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (commonly known as Euro-Med Monitor and sometimes as Euro-Med HRM[1][2][3][4]) is an independent, nonprofit organization for the protection of human rights.

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]

Foundation

Euro-Mediterranean Human Right Monitor was founded by Ramy Abdu in November 2011 in Geneva, where it maintains its headquarters.[10][11][12]

Objectives

According to the organisation, its main objective is to raise awareness about human rights law in Europe and the Mediterranean-North Africa area and to influence the international community to take action against human rights violators.[13][14]

Management

Ramy Abdu, the founder of Euro-Med Monitor, serves as the chairman of the organisation.[15]

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.[16] Members are: Christine Chinkin, Noura Erakat,[17] Celso Amorim, Lisa Hajjar,[18] Tareq Ismael,[19] John V. Whitbeck[20] and Tanya Cariina Newbury-Smith.[21][22]

Special consultative status

The group has applied for consultative status, but action on the application has been postponed several times due to queries from Libya, Bahrain, and Israel.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]

Projects

Women's Leadership Incubator (2017–2019)

Women's Leadership Incubator (2017–2019) project was funded by the Swedish Kvinna Till Kvinna[31] 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.[32]

In September 2022, Euro-Med Monitor reviewed the case of Farah Maraqa, one of seven Arab employees of Deutsche Welle fired in February for allegedly anti-semitic social media posts; Euro-Med Montitor found that her statements had been taken out of context.[33][34][35]

We Are Not Numbers (2015–present)

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.[36][37] The programme provides each participant with six months' training with native English-speaking mentors,[38] 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".[39]

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.[40] 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.[41]

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).[39]

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.[42] As of 2021, WANN was involved with 30 NGOs and other organizations,[43] and in 2023, the programme accepted its 17th cohort of prospective Palestinian writers.[44]

WikiRights (2015–present)

According to Euro-Med Monitor, there was a “dominance of the official government-issued narrative” in Wikipedia articles and “an almost complete absence of the narrative of victims of violations in different regions”. Since 2015, Euro-Med Monitor has been training college students and recent graduates in conflict zones to make improvements to Wikipedia articles with the victim narratives from different conflict areas. The training includes workshops on techniques and evidence to modify Wikipedia articles written in Arabic and English. Project beneficiaries are informed of Wikipedia's standards and policies to safeguard appropriate use of the encyclopedia.[45][46][47] Euro-Med Monitor had analyzed Wikipedia’s human rights content during armed conflicts in the MENA region and found the content to be weak. Director of WikiRights Anas Aljerjawi stated, “The WikiRights project believes in the value and urgency of promoting and documenting the narrative of the victims and keeping it present.”[46]

Publications

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

Summary executions

OHCHR stated on 20 December 2023 that according to witness accounts circulated by media sources and Euro-Med Monitor, Israeli soldiers summarily killed eleven unarmed men in Rimal.[48] Subsequently in January 2024, Al Jazeera reported that the number of deaths was 19. Euro-Med Monitor told Al Jazeera they believe there is a pattern of "systematic" killing, that "In at least 13 of field executions, we corroborated that it was arbitrary on the part of the Israeli forces." On 26 December, 2023, Euro-Med Monitor submitted a file to the International Criminal Court and United Nations special rapporteurs documenting dozens of cases of field executions carried out by Israeli forces and calling for an investigation.[49][50][51]

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.[52][53][54]

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.[55][unreliable source?]

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.[56][non-primary source needed]

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.[57][self-published source?]

In September 2014, Euro-Med Monitor revealed information about the fate of hundreds of migrants after their ship wrecked in the Mediterranean.[58]

Arbitrary detention

In April 2021, a group of 22 influential academics signed a Euro-Med Monitor petition demanding that the government of Saudi Arabia release former minister Abdulaziz Al-Dakhil.[59][unreliable source?]

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.[60]

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 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."[61]

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.[62][63]

References

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  2. ^ "EURO-MEDITERRANEAN HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR (EURO-MED MONITOR)". Moneyhouse.
  3. ^ "Euro-Med HRM: Saudi Arabia has forcibly disappeared 3 Libyans". Middle East Monitor. December 11, 2018.
  4. ^ "Euro-Med HRM calls for disclosure of maps for mine sites in Libya". Marsad Libya.
  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.
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  39. ^ a b We Are Not Numbers: Junge Stimmen aus Gaza [We Are Not Numbers: Young Voices from Gaza] (in German). Translated by Oehler, Lorenz. Lena Verlag. 2019. p. 2. ISBN 9783857874925.
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  47. ^ "الأورومتوسطي يختتم سلسلة لقاءات تدريبية لمشروع "ويكي رايتس"". رويترد عربي (in Arabic). 2021-11-16. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
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  51. ^ "جريدة القدس".
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  55. ^ Williamson, David (2021-01-17). "EU's border force accused of breaking human rights laws on migrant boat actions". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  56. ^ "The Risks That Refugees with Disabilities Face in Turkey: How to Mitigate Risks and Challenges to Shape an Apt Humanitarian Response - Turkey". ReliefWeb. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  57. ^ "Euro-Med Monitor report on 'stateless persons' in Europe". BriefEurope. 2017-12-09. Archived from the original on 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
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  59. ^ David Maddox, ed. (2021-05-18). "Academics demand Saudi releases an ex-minister who complained about human rights abuses". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
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  63. ^ "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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