MENARY Monitor – Edition 104
March 26, 2023
Politics and Political Engagement
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Abdullah Batili, called on the youth in Libya to coordinate efforts to call for elections, and work to ensure that their issues are included in the political process, according to what he posted on his Twitter account. Batili’s invitation came during his meeting yesterday with a group of 26 young men and women from all over Libya, south, east and west. The mission said: These young people “represent a number of youth organizations and networks and student unions.” He called on the youth participating in the meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the UN mission in the capital, Tripoli, “to raise the level of their representation in the decision-making process, and asked the Special Representative to continue his efforts in urging political leaders to move without further delay.”
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Abdullahi Batili, met with a group of 26 young women and men to discuss his efforts to pave the way towards elections in Libya. The UN mission said in a statement that the youth are from all parts of Libya, south, east and west, and represent a number of youth organizations, networks and student unions. According to the statement, young people stressed their desire to choose their own leaders, and highlighted the decline of civic space and violence against women as obstacles to public participation. He called on youth to increase their level of representation in the decision-making process, and asked the Special Representative to continue his efforts to urge political leaders to act without further delay.
In a statement, the Libyan Youth Parliament called on the head of the outgoing government, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, to reconsider the responsibilities of Fathallah al-Zani, Minister of Youth in his government. The statement denounced Al-Zani’s complete disregard for not starting any of the training courses to be implemented, as stated by the Ministry. The statement pointed out that the minister was not qualified to carry out this initiative, which aims to learn democracy. Unfortunately, his initiative was how to learn dictatorship.
68% of Iraqi youth today are under 30 years old. The anger and bitterness of youth in their twenties in Iraq is directed primarily against the system of power that is plagued with corruption and is dominated by backward parties and sectarian militias. While the Iraqi movement was unable to offer an alternative or develop a vision for the future to gain credibility in public opinion.
Economics and Entrepreneurship
Injaz organized the final competition of the Business Challenge Program; Its implementation comes within strategic cooperation with the Ministry of Education, and in partnership with the international “Prince Trust” foundation, for the twelfth year in a row, and this year in partnership with the RYSE project “Youth able to adapt to changes and empowered socially and economically” and the Levant International School and the Montessori School. “The Business Challenge Program is one of more than 40 programs implemented by the Foundation in schools, universities, colleges and youth centers,” said Dima Al-Bibi, CEO of the “Injaz” Foundation, in a speech during the closing ceremony of the competition. With hundreds of partners from the public and private sectors to empower young people by providing them with the knowledge, skills and behaviors required for the labor market in general and for the private sector in particular, and motivating them to achieve their full potential. Al-Bibi indicated that the “Injaz” programs focus mainly on providing students with financial, entrepreneurial and digital skills, noting that in 2018 the mySTARTUP business incubator was established to support entrepreneurial youth and startups, as the incubator graduates more than 50 new startups each year.
The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development held a training program on “preparing feasibility studies“, in cooperation with the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises Development Agency. This is within the framework of following up the results of the development projects that won the first five places in the Youth for Development Initiative competitions, as well as developing the skills of young people participating in the development projects competitions for the academic year 2022-2023. The training program included an introduction to the Enterprise Development Agency and its achievements, the financial and non-financial services it provides, and how to prepare feasibility studies for projects.
Zain Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, with the aim of training 50,000 national cadres over the next three years. This cooperation comes within the framework of the national campaign to motivate the private sector to train “Waad”, and within the framework of the strategic direction of “Zain Saudi Arabia” to enable a digital society and a smart knowledge economy that support achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 related to achieving economic diversification, developing human capabilities and improving the quality of life.
Conflict
On Thursday morning, an Israeli special force killed Amir Abu Khadija (25 years old), after besieging him inside a building in Izbat Shufa in Tulkarm. According to local sources, Abu Khadija was killed after he engaged in a clash with the Israeli force that surrounded him. Eyewitnesses indicated that the Israeli forces arrested a young man from the same place, whose identity was not known.
The Lions’ Den group announced the expansion of its confrontation with the Israeli occupation in support of Palestinian prisoners held by the occupation. “Our message to the heroic prisoners is: We heard you and your message and the Lions’ Den groups are with you and will not let you down, with the help of God. You are one of us and we are one of you, and only death will stand between us and our support for you. We made our decision to expand our confrontation in support of our prisoners in these difficult times and you will see us speak the truth in our actions on the ground.”
An increasing number of Palestinians are making the perilous journey to Europe, to escape the repeated wars, Israeli blockade and Egyptian restrictions that have left the Gaza Strip isolated since 2007. United Nations statistics show that more than 2,700 Palestinians arrived in Greece by sea in 2022, which constitutes 22% of the total number of boat arrivals, the highest rate of any national group. Not all of those who made the journey reached their destination. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, more than 378 people have died or gone missing while trying to migrate from Gaza since 2014, and 3 have died so far in 2023. Gazans say they are ruled by three governments: the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and employs thousands of people in Gaza, the Islamist Hamas movement that runs the strip, and Israel, the third entity that controls the actual Gaza’s borders. According to estimates by the Palestinians and the United Nations, the youth unemployment rate in Gaza is about 70%, a figure that makes building a future a distant dream for most young people. For its part, Hamas says that a permanent solution to unemployment is beyond its ability alone, and blames the dire economic situation on Israel, which has waged repeated wars against the movement in Gaza while continuing its blockade of the Strip.
The Assad regime and the Iranians continue to exploit the tragedy resulting from the earthquake that struck northern Syria last February, as private sources revealed that Iran had recently launched a new recruitment campaign with the aim of converting more residents of Aleppo and including them in the ranks of its militias, taking advantage of the misery in which they live and whose impact was exacerbated by the earthquake by offering a series of temptations. Mrs. (Fatima Manghani) told Orient Net: “They dragged our youth to volunteer in their ranks and convert them to Shiism. They took advantage of their tragedy and their loss of the most basic necessities of life, and they offered temptations.” She added: “Before we left and with the start of announcing the provision of aid in Aleppo, where Assad’s media was buzzing about it, there were campaigns similar to (missionary campaigns) in order to convert to Shiism and join them. They offered many temptations, the most important of which is finding a house to house every family instead Her demolished house, which attracted many people after they were left in the open, after the Assad regime expelled them from mosques and schools, noting that the militias deliberately demolished even the undamaged buildings under the pretext that they are about to fall.
It is not an ordinary drug, but rather it is on the list of the most powerful and dangerous, an acid extracted from a plant that does not exist in Morocco. As for the drug, it reaches the youth of the country arrive in one way or another, and they use it to live a journey into the unknown, or what they call it in their language, “the trip.” Small pieces of paper that cannot be easily identified, this is how Moroccan youth access it, and what they contain is a very strong acid, in microgram quantities, one of which is sufficient to send a person on his journey for a period of up to sixteen hours. Abd al-Razzaq Shenyat, an excellent police brigadier general and head of the Narcotic Drugs and Legal Poisoning Department at the National Laboratory of the Scientific and Technical Police, introduced us to this drug, which among its names among the public is “the tamper”, of which an amount of 25 micrograms is sufficient to enter the user into the world of major hallucinations. Shenyat said in a statement to Hespress that the drug is extracted from a type of mushroom that does not exist in Morocco, and that is why it is called “mushroom,” indicating that the person who discovered it for the first time was “Hoffman Albert” through an accident, as his skin drank the substance during his trip to his home. He lived the so-called “bad trip”. There are special rituals to consume it, since this drug is not like any other. All necessary precautions must be taken so that undesirable consequences do not happen, such as accidents; it is usually done in secret parties in open spaces hard to reach.
Development
The Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction and Abuse, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, held a workshop for policy makers and executive leaders in the Arab countries with the aim of supporting national responses aimed at strengthening the youth’s ability to confront drugs, crime and violence associated with them. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Amr Othman, Assistant Minister of Social Solidarity and Director of the Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction and Abuse, and Christina Albertin, the Regional Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in the presence of Mirna Bou Habib, Deputy Regional Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and 30 leadership representatives of policy makers and leaders. Executive Committee of the Arab States Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Sudan, Libya and Palestine. Dr. Amr Othman, Assistant Minister of Social Solidarity – Director of the Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction and Abuse, stressed the importance of solidarity to confront all the issues and problems of the youth of the Arab world, whose exports include the problem of drug abuse, stressing that the file of combating drugs, crime and related violence, especially among young people, is one of the files The main issues on the agenda of the Egyptian government in the last eight years in particular, as one of the most important priorities for development work in Egypt.
The Young Global Leaders Forum (YGL) was created in 2004 with the aim of helping the world tackle increasingly complex and interdependent problems. The Young Global Leaders Forum was launched to give people under the age of 40 a safe space to learn from each other so they can be better leaders for their companies and communities in general with more than 1,400 young global leaders who come from all walks of life, including artists, heads of state, CEOs of leading startups, activists, academics, researchers and journalists. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 identifies current threats facing the world including the cost of living crisis, social unrest and trade wars. Coupled with new risks such as the war in Ukraine, a new era of low growth, the rapid development of dual-use technologies (civilian and military), and the growing impact of climate change. It is also important to facilitate intergenerational dialogue through the Young Leaders community, not only because Young Global Leaders crave learning opportunities; but also to involve older generations so that together they can create a lasting impact.
Education
The University of Arish announced the end of the activities of the second Young Researchers Conference, which was held for two days at the university’s headquarters under the title: “Development and green transformation in light of climate challenges” with the participation of a large number of researchers from various Egyptian universities. The university confirmed that the conference issued important recommendations and alternative solutions to overcome climate change and preserve the environment in line with the state’s development plan 2030. Dr. Hassan El-Demerdash, President of Arish University, said in a statement, on Tuesday, that among the recommendations of the conference is shedding light on development projects in Sinai and various environmental studies that serve the Sinai citizen and environment, recycling foil and other waste that has a negative impact on the environment, as well as developing methods Highly efficient desalination of sea water in Sinai by using solar cells, especially in poor areas, to save electricity and rationalize consumption, benefit from wild medicinal plants spread in North Sinai, and intensify research on them so that they can be used in many medical and other fields. It is noteworthy that the conference was opened the day before yesterday under the title: “Development and green transformation in light of climate challenges” under the auspices of Dr. It aims to achieve sustainable development and the transformation of the green economy, which maximizes the benefit of the human and natural elements of the Egyptian state, which is supported by the political leadership and His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic.
Environment
The “Arab Youth Center” registered in one day the training of more than 1,000 young men and women on the principles of climate awareness, through its new intensive awareness course, free of charge, aimed at introducing Arab youth to the opportunities through which they can contribute to climate action locally, regionally and internationally, in conjunction with the region’s readiness to host the summit. Global climate conference “COP28” on the territory of the United Arab Emirates in the fourth quarter of this year. The Arab Youth Council for Climate Change, under the umbrella of the Center, continues to offer the free intensive course entitled “The ABCs of Climate Change” as part of its multiple tasks to prepare young Arab leaders for climate action. The course constitutes an educational and awareness program that introduces young people, in Arabic, English and French, to the most important risks of climate change and environmental threats from a regional perspective, with a special focus on the objectives of the “COP” conference, in which most countries of the world participate annually. The course program focuses on enhancing Arab youth’s awareness of the challenge of climate change and ways to contribute to confronting it and devising solutions to it, by understanding what climate change is and its causes such as greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, and assessing our role as humans and our impact on the pace of climate change of our planet. The Arab Youth Center announced the launch of the “ABCs of Climate Change” course at the beginning of this year, as part of the activities of the “Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week” and in conjunction with the declaration of 2023 as the year of sustainability in the UAE and the year of Arab youth by the League of Arab States.