Democracy and Human Rights

"What made Bab Al-Shams significant was the fact that it asserted that Palestinian activists would not simply react to injustices the occupation laid at our doorstep, but that we were determined to create our own realities on the ground"....

​The Third Arab Blogger Meeting convened in Tunisia in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Stiftung, the international network Global Vocies and the Tunesian platform of internet activists Nawaat. More than 100 cyberactivists from across the Arab World participated in the „unconference“, as the meeting was called due to its unusual agenda of open meetings and ad-hoc presentations. They exchanged their experience and discuss their role in the Arab Spring. The first two meetings were organized by the hbs and Global Voices in Beirut in 2008 and 2009. Particularly the second meeting prepared the ground for the crucial role the digital activists assumed in the Tunisian revolution. The meeting received a wide media coverage in Arabic, English and German. Links to the most prominent articles can be find below, as well to the meetings websites, facebook pages and twitter accounts of participants. 

Between April and August 2012, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung is implementing in cooperation with the Arab Women Organization (AWO) a national conference and a training workshop to integrate women rights into democratic reform in Jordan

Between January and November 2012, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung is implementing a project with the CWLRC on research and advocacy about the divorce of young women in Gaza.The center works to formulate the legal and social vision for women as the main partner to men in building the Palestinian society on the basis of democracy

Heinrich Boell Stiftung AMEO is happy to announce the continuation of its support for Arab digital activists in the Arab world. Together with our partner Global Voices Online, we seek to strengthen the collaboration between non-digital and digital activism, to introduce non digital civil society with new media tools and to make their voices heard.

Project:
 To foster a resource and support network for outreach projects that use digital media to empower underrepresented voices and promote collaboration between bloggers and civil society organizations in Egypt. Micro grant funding and technical support was given to three citizen media projects in Egypt implemented by Rising Voices (outreach arm of Global Voices Online).

All over the world, gender relations are changing. Economic and cultural upheavals are giving rise to ever new ways of life and work. When those changes benefit women, that is usually due to the work of feminist networks, small and larger-scale gender-oriented organizations, and courageous individuals.

The 2010 Shashat film festival toured cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, targeting youth audiences as well as the general public in the belief that culture is a human right. Films were shown in 9 Palestinian universities, adding this year 8 schools to its youth outreach.

The human rights lawyer and founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Raji Sourani, has won the Right Livelihood Award, commonly known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. It is the first time that a Palestinian has won the award. The Heinrich Böll Foundation is delighted about this decision and has congratulated Sourani on this outstanding achievement...