London-Palestine Film Festival 2009

The Palestine Film Foundation (PFF) programmes and runs the annual London Palestine Film Festival. The two-week Festival is the largest event of its kind in Europe, showcasing dozens of videos and films dealing with the subject of Palestine each year. Art, fiction, documentary, and experimental work by artists from across the world are screened alongside panel discussions, question & answer sessions, and book talks. 

The 10th London Palestine Film Festival will open in mid-April 2009 and run for 2 weeks. The PFF is now inviting submissions from filmmakers and distributors. The Festival embraces a wide variety of genres and encourages filmmakers of all nationalities to participate in the festival.

Submissions should reach PFF via post before 20th December 2008. Please see the SUBMISSIONS PAGE on the PFF site for information on how to submit films for the 2009 Festival. 

For more information, click this link:  http://www.palestinefilm.org/

POLSIS Conference: EU Democracy Promotion in the Middle East

The Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS) Department at The University of Birmingham will be launching an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project website on Paradoxes and Contradictions in EU Democracy Promotion Efforts in the Middle East. 

The funded research project has been awarded to Dr Michelle Pace, a network member.

The research  project came into effect on February 2008 and will run until February 2011.

The site is available at:

http://www.eumena.bham.ac.uk/

Anna Lindh Foundation-Euromed: October 2008

From the EuroMed Ministerial Conference held in Marseilles to current programme Development, the following link gives you an update on the Anna Lindh Foundation’s activities:

bc-internal_news-oct_08-en

Also, there’s plenty to look forward to for the rest of 2008.  A detailed diary (also included in the above link) will keep you informed on the events taking place in the remaining quarter of this year…

Going Global3

Going Global3 is the UK’s largest International Educational Conference!

Held every two years (2004, 2006), it will be coming to London: 3-5 December 2008.  This year the three day programme will be hosting the Opening Reception at the new Saatchi Gallery and the conference at ExCel London. 

Attracting hundreds of senior strategy and policy makers from more than 40 countries, including a large delegation of Vice Chancellors from China, India and Pakistan, Going Global 3 will be an event to look out for.

For more information on the event held by the British Council, click on the following link:  http://www.britishcouncil.org/goingglobal3.htm

European Union of Coptic Organisations

The European Union of Coptic Organisations held their annual meeting in Paris, November 8th 2008.

Members (organisations) attending in the European Union countries were:

France – Netherlands – Switzerland –Austria – Greece – Ireland – Hungary – Germany – Sweden – United Kingdom.

Based on the desire of the Coptic organisations in the ten countries mentioned and delegates who met in Paris, it had been agreed on the establishment of the European Union of Coptic organisations for Human Rights EUCOHR the following Declaration: Copts-Declaration-Paris-2008.

The following Conference will be held on 27th January 2009 in Amsterdam.

Women’s economic empowerment in the EuroMed region

New Study Reveals Legal Impediments to Women’s Economic Participation in South Mediterranean

 

Brussels, 17 November 2008 – A new study reveals that laws regulating marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance are the main barriers to women’s economic empowerment in ten South Mediterranean countries, and that despite significant strides made in the region, women’s rate of participation in economic activity remains the lowest in the world.

 

The study shows that while labour codes prohibit sexual discrimination, practice is another matter and women are still constrained by a ‘culture of shame’ – for example, they may face prosecution for libel if they bring a case of sexual harassment against an employer and lose it. In some instances there is outright discrimination, e.g. job advertisements that call for male applicants only.

The Study which is commissioned by the EC-funded Regional Programme Euromed Role of Women in Economic Life and implemented by the British Council in co-operation with the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies, looks at the root causes for discrimination against women’s economic participation, focusing on four main areas: right to work, right to equality and marriage and the family, rights to social security and nationality, and rights to freedom of movement and equal legal personality. It provides an in-depth account of the contradictions between constitutional rights, which provide for equality and non discrimination, and domestic laws and practices that prohibit women from fully exercising their equal rights.

The following link gives a further detailed information on the findings of the study:  http://www.britishcouncil.org/brussels-euromed-press-release-1108-word.doc