Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength was assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army in 2016.
Islamic Relief Worldwide is a faith-inspired humanitarian and development agency which is working to support and empower the world's most vulnerable people.
The state of Democracy in Middle East and North Africa can be comparatively assessed according to various definitions of democracy. De jure democracies in the Middle East and North Africa are according to system of government:
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East and North Africa together. However, it is widely considered to be a more defined and apolitical alternative to the concept of the Greater Middle East, which comprises the bulk of the Muslim world. The region has no standardized definition and groupings may vary, but the term typically includes countries like Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the UAE, and Yemen.
The military occupation of Lebanon by Syria lasted from 1976, beginning with the Syrian intervention in the Lebanese Civil War, until April 30, 2005. This period saw significant Syrian military and political influence over Lebanon, impacting its governance, economy, and society. The occupation ended following intense international pressure and the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The legacy of the occupation continues to influence Lebanese-Syrian relations and Lebanon's internal political dynamics.
The L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards, created in 1998, aim to improve the position of women in science by recognizing outstanding women researchers who have contributed to scientific progress. The awards are a result of a partnership between the Foundation of the French company L'Oréal and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and carry a grant of $100,000 USD for each laureate. This award is also known as the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Awards.
In the Arab world, women have been subject to changing cultural and social norms over the centuries with a clear difference between Urban areas, Rural areas and age groups. These differences can be attributed to local traditions, culture and religion, women's social or legal status, their level of education, health or self-awareness. Since the 19th century, and notably through the influence of the colonization in North Africa, the Arab Renaissance in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, and the end of the Ottoman Empire, the social and economic changes in the Arab world have become greatly accelerated and diversified.
The cinema of Lebanon, according to film critic and historian Roy Armes, is the only other cinema in the Arabic-speaking region, beside Egypt's, that could amount to a national cinema. Cinema in Lebanon has been in existence since the 1920s, and the country has produced more than 500 films.
Joumana Haddad is a Lebanese author, public speaker, journalist and human rights activist. She has been selected as one of the world’s 100 most powerful Arab women by Arabian Business Magazine for her cultural and social activism. In 2021, she was on Apolitical's list of 100 most influential people in Gender Policy. She is founder of Jasad, a quarterly Arabic-language magazine specialized in the arts and literature of the body (2009–2011). Haddad launched a new TV show in November 2018 on Alhurra highlighting the topics of free expression and critical thinking. In September 2019, she founded a youth centered NGO in Beirut called the Joumana Haddad Freedoms Center. In February 2020, in partnership with the Institut Français in Lebanon, she launched the first International Feminisms Festival in the Middle East with a group of local and international co-organizers.
Women's rights in Afghanistan are severely restricted by the Taliban. In 2023, the United Nations termed Afghanistan as the world's most repressive country for women. Since the US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban gradually imposed restrictions on women's freedom of movement, education, and employment. Women are banned from studying in secondary schools and universities, making Afghanistan the only country to prohibit females from studying beyond the sixth grade. Women are not allowed in parks, gyms, or beauty salons. They are forbidden from going outside for a walk or exercise, from speaking or showing any part of their face or body outside the home, or even from singing or reading from within their own homes if they could be heard by strangers outside. In extreme cases, women have reportedly been subjected to gang-rape and torture in Taliban prisons.
Lina Makoul is a Palestinian/Lebanese singer-songwriter and music producer. In 2013, she won The Voice Israel.
Women in Syria are active participants in social, economic and political factions of Syrian society. They constitute 49.9% of Syria's population. According to World Bank data from 2021, there are around 10.6 million women in Syria. However, Syrian women and girls still experience challenges, especially since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. They suffer from discrimination, lack of access to suitable healthcare and challenges precipitated by wartime violence.
Rula F. Saadah Ghani is a former first lady of Afghanistan and wife of former president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani.
Omezzine Khelifa is a Tunisian politician, activist, and social entrepreneur. Born on 7 July 1982 in Carthage she was raised in La Marsa in the northern suburb of Tunis. After earning her high school diploma in mathematics, she moved to France where she finished her studies as a telecommunications and computer science engineer, specialized in networks and distributed applications. She worked in the finance field as a consultant for Société Générale Investment Banking and fintech compagnies.
Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg is an Executive in Residence at Schmidt Futures. Before that she was Director of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). Wanjiru is also the Founder and past Executive Director of Akili Dada, a leadership incubator for African girls and young women and a former Assistant Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco.
Hasina Jalal is an advocate for women's rights and democracy in Afghanistan. In 2014, Jalal was elected by public vote to receive the "N-Peace Award" from the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Office and the UN Secretary General's Special Advisor on the University for Peace. She co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the National Association of Afghanistan Civil Society (NAACS) and the first alliance of South Asian women on Women's Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (SAFA) in Sri Lanka. Jalal served in the Afghan government as a research team lead and policy expert at the Presidential Palace and as a Policy Advisor to Minister and Director of Program Design and Donor Coordination Directorate at the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum of the Government of Afghanistan.
Hayat Mirshad is a Lebanese feminist journalist, activist, and co-founder of the non-profit feminist collective FE-MALE.
Gender and International Aid in Afghanistan: The Politics and Effects of Intervention is a 2009 book by Lina AbiRafeh.
Charlotte M. Karam is a Canadian-born Lebanese scholar-activist known for her work in inclusive human resource systems, business ethics, leadership development, and feminist praxis. She currently holds the position of Director of the Executive MBA program and the Ian Telfer Professorship in Inclusive Human Resource Systems at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa.
