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Volume 14, Issue 2

“Severe human rights abuses are endemic to many Arab countries. Arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, torture, and unlawful killings are well-known facts of life in that part of the world. However, what is less known are stories like mine of activists who are promoting non-political and unpopular issues. The stories are less known due to the fact the Arab civil society organizations do not wish to deal with a culturally explosive and sensitive issue, but what is truly puzzling is that international human rights organizations do not report or advocate on behalf of this type of activists.”

—Hussein Aboubakr Mansour

The UN Commission on the Status of Women Loses All Credibility

By Naomi Grant | April 30, 2021

The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the "global champion for gender equality” abandoned billions of women and girls and lost all credibility when it elected Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon, Mauritania and Tunisia to four-year terms on the council.

Pakistan, the worst of these six offenders, is the ninth-worst out of 167 countries on Georgetown University’s Women, Peace and Security Index. Pakistani activists estimate that 1,000 honor killings still occur annually while 21% of girls are forced into marriage before their 18th birthday.

Egypt and Mauritania tied at 151, Lebanon ranked 147th and Tunisia and Iran could set an example for their CSW colleagues with still abysmal rankings at 121 and 118 respectively.

In other words, there is only a handful of countries in which the status of women is worse than in some of those recently elected to the CSW.

Read the full article here.

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Carice Witte is the Founder and Executive Director of SIGNAL (Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership), an Israeli policy organization that specializes on China-Israel relations. Having led over 1,000 briefings in China and Israel, she established a semi-annual China-Israel and annual China-Israel-U.S. Track-II dialogue in 2017. In 2011, Ms. Witte founded the Israel Studies Programs (ISPs) at universities across China, including an annual program held in Israel for Chinese faculty on teaching Israel Studies. Ms. Witte has authored articles, research and policy analysis papers on Sino-Israel relations, trade policy, strategic communications, and global Jewry. Her research focuses on Israel’s perspective on Xi Jinping Thought and its potential implications for the Middle East, Israel and the BRI, China in the Middle East, and China’s foreign policy.

David Goldman is Deputy Editor of Asia Times, where he has written the "Spengler" column since 2001. He is the author of How Civilizations Die (2011) and You Will Be Assimilated: China's Plan to Sino-Form the World (2020). He contributes to The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Claremont Review of Books and other publications. He has consulted for the Defense Department's Office of Net Assessment and for the National Security Council. A classical musician, he also serves as Tablet Magazine's music critic.