Embarking into a new era – the media and human rights in the Arab World
June 28, 2011
North Africa and the Arab region continue to be marked by unrest. International pressure on Libya and Syria is growing. In many places people are taking to the streets, risking their lives to make claim to their rights. Human rights and the media in the Arab world is a topic of focus at this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum from June 20-22, 2011 at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany.
Tunisian film director Ibrahim Letaief, who sat on the jury at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, will speak at a workshop examining the future role of the media in Arab societies. Taking part in the same workshop are journalist Faisal Mohamed Salih, director of Teeba Press in Sudan, Amira Sayed El Ahl, a journalist and foreign correspondent for the Middle East, and Anna Würth from the German Institute for Human Rights. Moderating the discussion will be Golineh Atai of German broadcast network ARD/WDR. The workshop will take place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21, 2011.
Upon invitation by the Friedrich Naumann foundation, bloggers from Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia will gather to share their experiences and discuss the role of social media in promoting freedom and democracy. This workshop will take place in two parts on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. A special guest at the conference will be blogger Lina Ben Mhenni from Tunis, this year’s winner of Deutsche Welle’s international blog awards, The BOBs.
On Monday, June 20, 2011 at 2 p.m., a workshop exploring the capacity of the media to facilitate economic development in Egypt will feature photographer and human rights activist Yasser Alwan from Cairo and the managing editor of newspaper Al Shorouk, Wael Gamar. The demonstrations in Egypt were also protests against poverty. Economic reforms to develop a competitive, non-discriminatory, and equitable economy are key to ensuring fundamental human rights.
The conflict between secular and Islamic forces in the Arab World has a considerable impact on the media in the region. What that means for freedom of the press and information will be a topic of discussion for Wafeeq Khaled Ibrahim Al Natour, a Palestinian journalist and media expert, Muhammad Ayish, media advisor at the National Media Council in Abu Dhabi, Semih Dündar Idiz, a columnist for Turkish newspaper Milliyet, and Heba Raouf Ezzat, an assistant lecturer at Cairo University. Secular media outlets must come to terms with Islamic-oriented governments while religiously aligned media have to assert themselves in secular environments. Both strive for independence – and both must cope with repressive measures and prejudice. Where do restrictions of freedom of expression and freedom of the press become apparent? This workshop at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 20, 2011, will be moderated by Daniel Gerlach, co-editor of Zenith, a German-language magazine on Eastern topics.
Foreign affairs coverage and what it means for press freedom is the title of another roundtable discussion taking place on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 11:30 a.m. Why is it imperative for the world press to probe thoroughly into the radical change happening in the Arab World? What can correspondents and the media do to support and strengthen press freedom and democratic values? Discussing these and related issues will be Andreas K. Bittner, treasurer of the German Federation of Journalists (DJV) and a member of the steering committee of the European Federation of Journalists, Rolf-Dieter Krause of German network ARD’s studio in Brussels, freelance correspondent Christoph Maria Fröhder, Marc Koch, editor-in-chief of DW-RADIO/ONLINE, and Mohamed Yehia, editor of BBC Arabic’s online service. Sybille Golte-Schröder, head of Asia Programs at Deutsche Welle, will moderate this discussion.
“Human Rights in a Globalized World – Challenges for the Media” is the theme of this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum scheduled to take place from 20-22 June 2011 at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany. This is the fourth in the series of conferences examining the role of the media in key issues shaping the world’s future.
Partners of this interdisciplinary congress include Amnesty International, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the German Institute for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), UN Water, the European Council on Foreign Relations, die European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the German Development Institute, CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg, the Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Goethe Institute, the German Journalists Association (DJV) and other organizations. Six of this year’s partners have been included in the University of Pennsylvania’s list of 50 leading think tanks.
DW will also be awarding the winners of its international blog awards, The BOBs, at this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. This is the contest’s seventh year and prizes will be awarded in six categories and 11 languages. For more information go to www.thebobs.com.
Co-host of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Sparkasse in Bonn. The conference is also supported by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the European Regional Development Fund, the Minister for Federal, European and Media Affairs of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the city of Bonn, DHL and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.