Raising awareness of Madrid public opinion of the current situation in the Middle East

With the aim of raising awareness in the public opinion in Madrid on the current situation of development in the Middle East, the project has launched a series of initiatives whose main products have been: the holding of an international seminar and the publication of a report on the impact of revolutions on human development in the Middle East and the presence of the reality of development in the media.

The international seminar “The Arab Spring: The conflict in Syria. Actuality and Consequences” was held on June 6, 2013, at Casa Árabe in Madrid. Throughout the sessions, international personalities and experts on the subject conducted an analysis of the Syrian conflict, and addressed issues such as the internationalization of the conflict, due to the strategic situation of Syria in the Middle East and of this in the world, and the situation of refugees.

The study of the Syrian situation helped to know more about the country’s problems and to propose concrete solutions to it.

Participants included experts such as Salam Kawakibi, Researcher at the Arab Reform Initiative Center (ARI) (Syria/ France), Amani Salah, Regional Head of the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Aid (Jordan) , Hala Mustafa, Chief Editor of Democracy Review (Egypt), Youssef El-Khalil, Executive Director of the Financial Operations Department of the Bank of Lebanon and President of the Association d’Aide au Développement Rural (Lebanon), and Nadim Shehadi, Researcher of Chatham House (Lebanon).

The project activities throughout 2014 have focused on the preparation and publication of a report on the impact of the Arab Spring revolutions on human development in the countries of the Middle East. For this purpose, the staff of the FPSC and the CEMOFPSC and the advice of national and international experts such as Marta Martí, Head of the United Nations Office for Refugees in the United Nations (UNRWA); Alia Al Dalli, UNDP Regional Director in Cairo (Egypt); Giuseppe Belsito, Representative of UN Women in Jordan and Syria (Jordan); José Antonio Naya, Director of ICU Liban (Lebanon); and Riccardo Gavioli, head of a UNOCHA-funded project for Syrian refugees in Jordan. These experts have also offered a discussion session in Casa Árabe on April 1, 2014, to present and contrast their findings and opinions on the subject, under the title “The impact of revolutions on human development.”