"This report provides an in-depth overview of the current state and trends of data protection regulation of seven North African countries – namely Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, and Tunisia. The st udy tackles regulatory approaches, key principles, and selected instruments. Fro
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m the outset, the analysis was limited to a textual analysis of the respective data protection laws, including constitutional law (i.e., the “law in the books”). In detail, the study engages with the development and status of regional and sub-regional data protection frameworks in Africa. Political as well as international influences on the development (or the lack of) of data protection laws in North Africa were considered. In addition, for countries with a comprehensive data protection laws (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia), the comparative assessment also looked into the scope of alignment and of divergence with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)." (Back cover)
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"The halting progress of the Tunisian media reform reflects the uncertainty and vulnerability of the political reform. As Professor of Communication and Democracy Katrin Voltmer contends, emerging media systems are unique types that are a blend of inherited structures, the constraints of the transit
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ions, and the reform movement’s choices. The new Tunisian media system retains features of the old regime while embedding the contradictions and struggles that paint the emerging political system. Eleven years after the Jasmine Revolution, the media reform is still governed by ambiguity, having turned into a field of political struggle between progressive and conservative forces and their allies. The president’s recent move to suspend the parliament and his highly controversial referendum on a new constitution granting him extraordinary powers, which passed following an unprecedented level of low turnout, have plunged the democratic consolidation process into turmoil. Sharp divisions have emerged between Saeid’s supporters and opponents, exacerbating uncertainty and ambiguity." (Conclusion)
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"Drawing on cases from revolutionary France to the Russia of Vladimir Putin, the international authors probe the nature and agency of local blasphemy accusations, the historical and legal framework in which they were expressed and the violence, both physical and symbolic, accompanying them. In doing
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so, the volume reveals how cultures of blasphemy, and related acts of heresy, apostasy and sacrilege, were a companion to or acted as a trigger for physical action but also a form of how violence was experienced. More generally, it shows the importance of religious sensibilities in modern society and the violent potential contained in criticism or ridicule of the sacred and secular alike." (Publisher description)
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"This Handbook provides the first comprehensive reference book in English about the development of mass and social media in all Arab countries. Capturing the historical as well as current developments in the media scene, this collection maps the role of media in social and political movements. Contr
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ibutors include specialists in the field from North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Each chapter provides an overview of the history, regulatory frameworks and laws governing the press, and socio-political functions of the media. While the geopolitical complexities of the region have been reflected in the expert analyses collectively, the focus is always the local context of each member state. All 37 chapters consider the specific historical, political and media trajectories in each country, to provide a contextual background and foundation for further study about single states or comparative analysis in two or more Arab states." (Publisher description)
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"Why and how can records serve as evidence of human rights violations, in particular crimes against humanity, and help the fight against impunity? Archives and Human Rights shows the close relationship between archives and human rights and discusses the emergence, at the international level, of the
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principles of the right to truth, justice and reparation. Through a historical overview and topical case studies from different regions of the world the book discusses how records can concretely support these principles. The current examples also demonstrate how the perception of the role of the archivist has undergone a metamorphosis in recent decades, towards the idea that archivists can and must play an active role in defending basic human rights, first and foremost by enabling access to documentation on human rights violations. Confronting painful memories of the past is a way to make the ghosts disappear and begin building a brighter, more serene future. The establishment of international justice mechanisms and the creation of truth commissions are important elements of this process. The healing begins with the acknowledgment that painful chapters are essential parts of history; archives then play a crucial role by providing evidence. This book is both a tool and an inspiration to use archives in defence of human rights." (Publisher description)
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"The intersection between media and politics remains very strong in several countries under study. In these conditions, there is often little transparency on media ownership and a lack of transparency on local funding sources of media. Relatedly, in some cases, a change in government policies was ra
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ised as an important precondition to possibly change the negative discourse towards the (public) media. A different political climate may benefit the financial conditions of a media outlet, for instance by lifting difficulties in acquiring media licenses or access to (governmental) funding by independent media. The advertisement markets for media are, in many of the countries under study, still controlled by a few large, more traditional media outlets. Generally, the advertising market is driven by a number of factors, including a network, political patronage, and the ability of media owners to utilise relationships with the corporate sector. Due to the digitalisation of media and the advertising market, the market has further changed over the past years. There is limited to no regulation in the distribution of advertisement funding based on quality standards for journalism. Some media practitioners proposed to address this problem by stimulating national governments to support regulatory bodies for media advertisement. While digital advertisement is on the rise, most revenue of online (media) advertisement is directed to big tech companies. An increased amount of advertising money is flowing towards social media platforms, and Internet advertising has been rising exponentially, as observed in all countries under study. The media sector as a whole is suffering from this trend, particularly the more traditional print media who are struggling to make the transition to online media. In some countries under study, media are not even eligible to generate an income on the large social media platforms. Policies to regulate online advertisement is imperative to strengthen the competition position of traditional media." (Global trends, page 9)
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"The key statistical findings for the region are that electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) placed on the market (POM) increased by 30 per cent from 3.2 megatons (Mt), or 8.8 kilograms per inhabitant (kg/inh), in 2010 to 4.1 Mt (or 9.5 kg/inh) in 2019. The Arab States mostly import, rather than
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manufacture, EEE; the domestic generation of EEE is therefore very limited, and they rely on imports of EEE POM. Over the same period of time, e waste generation in the region increased by 61 per cent from 1.8 Mt (4.9 kg/inh) in 2010 to 2.8 Mt (6.6 kg/inh) in 2019. The largest e-waste generator is Saudi Arabia, with 595 kilotons (kt) (or 13.2 kg/inh) of e-waste, while the lowest is Comoros (0.6 kt, or 0.7 kg/inh), which reflects the vast diversity of the region. The e-waste generated encompasses a variety of products, with small equipment (category 5 in EU Directive 2012/19/EU, on waste electrical and electronic equipment, also known as the WEEE Directive), temperature exchange equipment (category 1) and large equipment (category 4) comprising the highest share of e-waste generated, for a total of 76 per cent. The annual growth rate is positive for all categories of e-waste, with the exception of screens and monitors (category 2), which shows negative growth rates. Nevertheless, a declining trend has been observed, meaning that the pace of growth has slowed over time for most products. From the information gathered, the Arab States appear to have collected and managed a total of 2.2 kt (0.01 kg/inh) of e-waste in 2019, which equates to a collection rate of 0.1 per cent, compared to e-waste generated. However, it is worth highlighting that data on e-waste collection and on environmentally sound management (ESM) was available for only four Arab States. E-waste collection for ESM takes place in Jordan, the State of Palestine(1), Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Jordan has the highest e-waste collection rate of 2.6 per cent (equivalent to 0.1 kg/inh), followed by Qatar (0.5 per cent, or 0.07 kg/inh). Egypt has seven licensed treatment facilities for e-waste, but it was unable to provide official data on the amount of e-waste collected and managed." (Executive summary, pages 11-12)
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"This report provides an overview of the comparative innovation capacity of the Arab States region through ICT-centric innovation policy monitors, and an insight into how good practices can strengthen capacity to mainstream ICT innovation into national development agendas. It showcases a number of c
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ountries that display exemplary innovation practices and occupy leading positions in all three ecosystems (entrepreneurial, innovation and technology ecosystems), and looks at other countries of the region which lag behind in all three ecosystems as well as in terms of hard and soft infrastructure. To understand this divergence, the report introduces two ICT-centric innovation policy monitors: the 'Three Engines of Growth' monitor and the 'Digital Transformation Enablers' monitor.
The report notes that there are many good practices in the region fuelling the entrepreneurial journey. Each practice presented in the report was analysed on the basis of its impact, in a third ICT-centric innovation policy monitor, the 'Ecosystem Maturity Map' monitor. Each stakeholder group, at each of the five stages of the entrepreneurial journey, is assessed by its level of engagement in order to gauge the maturity of the ecosystem. For example, the first stage of the journey for entrepreneurs is 'entrepreneurial interest', while for the public sector it is having a 'vision and strategy'. This monitor enables stakeholders to visualize the maturity of the ICT-centric innovation ecosystem and identify which practices to keep, which must be improved and which to replace." (Introduction)
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"This volume provides a comparative analysis of media systems in the Arab world, based on criteria informed by the historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing a country's media. Reaching beyond classical western media system typologies, Arab Media Systems brings together contribu
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tions from experts in the field of media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to provide valuable insights into the heterogeneity of this region's media systems. It focuses on trends in government stances towards media, media ownership models, technological innovation, and the role of transnational mobility in shaping media structure and practices. Each chapter in the volume traces a specific country's media - from Lebanon to Morocco - and assesses its media system in terms of historical roots, political and legal frameworks, media economy and ownership patterns, technology and infrastructure, and social factors (including diversity and equality in gender, age, ethnicities, religions, and languages)." (Publisher description)
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"For the first time, a complete mapping of the film and audiovisual industry in 54 States of the African continent is available, including quantitative and qualitative data and an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses at the continental and regional levels. The report proposes strategic recomme
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ndations for the development of the film and audiovisual sectors in Africa and invites policymakers, professional organizations, firms, filmmakers and artists to implement them in a concerted manner. The film and audiovisual industry in Africa has the potential to create over 20 million jobs and generate US$20 billion in revenues per year." (Short summary, page 2)
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"1. Participants used a mix of social media platforms and TV/radio to acquire news. Word of mouth was also a noteworthy source of information. Many participants expressed a distaste for comment sections. It was generally agreed that information found on social media should not be taken as truth.
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The majority of attendees verified information they acquired, especially news from social media platforms. News that was not credible was deemed not worthy of sharing. The participants were scrupulous when it came to cross referencing news.
3. Global news sites were perceived as more trustworthy when it came to international news. The New York Times, for example, was mentioned multiple times.
4. Participants were open to a diverse range of topics including politics, culture, and women’s rights. They felt that education and local tourism as standalone subjects were overused. The integration of mental health resources into the education system sparked discussion and tackled a concept many deemed important." (Findings, page 6)
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"In this report, we highlight how privacy and data protection violations by state and non-state actors are compounded by the lack of legal data protection safeguards which would obligate public entities, private companies, and international organizations to respect and adhere to data protection prin
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ciples, empower users to take agency and control over their personal information, and create mechanisms for grievance and redress when such violations occur. We explore these issues and propose safeguards and policy recommendations for those involved in the collection and processing of personal data: governments, private companies, and international aid organizations. We include case studies for Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Tunisia. Our goal is not to include an exhaustive list of all cases related to data protection, but to present a few key illustrative cases for each country." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between hybrid media and hybrid politics in Lebanon and Tunisia. While previous research on the media in hybrid regimes has mainly focused on regime strategies of restricting and manipulating public debate, our analysis moves beyond repression. We ar
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gue that the ambiguities of hybrid politics, which combines democratic and authoritarian elements, not only constrain independent and critical reporting but also open up opportunities for journalistic agencies. We draw on Schedler’s concept of informational uncertainty to capture the epistemological instability of hybrid regimes and the strategies of political actors to control public knowledge. Distinguishing between three dimensions of media hybridity - economic, cultural and technological - we show how the new hybrid media environment significantly increases the volatility of hybrid politics and informational uncertainty for political actors. Our empirical analysis is based on seventy-one semistructured interviews with journalists in Lebanon and Tunisia conducted between 2016 and 2019. The material reveals a broad range of strategies used by journalists who employ the internal contradictions of hybrid politics to pursue their own agenda. The comparison between Lebanon and Tunisia also highlights contextual conditions that enable, or limit, journalistic agency, such as clientelistic dependencies, economic resources, and civil society alliances." (Abstract)
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"This book provides an original contribution to current social and cultural theory on Arab social movements by giving a fuller historical and critical treatment of contemporary artistic and cultural production from the region and beyond. Thematically structured and covering culture, media, politics,
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and literary studies, the book uses a range of theoretical material that engages readers in three key ways. First, it adopts a critical standpoint with respect to the term "Arab Spring," recognizing the multiple interpretations and varied geographical, historical, and political realities of the term. Second, its focus on carefully selected case studies - namely, Egypt, Tunis, Syria, and Yemen - adds depth to analysis of the cultural, literary and artistic dimensions that operate fluidly across the Arab world. Third, it presents a methodological case study for the growing community of researchers involved in interdisciplinary education." (Publisher description)
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"Overall, this evaluation has shown that over the last biennia UNESCO has made significant achievements through its work in MIL and is holding the lead in this constantly evolving field that has gained increasing importance at the forefront of global and national agendas. It also revealed that MIL o
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ffers increasingly interdisciplinary opportunities for the Organization and strategic decisions are needed as to the level of priority and adequacy of resources required for optimally positioning this strand of work to contribute to the achievement of Agenda 2030 through a wide range of topics. Among other, work on data privacy and big data, media and freedom of expression areas, a focus on PVE and a boost towards the disinformation, life-long learning and artificial intelligence approaches, as well as an enhanced focus on disadvantaged groups and a more consistent approach to advancing gender equality will allow UNESCO to remain at the forefront and to keep and expand its intellectual and foresight role in the area of MIL." (Abstract)
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"An increasing number of prosecutions of bloggers and Facebook users have taken place in relation to their peaceful expression online. They have been investigated or charged or sometimes sentenced on criminal charges including defamation, insulting state institutions and “harming” others through
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telecommunication networks. Amnesty International has examined the cases of 40 bloggers, administrators of widely followed Facebook pages, political activists and human rights defenders, who have been targeted by such prosecutions. These cases point to a worrying trend of people being tried for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression online." (Back cover)
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