The group of boys, consisting of boys aged 12-16 stared at the school walls blankly for years. Wondering why it was never renovated. Why it looked the same as it did more than 40 years ago. Did they not have the right to redecorate their school? They decided it was time to change the way the wall looked. With their graffiti and markers they wrote slogans they had learnt from children in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. They demanded change.

With that they all laughed nervously at their bravery and returned home feeling somehow liberated; a feeling children only dreamed they had in Syria. Little did they know they had to pay for that sensation. When the sun went down and sleep paralyzed all sensations, heavy footsteps were heard near the old school walls. Every single boy who saw, drew or even supported the slogans on the wall was awoken violently that night. The boys were dragged out of their homes by large armed men wearing uniforms. Their parents screamed and shoved the armed men helplessly. They were paying the price for years of silence.

Unable to understand their crime the boys cried as they were put together in small pickups and jeeps. They were dragged to small humid cells and beaten by large men. A kick in the rib for contemplating change; a blow in the face for asking for change; and a crack in the spine for feeling liberated. They sat in their cells for weeks, beaten and humiliated on a daily basis. As a final warning, their nails were yanked out of their fingers to teach them to never draw on the old wall.

Whoever survived the torture was later returned home, swollen and crushed. The dead were lucky to have never lived life to see the fate of the Syrian children in the future.

Family members and friends of the young boys swarmed the streets of the town of Daraa demanding justice be brought to those who tortured and killed their children. No one listened to them. Friends of friends and passerby’s later joined the angry group, forming a small demonstration. No one listened to their demands. The demonstration grew as more people were familiar with the recent events. There was finally a response. Live bullets and tear gas forced the crowds to split up the demonstrations temporarily. The demonstrations grew larger as angry crowds demanded for nothing but change and were not receiving it. The response was once again bullets and tear gas, however this time the bullets hit flesh. As more blood was spilt, the crowds grew more furious and larger.

The word about the demonstrations reached other provinces like Homs, Douma, Idlib and Damascus suburbs. Touched by the bravery of the little boys in Daraa, more little boys followed their example and drew on old walls. Demonstrations grew larger, demands progressed. People no longer wanted change and reformations; they wanted the complete removal of the old. They wanted Bashar Al Assad and his government to resign. While his grip tightened on his throne, more blood was spilt in demonstrations and more people grew aware of the situation.

The question is, what happened to the children? Did the government learn from their mistakes? Did they stop child torture and imprisonment? On the contrary, after the boys in Daraa, Hamza alkhateeb fell victim to their torture. His genitals mutilated, his body bruised from blows, arms dented with bullet holes and burns from cigarettes, and bones crushed. Him and thousands of children in Syria are paying the price for desiring what the boys in Daraa desired.

This revolution was ignited by the children, carried out by the children, and will be extinguished by the children.

For it is entering an inextricable maze when one thinks how easily smiles in photos are prevailed by the most refined western politicians to be bought by the un-refined, subduable Arabs who have forgotten the wisdom of their 10th century poet, Al-Mutanabbi, when advising, “If you see the canine of a line, do not think that the lion is smiling at you.” Very soon therefore, the lion will paws restlessly at everything that was formerly owned by the Arabs, roaring the closing of the curtain, to indicate the ending of the theatrical play. Perhaps it is better for one to leave their seat in the audience and travel back in history and time to understand how, firstly, the Middle East realm that were united in the Arab peninsula, got divided into lands and boarders.

One, consequently, would discover through the work of historians who Virginia Woolf points out “records not opinions but facts,” that the west had put their hands on this as well through their secret accord of Sykes-Picot agreement which was conducted in May 1916 between Great Britain, France and with the consent of Russia, for the detriment of the Ottoman Empire. The existence of this was diffused to the world through the break of the 1917 Russian Revolution.

What this agreement wanted to accomplish is gaining power and control over the Middle East and its surrounding lands. The French were to be given control over Syria, Lebanon, South-Eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq; whereas the British were content with owning power over Southern Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Arabia, and areas surrounding the Persian Gulf. Jerusalem on the other hand, was to be ruled by an international body. One needs to clarify that these two western powers didn’t ‘own’ these territories in the sense of the word, but controlled the governments and its administration (achieving the division of the area: dividing based on economic factors) and thus, one is permitted to use this term, in this context.

Consequently, one is required to learn about their past for a better understanding of their future. To divine this future would be exemplified through the study of history which roots through the blossoming of remembrance.

Herodotus, “whom Cicero called pater historiae,” embraced the task of history Arendt writes, in order “to save human deeds from the futility that comes from oblivion.” Should Arabs remember their past accordingly would elevate their status from that of oblivious to a more dynamic one approaching ahead start to the chess board, relishing the only wining strategic plan, while maintaining the safety of their king (territory) throughout the game and managing to tame the bitter, savage, greedy lion.

I would like to acquaint the reader that our current lion, if I’d borrow from Richard Steele, would “groan under life, and bewail those who are believed from it.” But, is the lion to be blamed? Not exactly I would say, for the Arab societies compose of such individuals Gayle Pemberton, warned to be aware of. Individuals with no memory of their past and whom are powerless to connect pervious events and current ones to future acts, who would wake up to scratch the same mistakes yet another time. These communities I would say with utmost confidence are the mileage of ignorance, lacking premonition to posterity, for they unfortunately took the acidic bait in what they called “The Arab Spring.”

Spring (Aniksi) – a war term was firstly used by Herodotus in The Persian Wars where in book seven (POLYMNIA) Gelo talks of the lack of order recipients (from the Athenian men) even if there is commanders to give orders, telling them that “ye had best make haste back to Greece, and say that the spring of her year is lost to her.” What this conveys is that Gelo’s troops are compared to spring (beginning of summer and is the finest season of the year) transmitting the meaning that his troops are the premium of the Greek army and a deprivation of his coalition would be like a year, the spring, is executed and drawn from it. “Arab Spring” therefore is the beginning of the end of hope for pure revolution and an end to the foundation of progress in the region, where no flower blooms, no tree grows and night refuse the recuperation of dawn.

One would walk into isolated roads reminiscent of previous decisions and remember that at the approach of these decisions, there were two voices communicating with equivalent power in their mind: one rational speaking which studies the reasons behind the west need and urge to help peoples living in far lands and inform of the realization that should they accompany that flow would driven them into floods of regret and live with the understanding that they have sold their country freely, with no worth of charge earned; for this torrent flood they have engaged in, no human power could save them from it. The other voice speaks with passion and converses of the urge one needs to consider in their memory, of the deprived years they have had experienced thus far in surrendering to dictatorship and looks for but a hole of escape. Perhaps in the peaceful silent moment one holds between themselves would bend towards the first one, but within their Arabic society they would conform to believe in the latter, thinking they’d have power over their country in embracing liberalization, which in turn they believe, would secure happiness.

But, what is power if not a mere word one assumes understands. Leo Tolstoy asked a long time ago in War and Peace “What is the cause of historical events? Power (he says). What is power (then)? Power is the sum total of wills transferred to one person. On what condition are the wills of the masses transferred to one person? On condition that the person express the will of the whole people. That is, power is power. That is, power is a word the meaning of which we do not understand.” In the arena and principle of International Relations or politics, possessing power (a word a meaning of which no one truly comprehends) is the force dominating all states, even if it brings with it corporeal suffering and winter solstice all year long.

Thucydides asks if the relations between states could be directed by principles/norms of justice, when power is an important factor to be considered. If we look at the lion or lions governing us today, the answer to Thucydides question would exclude the word justice and replace it with sadism. For both Politics and International Relations for that matter are governed by egoistic and languid individuals exacting more power with absence of moral values. These factors therefore present “a conflict-based paradigm of international relations” where power develops into the solstitial concern and where there is little, to no residue of morality.

Does this overwhelming idea and enforcement of power provide happiness? Graham Greene, according to Shirley Hazzard, converse on happiness saying, “point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil- or else an absolute ignorance”. Flaubert like Greene also felt that “to be stupid, selfish, and have good health, are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.” Now a day is no difference which hurts me to say, that happiness is achieved when one holds a blind eye to the pure truth, is ignorant of the lion and its plans, and approaches the chess board thinking it would provide ecstasy of mere moments of happiness.

This initiative, launched by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Kotzias, paves the way for the establishment of an annual forum for dialogue, aiming to deepen cooperation among the key players in a region plagued by security challenges and destabilizing forces on the premise that no single country can tackle the problems of this day and age.

This Conference will stress the need for collective action as it is imperative to act together in order to safeguard security and stability for the entire region.

The so-called triangle of instability, formed by Ukraine to the apex and Libya and Syria/Iraq to the western and eastern corner respectively, has adverse effects on the Eastern Mediterranean, the wider Middle East and Southeast Europe. The ongoing refugee/migration crisis, extremism and radicalization are indicators of the current critical situation in the broader region.

The Rhodes Conference is based on a political vision; to build stability and security via joint initiatives and synergies in order to avert fragmentation and bring prosperity and peace.

This includes the growth of relations and movements, which will lead to higher levels of interdependence. That is the building of academic and cultural networks aimed at overcoming stereotypes and misconceptions, as well as people-to-people exchanges – bridges between cultures – that promote understanding and respect for diversity.

In the same vein, economic cooperation in a modern globalized world requires synergies and connectivity in the sectors of trade, energy and transport;

Our will is to achieve positive sum cooperation, aspiring to remedy uneven development and inequality, the root causes of turbulence and hatred.

Hence, the agenda of both plenary sessions on September 8th and 9th respectively, shall define the current challenges we are faced with in order to forge joint strategies to meet:

• challenges presented by the migration crisis, including spiraling humanitarian needs, inadequate asylum systems and threats to social cohesion,

• environmental/climate security challenges, through programmes for education, capacity-building and knowledge transfer on measures to prevent marine debris and develop environmentally sound water and waste management systems,

• challenges to maritime security, including piracy, human trafficking, terrorism, weapons trafficking, overfishing, pollution, and man-made and natural disasters, and

• ongoing threats to the region’s cultural and religious plurality, including the root causes of radicalization and violent extremism.

The Rhodes Conference for Security and Stability will seek to highlight the vital need for states to show a real commitment and political will to deter all these destabilizing forces that engender suffering and unrest threatening security and stability.”

So far this year, more than 644,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea. Of these, just over a third – 34 per cent – are women and children who are particularly vulnerable to abuse as they transit Europe, UNHCR said.

“Refugee and migrant children moving in Europe are at heightened risk of violence and abuse, including sexual violence, especially in overcrowded reception sites, or in many locations where refugees and migrants gather, such as parks, train stations, bus stations and roadsides,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news conference in Geneva.

“From testimony and reports we have received there have been instances of children engaging in survival sex to pay smugglers to continue their journey, either because they have run out money, or because they have been robbed,” she added.

Fleming noted that unaccompanied children can be particularly vulnerable as they lack the protection and care of an adult. They may also be placed in detention in some countries, including with adults, posing great risks to them, she said.

Refugee and migrant women travelling on their own are also at heightened risk as they move through Europe, sometimes at night, along insecure routes or staying in places that lack basic security. Many reception centres are overcrowded, and lack adequate lighting and separated spaces for single women and families with children.

UNHCR is appealing to all concerned national authorities in Europe to take measures to ensure the protection of women and girls, including through providing adequate and safe reception facilities.

The refugee agency is also calling to all authorities, as a matter of urgency, to find alternatives to the detention of children. UNHCR and partners are working to prevent and address immediately family separations, as women and girls on their own face enhanced risks.

Together with partners, UNHCR are working with authorities to ensure access to information, to enhance the identification of persons with specific needs, including unaccompanied children, and their referral to appropriate services, to provide psychosocial support and to enhance reception areas, including through the provision of safe spaces.

Olayan

The Saudi group will participate in the tourism enterprise by way of a share capital increase to strengthen the Costa Navarino resort and its further growth in the tourism sector. The aim of the move is not just to support the group’s next investment stage but also to supply liquidity, Kathimerini notes.

Founded in 1947, The Olayan Group is a private, multinational enterprise with diverse commercial and industrial operations in the Middle East and an actively managed portfolio of international investments.

The commercial side of the Group comprises more than 40 companies and is centered in Saudi Arabia, where the Group originated. They are engaged in distribution, manufacturing, and services. Many of these companies operate in partnership with leading multinational or regional firms. Some have operations in other Gulf countries and the wider Middle East.

With offices in Saudi Arabia, Europe, and the US, the Group’s global investment team focuses on public and private equities, real estate, fixed income securities, and other specialized assets.

Frederica Mogherini, EU High Representative on Foreign and Security Policy, and Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship made the following remarks following their participation at the Ministerial conferences of the ‘Rabat’ and ‘Khartoum’ Processes in Rome.

High Representative Mogherini stated the following:

”I am very pleased with the results of the Ministerial conferences of the last two days: the ‘Rabat process’ and the ‘Khartoum process’. Thanks to the leadership of the Italian Presidency and the teamwork with Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, these two conferences have been a success; we need to act together and to find solutions for all aspects of migration.

Sometimes we are tempted to deal with this issue as a security matter, but our presence in Rome underlines the commitment of the European Union to have a broader approach. In this regard, within the European Commission, we have started to act in a coordinated way and to work from all different angles, in order to maximise the impact of our policies and projects. It is our responsibility to make sure that all the tools we have are coherent.

We need to tackle the emergencies, to deal with the dramatic conditions of people who put their lives at risk to try to find a better future, to work with countries of transition and to fight migrant smuggling. But we also need to tackle the root causes of irregular migration: poverty, conflicts, lack of resources. That’s why it is essential to develop fully all our European means. We need the impetus, support and political will from Member States and international partners, which we received these days in Rome.”

Commissioner Avramopoulos stated the following:

”During the two Ministerial conferences in Rome, and thanks to the hard work of the Italian presidency and the close cooperation and coordination with High Representative Frederica Mogherini, we achieved a number of tangible results that strengthen our capacity to deal with irregular migration from Africa.

The Rabat Process is a long standing initiative which has created a unique level of consensus and common vision for migration with our partners from North, West and Central Africa. Our support for the implementation of the Rabat Process has been far reaching. We have helped our partners in the region to strengthen their borders. In Mauritania, for example, we helped build the capacity of the border authorities, constructed border posts and provided necessary equipment. We have also assisted authorities in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt to strengthen their criminal justice systems in fighting smugglers of migrants.

The Rabat Process has now entered a new phase. Our ‘Rome Declaration’ underscores two priority areas:  1) strengthening the link between migration and development and, 2) prevention of and fight against irregular migration. The Rome Declaration has also added a new pillar for cooperation: international protection.

For the Khartoum Process, today we laid down the foundations for substantial political cooperation amongst the countries of origin, transit and destination along the EU-Horn of Africa migration route.

We will finance the first projects that will support migrants and refugees stranded along the migration routes from Eastern Africa. Moreover, EU funds have been allocated in order to help strengthen the cooperation with our African partners for the fight against smugglers and traffickers.

What is clear, therefore, is that our dialogue with our African partners is starting to pay off.  Our strength has always been and will continue to be, the way in which we mutually reinforce and complement our cooperation at all levels.

She still relives the trauma of September 10, when an unidentified vessel rammed into the smuggler’s trawler that was carrying Doaa and more than 500 other people, including many women and children, who dreamed of reaching Europe. The vessel quickly sank off the east coast of Malta; there were just 11 survivors.

The young woman, who showed tremendous courage in saving one baby and trying to keep another alive during the three days she spent in the water before being rescued by a Greek vessel and taken to Crete, says she is even more determined to reach Sweden where she has relatives.

But her resilience and determination to survive and to try and save others has inspired many people in Greece, including the local authorities in the Crete port of Chania, were she was taken after being rescued by a Greek Navy helicopter. People there believe that Doaa should be given Greek nationality for her bravery.

“What she did – suppressing the instinct for self-preservation and trying to save two babies – is astounding,” said Dimitris Nikolakakis, a senior public health and welfare official in Chania.

Doaa’s story begins in the south-western Syria town of Dera’a, where she was born and grew up in a family of nine. But as the war escalated, her family decided to flee to nearby Jordan in 2012 before making their way to Egypt. Doaa was just 16 at the time.

She spent two-and-a-half years in the northern Egyptian resort of Gamasa, where she worked as a seamstress to help supplement the money her father made as a barber. But Doaa believed there was no future in Syria or Egypt and so she decided, like thousands of others, to try and reach Europe by boat despite the news of ever more horrendous sinkings and deaths on the high seas.

“Three thousand people have drowned so far this year in the Mediterranean. It is unbelievable that such tragic loss of life takes place on Europe’s doorstep,” said Laurens Jolles, UNHCR’s regional representative for southern Europe.

But Doaa and her fiancé, Bassem, went ahead and found a place on a trawler that was used to smuggle refugees and migrants from Egypt to southern Europe. Four days after the trawler set sail from Damietta in the Nile Delta, it was stopped by another boat. “The people on it asked us to stop. They threw pieces of metal and wood at us and swore at our captain,” recalled Doaa. “Our boat refused to stop and they circled us and rammed us. They waited until we had sunk and they left.”

The trawler sank in minutes. Most of the passengers were below decks. “Some people grabbed ropes hanging from the ship’s masts to save themselves. Some were cut to pieces by the propeller when they fell into the water. Most drowned,” Doaa said. “We were from Sudan, Africa, Egypt, Syria, some from Libya, some Palestinians from Gaza.”

Doaa found herself in the water with 100 or so survivors, shocked and bewildered at the murderous behaviour they had just seen. She grabbed a life belt and looked around for her fiancé. She realized he must have gone down with the boat.

For three days, the survivors floated in the Mediterranean without food or drinking water. They were at the mercy of the winds and currents – and gradually they started to die. “Some people died of stress; others willed it to happen,” Doaa noted. “One man took off his own life vest and sank. Some died of fear, some of cold. The weather was rough. It was cloudy and cold.”

People began to ask Doaa to take care of their children. A man with his one-year-old granddaughter handed over the child and Doaa put it on her life belt. “Then a mother came with an 18-month-old baby girl and a six-year-old boy and asked me to take care of the baby and I kept it too. I watched the grandfather and the mother and her son die.”

Doaa said the goal of saving the two babies increased her determination to survive. She was rescued by a Liberian-flagged vessel some 90 nautical miles south-west of Crete on September 13. “The one year-old baby died just as we were about to be picked up” and taken to Chania. The other child rallied and recovered.

UNHCR’s Jolles said Doaa’s ordeal and the number of people who drowned was yet another sign of the need to do more to resolve the problem of people risking all to reach Europe. “There is an urgent need for a joint European response, based on collaboration among states and European Union support,” he said.

“For the moment, an efficient rescue operation needs to be maintained aimed at saving lives, in absence of other available alternatives,” Jolles stressed in a clear reference to the Italian Navy’s operation which has rescued 150,000 people at sea since late October 2013, including many people in need of international protection.

Doaa, meanwhile, waits alone to hear what her future will bring after such a costly journey. She was recently moved from Chania to the Greek mainland and is staying with a Greek family as the authorities try to locate her family in Sweden.

Source: UNHCR. John Psaropoulos in Athens, Greece contributed to this story

In a briefing to reporters in Geneva, WHO Communications Officer Oliver Rosenbauer said that out of 22 reported cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), 10 had been confirmed as being the result of Wild Polio Virus Type 1. The remaining 12 cases are still being investigated.

The cases were initially reported on 17 October in the Deir Al Zour province in the north-east region of Syria. Due to the protracted conflict, which has displaced millions, Syria had already been considered at high-risk for vaccine-preventable diseases. However, the country has not experienced a case of polio since 1999.

Polio, whose virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine attacking the nervous system, is highly infectious and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.

Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, and stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis and among those paralyzed, five to 10 per cent die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

Rosenbauer said the next step was to look at the isolated viruses and identify where they came from, to shed light on the source of the outbreak.

The 22 people who have been tested are children, mostly toddlers less than two years old. All of them appeared to be under or unimmunized, with some having received one dose of a vaccine and others not receiving any vaccination at all. Rosenbauer said the children came down with fever and were then paralysed.

WHO spokesperson Glenn Thomas added that health authorities in Syria and neighbouring countries had already begun the planning and implementation of the comprehensive outbreak response.

Meanwhile, a UN spokesperson in New York reported yesterday that Anthony Lake, the Executive Director of UNICEF, ended a two-day visit to Damascus, in which he said that the Syrian Government and agency had agreed on the importance of reaching hundreds of thousands of children in some of the worst-affected parts of the war-torn country with life saving vaccines, including those against polio.

Lake said that immunizing children is in its very nature non-political and has no connection to any military considerations. Lake also said that, with cases of polio now emerging in Syria for the first time since 1999, vaccinating children against polio is an urgent and critical priority for Syria and for the whole world.

Saudi authorities should end the country’s driving ban for women as the “Women2Drive” campaign gathers momentum, Human Rights Watch said today.

“It is hard to believe that in the 21st century, Saudi Arabia is still barring women from driving,” said Rothna Begum, Middle East and North Africa women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It’s past time to address the country’s systemic discrimination; driving could open roads to reform.”

In recent months, women have defied the ban and published online videos of themselves driving the kingdom’s roads, including footage showing Saudi men driving by and giving the thumbs-up sign to show their support. The Ministry of Interior has issued a statement saying that officials will enforce the law on October 26.

The informal prohibition on female driving in Saudi Arabia became official state policy in 1990. During the Gulf War, Saudi women saw female American soldiers driving on military bases in their country, and organized a protest. Dozens of Saudi women drove the streets of Riyadh in a convoy to protest the restriction. In response, officials arrested them, suspended them from their jobs, and the Grand Mufti, the country’s most senior religious authority, immediately declared a fatwa, or religious edict, against women driving, stating that driving would expose women to “temptation” and lead to “social chaos.” Then-Minister of Interior Prince Nayef banned women’s driving by decree on the basis of the fatwa.

The “Women2Drive” campaign has used social media to raise awareness and encourage female drivers to take to the roads. On October 10, police stopped and detained two women in a car, including prominent blogger Eman al-Nafjan, who was filming the other woman driving. Officials released them the same day, after they signed a pledge not to repeat their actions. Their male “guardians” – the Saudi system requires a father, husband, or even a son to take legal responsibility for every woman – also signed a pledge that the women would not drive.

The campaign has also reignited public debate on female driving. The head of the religious police stated in September that Sharia, or Islamic law, has no text forbidding women from driving. A cleric’s claim that “driving affects women’s ovaries” was met with widespread mockery by Saudis on Twitter. In October, three women members of the Shura Council, the highest advisory body to the king, called for the traffic committee to look into lifting the ban, but other members of the council rejected the recommendation, saying the traffic committee had no authority to launch such an investigation.

Many within Saudi Arabia’s conservative religious establishment continue to oppose allowing women the right to drive, arguing that it would undermine social values. On October 22, more than 100 clerics visited the Royal Court, the office of the king, to protest “the conspiracy of women driving.”

On October 24, Saudi activists confirmed that a man who claimed to be from the Ministry of Interior individually phoned women activists behind the “Women2Drive” campaign, warning them not to drive on October 26. He told them that measures will be taken against all women why defy the driving ban, and that women caught driving could be taken into custody.

Saudi Arabia has recently made several advances on women’s rights in other areas. In September 2011, King Abdullah decreed that women would be able to stand as candidates and vote in municipal elections, next due in 2015, and women could become members of the Shura Council. In January 2013, he appointed 30 women among 150 Shura Council members. In September 2013, authorities passed a law that for the first time criminalized domestic violence.

Despite these advances, Saudi women continue to face pervasive, systematic state discrimination in their daily lives. The male guardianship system treats them as legal minors, who cannot conduct official government business, travel abroad, marry, pursue higher education, or undergo certain medical procedures without permission from men. Women cannot protest or establish independent organizations to address women’s rights, as the kingdom bans protest and does not permit nongovernmental human rights organizations to operate freely.

Driving has become a symbol of change for Saudi women. On the 2008 International Women’s Day, March 8, Wajeha al-Huwaider uploaded a video of herself driving in Saudi Arabia. That same year, al-Huwaider and Fawzia al-Oyouni founded an unregistered NGO called the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia and submitted a petition to King Abdullah calling for the reversal of the ban. These two leading activists currently face imprisonment for trying to help a woman who said that her husband had locked her and her children in their home without food or water.

When women activists launched the “Women2Drive” campaign in 2011, scores of women drove, but traffic police stopped many of them and forced their male guardians to sign a pledge that they would not allow the women to drive again. The Jeddah Criminal Court sentenced one woman to 10 lashes; but the sentence was later overturned. A Jeddah administrative court dismissed one legal challenge to the refusal of the Ministry of Interior to grant women drivers’ licenses, though no traffic or other regulation limits granting licenses to men. The court said that the decision fell outside of the jurisdiction of the court system and transferred it to an administrative inquiry by a committee at the Ministry of Interior. The results of the investigation have not yet been announced.

Because of the ban, women often rely on male relatives or foreign drivers to convey them to work, school, and other activities. Saudi women have complained that the cost of hiring foreign drivers to take them to work eats up much of their salaries. Women who cannot afford to hire a driver must sometimes forego work and other activities outside the home. The fatwa on the driving ban cited the goal of preventing women from committing acts of khilwa – spending time in a secluded space with an unrelated man – but ironically, because of the ban, women often resort to taking taxis chauffeured by strangers or hiring male drivers, often foreign nationals.

Saudi Arabia is to make a bid for a three-year seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in November 2013.

“In 2005 King Abdullah came to power and said that he believed the day would come when women would drive,” said Begum. “Eight years later, the time for excuses is over.”

“To date, the Government of Syria has fully cooperated in supporting the work of the advance team and the OPCW-UN Joint Mission,” said Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag in a statement from Damascus.

She noted that the timeframes are “challenging” given the goal of eliminating the country’s chemical weapons programme in the first half of 2014.

Inspections so far have been conducted at 17 sites, the OPCW confirmed today. At 14 of these sites, the inspectors carried out activities related to the destruction of critical equipment to make the facilities inoperable.

“The Technical Secretariat continues to assist Syria in Damascus in finalising its initial formal declaration covering its chemical weapons and related facilities,” the OPCW noted on its website.

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is racing against time to help Syrians prepare for oncoming winter as temperatures across the region are already dropping.

Spokesperson Adrian Edwards told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR relief aid has been delivered to some 2,500 people who have now been evacuated from Mouadamiya in Rural Damascus, where thousands are still believed to be trapped.

In addition to monitoring the general condition and protection concerns of these internally displaced people, UNHCR delivered relief items including mattresses, blankets, cooking sets, hygienic supplies and other aid.

Last week, through local partners, UNHCR delivered aid within the hard-to-reach city of Raqqa to more than 10,000 people. Raqqa, located in northern Iraq, hosts internally displaced people from Deir es Zour and from Aleppo, 160 kilometres to the west.

“UNHCR observed that many of the displaced are living in buildings that lack windows, doors and electricity. People in this area will soon urgently require thermal blankets and plastic sheets to deal with winter temperatures,” Edwards said.

“Virtually every town and city across Syria is affected by the conflict or hosts traumatized, displaced people,” the spokesperson said.

Women told us they lacked privacy in the collective shelters, Edwards noted. He added concerns about the vulnerability of women, many heading broken households.

In addition, the UN agency is worried about the impact of the crisis on young people, almost two million of whom have dropped out of school and a growing number of which are being exploited for labour or recruited into armed groups.