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Days on Human Rights and Humanitarian Action: Gaza and Syria

From November 11, 2014 until November 13, 2014Check schedules
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62) Check schedules Free entry after registration using the online form.
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Casa Árabe is hosting the second edition of these days organized by UNRWA Spain 

The Spanish Committee of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA Spain) is organizing this second edition of the “Days on the Human Rights-Based Focus in Humanitarian Action: the challenge of Syria and Gaza,” for the dates of November 11, 12 and 13 in Madrid, with the support of the Secretariat General of International Development Cooperation and the collaboration of Casa Árabe.

The main objective of these sessions is to analyze and evaluate the application of the Human Rights-Based Focus (HRBF) on humanitarian activities, with a special emphasis on long-lasting conflicts. To do so, the theoretical foundations necessary to understand both the HRBF and the humanitarian situation in Syria and Gaza will be examined during the different sessions. Along with humanitarian professionals and analysts who are experts on the Middle East, information will be shared and specific experiences in the field analyzed. The final session will be devoted to holding work groups in which those attending will get the opportunity to share their knowledge with other role-players involved.

The intended participants are all people who are professionally or academically related with the world of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, including experts, the representatives and technical staff for humanitarian aid in public administration bodies, the technical personnel and volunteers of NGOs, members of centers for research on development aid and cooperation, and students involved in humanitarian aid and development cooperation.

Human Rights, as an ideal to which all of mankind aspires, are directly related with access to a dignified standard of living to all people. It is because of this that, throughout the last decade, the role-players related with development and humanitarian aid have been building their strategies of intervention from a Human Rights-Based Focus (HRBF). Although this focus seems to have been much more systematized in development cooperation, humanitarian action has created new challenges for a wide range of role-players. Within a context of chronic humanitarian crisis like those in Gaza or Syria, which is facing its third year of conflict, the challenge is even greater.

UNRWA, as the humanitarian role-player of greatest importance in the Middle East, has more than 60 years of experience in Humanitarian Action. It works in a direct manner with more than five million refugees from Palestine, with specific programs for development, humanitarian aid and emergency aid.

Full schedules of the days’ events and speakers

Further information at: http://www.unrwa.es/EBDHmadrid2014/

Days on Human Rights and Humanitarian Action: Gaza and Syria
Tuesday, November 11

3:30 p.m.: Registration and handing out of materials
4:00 p.m.: Official opening event
The event will be presented by Mr. Eduardo López Busquets, the General Director of Casa Árabe.
Ms. Raquel Martí, Executive Director of UNRWA Spain.

4:30-6:30 p.m.: Round Table Discussion on challenges for humanitarian action in the long-term crisis in the Middle East.
Mr.  Francisco Rey, Co-Director of the Institute of Studies on Conflict and Humanitarian Aid (IECAH).
Mr.  Manuel Sánchez-Montero, Director of the Office for Humanitarian Action, AECID.
Moderated by: Ms. Raquel Martí, Executive Director of UNRWA Spain.

Wednesday, November 12

4:00 p.m.-5:45 p.m. Round Table Discussion: The humanitarian situation of refugees from Palestine in the Syrian war.
The conflict in Syria: from civil war to wars by proxy.
Mr.  Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio, Professor of the University of Alicante.
The humanitarian situation of refugees from Palestine in the Syrian conflict.
Mr.  Michael Kingsley-Nyinah, Director of UNRWA in Syria.
Moderated by: Mr. Javier Sota, Coordinator of the Program for Tracking Spanish Cooperation Policies, FIIAPP, in representation of the Secretariat General of International Development Cooperation.

5:45 p.m.: Break

6:00-8:00 p.m.: Round table discussion on the humanitarian situation of refugees from Palestine in Gaza.
The socio-political scene in Gaza: Blockade and occupation
Mr. Haizam Amirah Fernández, Head Researcher on the Mediterranean and Arab World, Real Instituto Elcano.
The humanitarian situation of refugees from Palestine in Gaza after the latest military offensive.
Ms. María José Torres, Assistant Director, OCHA tPo.
Moderated by: Juan Manuel Moreno.

Thursday, November 13

4:00-6:00 p.m.: HRBF work group on the Syrian conflict. The case of the Palestinian refugee camps of Yarmouk, Damascus.
A practical case study directed by Ms. Elena de Luís, a researcher who specializes in HRBF.
4:00-6:00 p.m.: Work group. HRBF work group on Gaza. UNRWA shelter-schools during the Israeli "Protective Edge" offensive.
A practical case study directed by Ms. Celia Fernández de Aller, a researcher who specializes in HRBF.

6:00 p.m.: Break

7:00 p.m.: Presentation of conclusions: spokespersons from the work groups
Moderated by: Ms. Isabel Miguel Emperador, Coordinator of Education for Development, UNRWA Spain.

8:00 p.m.: Closing event
 
CELIA FERNÁNDEZ ALLER
A doctor of Law, Ms. Fernández Aller is an interim professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Teaching at the Bachelor’s and graduate level focusing on fundamental rights and new technologies and the Human Rights-Based Focus, she is responsible for a research group at the UPM (Online Systems for the Knowledge Society: remote medicine and disability), as well as legal affairs and the coordination of various research projects on the Human Rights-Based Focus.

EDUARDO LÓPEZ BUSQUETS
The General Director of Casa Árabe since March 2012, López Busquets holds a degree in Law. He became a career diplomat in 1985 and received his Master’s degree in International Politics. He held the position of Ambassador in Mozambique. Prior to that, he had served in several countries, including Algeria and Iran, as Deputy Mission Chief of the Spanish Embassies in those countries. He has also held diplomatic positions in Bogota, Brussels and Mexico City. Throughout his long professional career, he has focused his activities on political analysis, with a special interest in societies undergoing transition, European and Euro-Mediterranean security and public diplomacy.

ELENA DE LUIS
A consultant, educator and researcher with more than fifteen years of professional experience in development cooperation. A specialist in the Human Rights-Based Focus (HRBF), Gender and Development, the Right to Water, Education, Health, Governance, Development Policies and Strategies; enablement and skill building; tracking and evaluation, and increasing awareness and its effects. For more than ten years, she has been an Associate Professor at the Universidad Carlos III, and an educator in the graduate Master’s degree programs at different Spanish universities.

FRANCISCO REY
A founding member and co-director of the Institute of Studies on Conflicts and Humanitarian Action (IECAH). Dedicated to research, consulting, thought and education on cooperation and aid. A consultant for the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, the government of the Netherlands, the Swedish government and various bodies involved in Spanish Cooperation. An author of numerous publications on development, humanitarian action, etc., the most notable of his books include "El debate humanitario" ("The Humanitarian Debate") and "Manual de Gestión del Ciclo del Proyecto en Acción Humanitaria" ("Handbook for Management of the Humanitarian Action Project Cycle"). He is the Director of the Annual Humanitarian Action Reports published by the IECAH and the coordinator of the Humanitarian Action Observatory.
 
HAIZAM AMIRAH FERNÁNDEZ
The head researcher on the Mediterranean and Arab World at the Real Instituto Elcano and a professor of International Relations at the Instituto de Empresa (IE Business School). A specialist in International Relations, political Islam and processes of transition towards democracy in the Arab world, a region where he has resided for more than 17 years. He has been an educator at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the universities of Georgetown, Saint Louis, CEU San Pablo and Barcelona. The author of numerous articles and a co-publisher of the books “The Maghreb: National Realities and Regional Dynamics” (Síntesis, 2008);  “North Africa: Politics, Region, and the Limits of Transformation” (Routledge, 2008); “The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Assessing the First Decade” (Real Instituto Elcano and FRIDE, 2005). He has worked at the United Nations (New York) and at Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC).

IGNACIO ÁLVAREZ-OSSORIO
Professor of the Department of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Alicante and a Researcher for the Workshop of International Studies of the Mediterranean at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. A professor in the Department of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Alicante, he has written and published several books, including “Contemporary Syria,” “Report on the Arab Revolts” and “Civil Society and Protest in the Middle East and North Africa.”

ISABEL MIGUEL EMPERADOR
An expert on gender equality, women’s rights and development cooperation, she is currently holding the position of Coordinator of the Area of Education for Development and Awareness of the National Committee of UNRWA in Spain. Holder of a degree in Political Science and Administration, with a Master’s degree in International Cooperation from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (IUDC-UCM), she has more than ten years of work experience in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America working with the United Nations (UNIFEM-UN Women), the AECID and non-governmental organizations.

JAVIER SOTA RAMOS
Coordinator of the Program for Tracking Spanish Cooperation Policies at the FIIAPP Foundation, through a technical assistance agreement with the Secretariat General of International Development Cooperation (SGCID), Sota Ramos has more than 20 years of experience in International Cooperation, having worked at different entities of the Public Administration (the Autonomous Regional Government of Madrid), in the tertiary sector (H+D Foundation, ACTEC Belgium), in the private sector (Soluziona) and in the university world (San Pablo CEU). He is also the Dean of the ISEAD Business School, a co-founder of the Center for Development Cooperation Studies (CECOD) and a member of the Council of Cooperation, where he works as an expert.