“Blatant disrespect for human rights in Eritrea is unacceptable,” Ms. Keetharuth stressed after a ten-day mission to Ethiopia and Djibouti to collect first-hand information directly from Eritrean refugees on the human rights situation in their country. “Real change would require a fundamental reform process transforming the current culture of rights denial with one anchored in the rule of law, respect for and realization of all human rights and human dignity.”

The human rights expert warned that the high numbers of Eritrean refugees in both countries is indicative of the serious human rights violations in Eritrea, pushing people to take the difficult decision to leave their families and homes behind for an unknown future.

“An improvement in the human rights situation in Eritrea will be crucial to allow refugees to return to their home country,” Ms. Keetharuth noted while commending the efforts by Ethiopia and Djibouti to host the large Eritrean refugee communities. “Many of those refugees I spoke to underlined their wish to return, should there be a significant shift from the Government’s current brutal and inhumane policies and practices.”

In Ethiopia, the human rights expert met with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA), and representatives of the African Union. She also visited the ARRA Reception Centre in Endabaguna, as well as the Adi-Harush and Mai-Aini refugee camps in the Tigray region.

“The continuing stream of refugees is of high concern,” she said. Since the beginning of the year, close to 4,000 Eritrean refugees have crossed the Ethiopian-Eritrean border, bringing the number of those living in the three camps in the Tigray region to over 50,000 Eritrean refugees.

“I am particularly concerned about the increasing number of unaccompanied children crossing the border without the knowledge of their families,” Ms. Keetharuth said. “Children regularly mentioned dysfunctional family circumstances due to the long absence of the father, most of the time because of conscription, lack of educational opportunities and the fear of forced conscription into indefinite national service as major reasons for their decisions to flee.”

The rights expert warned that such a situation not only poses major protection challenges but is indicative of the scale of despair these children are facing at home.  “A 16-year old boy asked me ‘How can I go to Wi’a for military training? I have no interest in being a soldier.’ He was terrorized by the harsh conditions prevailing in this desert camp, which he described at length,” she recalled.

In Djibouti, the Special Rapporteur held meetings with the Minister of Cooperation and representatives of the national security, the local administration, as well as the Office National d’Assistance aux Réfugiés et aux Sinistrés.

Ms. Keetharuth met some of the 247 Eritrean deserters detained in NAGAD Police Academy, as well as urban refugees and those based in the Ali Addeh refugee camp. A young woman in her early twenties, mother of a toddler and wife of a soldier, explained that everybody aged between the age of 18 and 60 were forced to undergo military training daily from 07h00 until 10h00 and from 16h00 to 18h00. She said: “I would go with my mother and my child for the shooting training; when we asked why, we got no answer. When are we going to live a normal life?”

The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned about the indefinite national service, the ongoing practice of arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention in inhumane conditions and widespread torture, both physical and psychological, during interrogation by the police, military and security forces. Mere suspicion appears to be enough for somebody to be subjected to interrogation and detention without charge or without being brought before a court of law.

Those trying to cross the border may fall prey to a ruthlessly implemented shoot-to-kill policy; family members of those who successfully escape regularly have to pay a heavy fine of 50,000 Nakfa or are arrested, in line with the so-called guilt-by-association policy.

In one camp, the Special Rapporteur met a mother of two, who decided to leave her small children behind when she fled from repeated arrests and incommunicado detention following her brother’s escape.

Ms. Keetharuth heard how Eritreans do not express their views and share their opinions openly for fear of reprisals. “Persecution on religious grounds continued in Eritrea; followers of unrecognised religions face draconian restrictions and are often arrested while worshipping,” she said. “An all-encompassing feeling of fear and distrust, even within families, reflects the pervasive intelligence network the Eritrean Government has established throughout the country.”

Several interviewees stated that they were not at liberty to choose their profession.  Compulsory military service took away sons who should be tending the family farm, causing financial crisis in farming communities. The Eritrean population is leaving in high numbers, in particular the young men, a process that has started to deplete entire villages in Eritrea, with the potential to destroy the country’s social fabric.

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Bikyanews.com: You fled Saudi last month because of sexual violence against yourself. Can you tell us a little about what happened?

T: It began the first week I was there at the house. I was taking a shower and I thought nobody was home. Then I heard the door open and the husband walked into the bathroom and started to watch me bathe. I asked him to leave many times but he refused. He said that he had a right to watch me in his own house. I was so scared.

Bikya: Did you tell anyone about this?

T: I tried to talk to the wife and even called my embassy, but they said that if nothing happened, I couldn’t prove anything. It was not good.

Bikya: Then what happened?

T: I tried to work and do my duties, because I was there for one-year to make enough money to buy a house for my family back in the Philippines. I would work hard. The husband, however, began to touch me and grab my behind while I would do the house work. When the wife wasn’t there, he made me where just my underwear as I cleaned. I kept telling him no, but he would say that if I didn’t, I wouldn’t get paid. And I needed the money and the job.

Bikya: And then it started to get physical?

T: Yes. The last two weeks I was at the house, the wife and the two children had gone to Dubai for vacation and the husband stayed because he said he had work. Instead, he stayed at home and the first night he got into my bed, and forced himself on me. He ripped my clothes and raped me. He did this for the next two weeks. I would be at home working and he would just come up to me and rape me. [tears] I didn’t know what to do because he hadn’t given me my check. I was so scared he would kill me if I did anything.

Bikya: But you were able to escape finally?

T: Thank God. One day he went out to get something and left the door unlocked. I packed a small bag and just left. I couldn’t do it any more. It was too much. I had my passport and I took some money they had in the house. I went to the airport and took the next flight out. It was to Bangkok and I got away.

Bikya: You have been in Bangkok for a month now. How has that been now that you are seeking assistance?

T: The women here have been so helpful. We all have similar experiences in the Gulf and we are trying to get our minds and bodies to be healthy again. It is a process and I get to stay here until I feel ready to go back home.

Bikya: You said that many other women have similar experiences as you had. What would you tell women who are thinking of taking a job in the Gulf?

T: I would say to be careful. What we have gone through is unbearable, but there are good families in Saudi and we just need protections for this kind of thing to stop.

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Orange, which is present in 18 African countries and boasts over 70 million customers, is seeking to become a major player in the economic and social development of every one of these countries. The Group has decided to contribute to the development of the local markets for new technologies through its ‘Orange for Development’ programme and to propose innovative solutions which meet the needs of the local population. In this context, and as part of its innovation strategy as well as its Corporate Social Responsibility policy, that the Group has decided to launch the Orange African Social Venture Prize.

The call for projects has received more than 1,000 applications over the past two years, a figure that reflects a true entrepreneurial spirit and the potential for telecommunications on the African continent.

§         Encouraging the use of ICTs for development

This year, the Orange African Social Venture Prize will once again reward three entrepreneurs or start-ups offering products or services that make innovative use of ICTs to meet the needs of people on the African continent in fields as varied as healthcare, agriculture, education, energy, industry and trade.

For example, the prizewinning projects in 2012 involved mobile technology used to assist traders in food products in Ivory Coast (Vivuus Limited), a system launched in Kenya to improve the treatment of waste (Takachar) and the creation of an e-commerce site to allow people in the Senegalese diaspora to shop online for their families in Dakar.

This year, internet users will once again be able to vote online for their favourite project using the Orange portal in Africa www.StarAfrica.com. The project voted “online favourite” will be submitted directly to the jury along with the other finalists’ projects preselected by the experts and will therefore have the maximum possible chance of being among the three winners of the 2013 Awards. In 2012, the Egyptian start-up “Innovative Electronic Employment Platform” won the prize with more than 50,000 votes.

§         Supporting social entrepreneurs

Orange has committed to providing financial support and placing its expertise at the service of the entrepreneurs who win the competition. In addition to prize money ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 Euros, the three winners will also receive support from professional entrepreneurs and ICT experts for a period of six months. In another new initiative this year, the project submitted by the winner of the first prize will be patented by Orange in the country where it is deployed.

§         Who can take part?

Any entrepreneur aged 21 or over, or company that has existed for less than three years at the time of the competition, regardless of nationality, can enter the awards free of charge. The projects submitted must have plans to deploy their service in at least one of the African countries where Orange is present and make innovative use of information and communication technologies to contribute to improving the living conditions of people in those countries.

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In 2013, the IIF also predicted that the whole GCC economic growth will stand at 3.8 percent from the 5.8 percent it predicted in 2012.

It also expected that the GCC will retain financial balance in 2013, and the external balance will decrease due to lower crude prices.

“I think this is still respectable and we should be proud that despite political and social turmoil in the country and among our neighbors we have been able to maintain steady and solid growth,” an economic advisor for the government told Bikyanews.com on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the GCC’s non-hydrocarbon real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to be near 5 percent.

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Dubai Chief of Police Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan said police are receiving driving-license applications from Saudi women wanting to drive in Dubai and other cities, although he noted the number of requests are not particularly high.

He said Saudi women possessing driving licenses are permitted to drive in Dubai.

Although the number of Saudi women seeking to drive outside the Kingdom is relatively low, there is an increased interest to get behind the wheel. In fact, more and more Saudi husbands and fathers are supportive of the idea because it means convenience for the families and independence for their wives and daughters.

Ferdous Abbar, a 27-year-old Saudi living in Dubai, discovered that learning to drive was difficult, but that she had to do it.

“When I first moved here, I used to rely on my husband and taxis to get around the city, but then my husband made me apply to driving school to get my license,” Abbar said. “At first, I found it difficult and could not get over my fear and learn quickly. Had I learnt how to drive at an early age, it would have been easier.”

Huda Jazzar, 30, is another Saudi who was embarrassed to confront her non-Arab friends about not being able to drive.

“I am always asking my friends to pick me up and drop me off when I go to Dubai almost every week,” Jazzar said. “I spent so much money on taxis and metros that I set aside a special budget just for that. I decided to enroll in the driving school in Dubai.”

Saudi women also head to Bahrain to receive driving instructions and exams.

“My father taught me how to drive at the age of 16 because he said I might need it someday, said Afaf Al-Yafi, a 28-year-old lecturer. “I remember he used to take me for a ride everyday after sunset in our neighborhood in Dammam. For my 21st birthday, my father drove me to Bahrain and applied for the driving school there and I got my license that I now use internationally, especially when I take my children to Bahrain for a weekend. I must say, this is the best gift anyone could have given me.”

Saudi women need to take the initiative and learn how to drive, according to Sabria Jawhar, a Saudi newspaper columnist who wrote about Saudi women driving issues in the international press.

“We live at an age where Saudi women work in the Shoura Council and we are witnessing a boom in the labor market. All we need is to be independent from our drivers,” Jawhar said.

“I sometimes wonder why don’t we just go for it, like the time King Faisal opened educational institutes for women and told his people it is optional for them to enroll,” adding, “If this issue is only being delayed because society is rejecting it, then they shouldn’t we open driving schools and leave it up to society to decide if they want to send their girls to learn or not.”

Jawhar said she is not surprised to see women flying to other countries to learning to drive elsewhere.

“This is a skill that everyone may need at one time or another. We all need to learn how to drive in case of emergency and women are taking the initiative to sit behind the wheel and learn,” she said.

“They are getting a license because their own country is not providing them with one so they are pushing them to go somewhere else.”

Jawhar noted that if there is “nothing from a religious point of view against driving,” then there isn’t anything preventing women from driving.

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The Desi Boyz star was set to be the showstopper for Indian designer Archana Kocchar on May 27 at Dubai’s Atlantis, The Palm.

The top US official highlighted Egypt’s role in “promoting regional peace and security”, in his meeting with Egyptian government representatives, businessmen and political party and civil society leaders.

Gordon stressed “the importance of inclusive government and the protection of universal rights and freedoms for all Egyptians, including women and people of all faiths,” said a post on the official Facebook account of the U.S. mission in Cairo.

He promised that the US government would continue to support Egypt in its efforts to revive its economy, which has suffered dramatically since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in a 2011 uprising.

Egypt is currently trying to secure a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

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Demyana Emad, a 23-year-old social studies teacher, was arrested last week for complaints filed against her by her students and their parents, accusing her of insulting Islam and spreading Christian teachings.

The Upper Egypt Luxor prosecution had ordered her detention for four days pending investigation, and a court renewed her arrest for 15 more days.

“This counts as the 18th incident of arresting Christian teachers on charges of defaming the religion of Islam,” human rights lawyer Naguib Gabriel observed.

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“We are as strong as ever and will be ready to continue the war for justice and Islam in the next period,” the militant said, without giving his name or specifics as to what plans are in the works.

He continued to warn Christians “to leave their homes and allow Islam to be the religion of Nigeria. This is the righteous thing to do and it will mean less loss of life.”

The group also said they would search out American targets, claiming the United States was continuing its war against Islam and they “cannot stand by and allow” that to happen.

“Muslims should rise up and fight against these attacks against our great faith and the Prophet. We are going to call on our followers to attack American interests wherever they are found, including citizens,” the spokesman continued.

“Islam is a faith of strength and if we remain weak and allow these attacks to take place, the west will continue to insult us and call us names,” he added.

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“We have arrested an American posing as a diplomat but really a CIA spy. This action is unacceptable for Russia and we will not allow the United States to do this on our soil,” a statement sent to Bikyanews.com from the foreign ministry read.

Ryan C. Fogle, the third secretary in the political section at the US Embassy in Moscow, was detained in the night hours stretching from Monday to Tuesday and subsequently released to US diplomats, Russia’s Federal Security Service said in a statement.

He has been accused of attempting to recruit Russian intelligence officers for the CIA.

According to the statement, which accused Fogle of operating as an undercover CIA officer, the American diplomat was found with special technical equipment, a recruitment note written to a Russian citizen, a large sum of money and products designed to change a person’s appearance.

“The US intelligence community recently has made repeated attempts to recruit employees of Russia’s law-enforcement bodies and special agencies, which have been recorded and monitored by [Russia's] counterespionage forces,” the FSB said.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned US Ambassador Michael McFaul for an urgent meeting to discuss Fogle’s detention. McFaul declined to comment on the matter in a Twitter question-and-answer session Tuesday. The FSB announcement was released just as the previously scheduled session on US support for Russian civil society began.

A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Moscow also declined to comment on Fogle’s detention as American mission’s are only allowed to speak directly to family members when a citizen is arrested.

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