The Human Costs of the 2022 FIFA World Cup

Qatar has quite a reputation in mistreating its migrant workers, especially since the constructions for the World Cup 2022 began. But how does this system actually work?

By Dolores Picot

In the last couple of years a lot has been written and documented about the condition of migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region that consists of six members: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. These reports have highlighted the inhumane working and living conditions that some of the workers have been subjected to. With the help of the international organizations as well as several non-governmental organizations, there have been considerable improvements during the last few years.

Although there is plenty of room for improvement in all the member countries, in the last two years the focus – in particular the media focus – has been on Qatar. A country rich in natural gas resources and with one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, deemed by its counterparts in the GCC and by other states in the region, as one of the most liberal monarchies of the Gulf. That perception is helped by its media channel, Al Jazeera, as well as by Qatars openness to receive criticism from outside.

Due to a small population of around two million inhabitants, Qatar is heavily dependent on foreign manpower. Ninety-four percent of the total labor force is made of non-Qataris, making it the country with the highest ratio of migrants to citizens worldwide. Qatars rapid expansion as well as the exploitation of its natural resources mainly natural gas and oil, have been the constant pull factors for migrant workers originating mainly from the Asian continent. In recent years, another pull factor that has attracted a significant amount of workers is the construction of the stadiums for the FIFA World Cup that will take place in Qatar in 2022. In order to be able to build the required infrastructure to hold the World Cup the country will need to employ more than 1.5 million workers in addition to the existing workers currently employed in the construction sector.

The ‘Kafala’ system

Unfortunately, foreign migrant workers residing in Qatar are victims of a system that leaves them open to exploitation and abuse. One of the main issues that they face is related to the implementation of the ‘Kafala’ or sponsorship system that binds foreign workers to a local sponsor who can be either an individual or a local company. Once they arrived in Qatar, workers are tied to their sponsors for the duration of their stay and they cannot change their job or exit the country without their sponsor’s consent. In order to enforce this, sponsors often resort to the infamous practice of passport confiscation. The second most cited abuse of workers after the non-payment of their salaries. This practice permits abuse and allows workers to remain “trapped” in the country with very few resources at their disposal should they face any difficulties at work which is usually the case. In addition, migrant workers who frequently arrive in Qatar, indebted due to the high placement fees they had to pay to recruiters in their home countries, are struggling with employers who withhold their wages, as a way of making sure the workers are not going to quit. In some cases, employers keep up to three month’s wages. Furthermore, workers have to face long working hours and unsafe working and housing conditions, which usually include working outside during the hottest times of the day and living in cramped dormitories with little privacy.

Despite the criticism the country has received for the implications of this system of sponsorship, few things have changed since December 2010. Back then Qatar won the bid for the FIFA World Cup and the world’s media intensified its focus on the event and everything related to it, including migrant workers’ rights. Later in 2014, Qatar promised to reform the ‘kafala’ system and introduce new labour law legislation as a response to the increased pressure from the international community over serious rights abuses in the construction sector.

Death ratio of one Nepalese worker every two days

The reform plans include an increment in the fines for passport confiscation for employers; the right for workers to change employers at the end of their contract without the need to gain approval from their existing employer; a modification to the exit visa system whereby an automated system will issue an exit visa after a 72-hour grace period prior to departure and, last but not least, the introduction of a pay reform that will require the payment of wages to be done electronically in order “to ensure transparency, monitoring and timely payment.”¹ Additionally, the government announced the introduction in February 2014 of the Worker’s Charter: A 50-page document describing areas in which the Qatari government plans to act in order to improve the situation for migrant workers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Despite the introduction of the charter and the government promising reforms since early 2014, it has failed to act upon them. As a result migrants have continued to struggle during the year with terrible outcomes such as a death ratio of one Nepalese worker every two days during 2014.²

In order to tackle some of the criticism the country has been receiving, earlier this year the government announced its plans to introduce the pay reform for migrant workers³ to ensure workers would be paid on time. Employers will have six months to implement the reforms, however no time frame has been set for the reforms to be introduced, which is a major drawback as the delay in the implementation allows for the continuation of violation of the rights of the workers by the employers.

What role play private sector and sending countries?

One should not forget the role of two important actors in this whole process: the private sector and the migrant sending countries. In 2011, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee⁴ was created to monitor the infrastructure projects related to the World Cup and make sure all obligations under the hosting agreement are being fulfilled, including, but not limited to the respect for migrant workers’ rights. Since then, several cases have been reported of migrant workers suffering human rights violations, and while there are big multinational companies involved in the process, most of them work with local subcontractors, who, as the Special Rapporteur noted in his visit to Qatar, are the ones that commit the most serious abuses of migrants. However, the creation of the Committee alone is not enough to protect, respect and remedy human rights violations that migrant workers are being victims of; the State of Qatar and the FIFA, who has agreed “to add labour related criteria to the bidding process of future FIFA World Cups,”⁵ together with the subcontractors as well as all the other relevant actors who are engaged in construction activities for the World Cup should ensure they are working in compliance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In the past, sending countries had played a marginal role in the protection of their nationals abroad. However, during the last decade or so, due to the growing pressure migrant-sending countries were receiving from the international community, NGO’s and their own embassies’ personnel, they began to adopt policies to improve the situation of their migrant workforce in the GCC countries. Despite the existence of bilateral agreements between sending and receiving countries the receiving country does not always fulfill these agreements. Moreover, some sending countries are unwilling to enter in confrontations with the receiving government. They are afraid that Qatar will simply turn to other countries as a source of labour and they will remain without the economic benefits of migration they collect through remittances. It is also important to stress that by avoiding to make demands on receiving countries, sending countries show that the difficulties migrant workers have to go through in the destination country, are not a top priority in their international affairs agenda.

Human trafficking

Another major issue that Qatar faces, that it is directly linked to its faulty sponsorship system and that should be the focus of the reforms, is human trafficking. The US Department of State has downgraded Qatar to a Tier 2 watchlist in its Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Report⁶ last year after the country failed to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and it showed unwillingness to address the issue. Meanwhile, the country remains a destination country for women and men subjected to forced labor, helped by the practices of unscrupulous sponsors.

Five years after winning the bid to host the World Cup, and more than two years since the systemic abuse of migrant workers was put in the spotlight throughout the world, Qatar has recognised the need to reform its labour laws and bring them to conformity with international legal standards that will protect migrant workers from serious human rights abuses. But so far, the government not only remains oblivious to any significant structural reforms but also on occasions fails to enforce the existing laws and regulations.

Qatar’s government has not yet taken the necessary steps that are required to afford migrant workers adequate protection against human rights abuses, including forced labour and trafficking. It remains to be seen what steps the government will take to tackle these issues in the near future. The gravity of the situation calls for the government to take immediate action to avoid having a World Cup built entirely through exploitation and forced labour and with a tremendous human cost as a result.

1 http://www.moi.gov.qa/site/english/news/2014/05/14/32204.html

2 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/qatar-nepal-workers-world-cup-2022-death-toll-doha

3 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/qatar-introduce-pay-reform-migrant-workers-150219111946994.html

4 Nowadays know as the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Emiri Decree No. 3, 2014

5 Statement from JérômeValcke on labour rights in Qatar6

6 http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2014/226802.html

About the author: Dolores Picot holds a M.A. in Human Rights and Democratisation from the European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratization. Currently she is a legal and advocacy volunteer at HOME Singapore, an Anti human-trafficking organization that works for the well-being, justice and empowerment of migrant workers in Singapore.

Call for team members – Middle East and North Africa Committee

Menac is a committee inside the European Youth Press that works to enhance the voices of young journalists and media-makers from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, to promote intercultural dialogue and the development of a better contextualisation of the respective regions.

The Middle East and North Africa is a diverse region in regards to its people’s culture, ethnicity, language and religion and so is Europe. In today’s world the two regions interact more than ever and media plays a crucial role in shaping opinions. Menac is addressing this interaction and the role of the media in it.

Menac organises projects such as Rethinking Journalism and Minority Voices for young media-makers from the two regions and is creating a sustainable network for young journalists and media-makers throughout Europe and the MENA-region. To help us with this, we are looking for new team members from December on.

Team members will be involved in the development and implementation of projects. Tasks include among others budget calculation, the writing of project proposals and funding applications, managing social media channels and the menac blog.

Menac currently consists of seven members. We now would like to enhance our team with four more members. We welcome applicants of any ethnicity, religion or gender from Europe and/or the MENA-region. We are particularly looking for someone interested in creating concent for social media and someone with knowledge in fundraising. However, we are open for and interested in every applicant who:

• has an academic background of the regions or experience in the fields of journalism/media or NGO work;
• has experience in project management, especially fundraising and finances;
• speaks and writes English fluently, knowledge of Arabic or French would be an additional plus;
• is able to commit at least 5-10 working hours per week and interested in a long term commitment;
• is aged between 18-35.

Menac is working on a voluntary base. However, as a team member you have many benefits:

• gain international experience in project management;
• work in a culturally diverse team;
• bring in your own ideas and suggestions;
• network;
• work with prominent institutions such as the European Parliament;
• go to conferences on behalf of menac.

If you would like to be part of our team please send your CV and motivation letter to menac@youthpress.org until 20 November, 2014 23:59 CET. In your motivation letter you should explain your motivation for becoming a menac team member, where you would see yourself in the committee and which part of our work you’re most interested in.

For more information on menac check out our Facebook-Page, Twitter and description on our website.

Press Release: Rethinking Journalism Magazine Launched

 

October 7, 2014

Young journalists from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa focus on reporting conflicts from a new perspective

“ We often do not feel affected by the news. While we see the sheer number of conflicts increasing, they are happening some place else. Maybe we are just too wealthy, too ignorant and too far away to engage with the constant stream of news on violence.” – Helene Timm (participant, Germany)

From 15 – 21 September, 2014, a group of 30 young journalists took part in the training session Rethinking Journalism in Berlin, Germany, that focused on the question of how to report on conflicts. The training session is part of a project organised by the Middle East and North Africa committee of the European Youth Press. The participants from Germany, Austria, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon learned about the concepts of peace journalism and ethical reporting in several training sessions, after which they applied the newly learned skills producing the digital magazine Rethinking Journalism.

The magazine features topics that range from the Yazidi community in Kurdistan to local conflicts in Berlin, such as the struggle of two African refugees looking for a new start in Germany, as well as the Jewish and Muslim communities’ joint efforts to fight antisemitism and islamophobia. Personal stories, such as Ena Hasković’s story of how she was wounded in her mother’s womb during the mid-90’s Bosnian war, found their place in this issue.

The magazine can be viewed online here:

An important outcome of the project are the guidelines that the participants wrote down for journalists to use when covering conflicts. They can be read in full here.

The project was kindly funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme, the German Foreign Ministry and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.

The European Youth Press
The European Youth Press (EYP) is the umbrella organisation of young journalist associations in Europe, bringing together over 60.000 journalists across the continent. EYP hosts events and seminars such as the European Youth Media Days, organises seminars and represents young journalists in Europe, publishes Orange Magazine and much more.

Contacts
For further information, please contact:
Anna Saraste
Project coordinator
a.saraste@youthpress.org
http://www.youthpress.org

European Youth Press
Brussels office
Square de Meeus
B-1000 Brussels
mobile +32 (0) 492 556 508

Rethinking Journalism in action

There is not necessarily a need to look at so-called conflict zones to do conflict-sensitive reporting, sometimes a look around you is enough to find something interesting to cover. This is what some of the working groups of Rethinking Journalism did in Berlin. We joined Mathias Birsens (Germany), Agnija Kazusa (Latvia) and Dhaker Youssef (Tunisia) during their first full day of media productions.

Photo credit: Massinissa Benlakehal

For their piece on the situation of refugees in Berlin they are preparing visits to the scenes of refugee rights protests to interview activists. The planning was quite intense due to the time pressure and the interview schedules and trips to places where refugee rights movements are taking place had to be planned fast. But the tasks were divided quickly and a special dynamic developed thanks to the different languages in the group. Martin was able to get in touch with German spokespersons of a district in Berlin where refugees and refugee rights activists, is occupying a school and Dhaker helped with the translation from French into English during the interviews with refugee rights activists. Amdy, 34, from Senegal is one of them.

The group agreed to meet with him at the occupied school and as we arrived at the school gate, that had been locked by security, Dhaker phoned Amdy who came out. He took us to a nearby café and over a cup of tea, Mathias, Agnija, and Dhaker spoke to him about his activism in Berlin and his story of coming from Senegal to Germany via Italy.

The media production group interviewing refugee rights activist, Amdy, 34. Photo: Lisa Zeller

Stay tuned for our presentation of the rest of the stories from Rethinking Journalism.

Text: Lisa Zeller

 

“The essence of good reporting is to take the little thing you can observe on the ground and put it in the bigger picture”

Putting things into the bigger picture and practice, that was what the 5th day of the workshop was all about. Moving from theory to practice, participants revised the guidelines of ethical journalism and conflict-sensitive reporting they had developed with the trainer Gülsen D. the day before.

That a single perspective is dangerous in journalism was one of the major points that were stressed. In order to achieve conflict-sensitive reporting one would have to avoid ethnocentric views, stereotypes, and move beyond a black and white image of victim and perpetrator.

Jaafar Abdul Karim. Photo: Pascale Müller

To help the participants bridge the theoretical input and the media production Jaafar Abdul Karim, moderator of “Shabab Talk” at the German TV channel Deutsche Welle paid a visit to the workshop. Together with him, the young journalists tried to implement their knowledge on a real world situation. How would they design a talk show about the recent Gaza conflict taking for an audience of young Arabs in Germany? Whom would they invite?

Still having their guidelines in mind, many responded that the aim should be to invite guests from both the Israeli and the Palestinian side. It was debated how much sense it would make to invite guests with strongly opposing views. Could it harm the talk show more than it would benefit? Maybe it would be better to focus more on speakers that have some sort of conflict solution in mind?

While Jaafar explained how he decided who was invited to such a talk show, it became evident in the group that implementing the rules they had developed on a daily basis in their journalistic work might sometimes not even be possible. As one participant pointed out: “In a conflict with such history and complexity, it is hard to include all perspectives, because there are so many divisions even within the parties that are usually seen as opponents.”

Roy Gutman via Skype. Photo: Pascale Müller

After the session with Jaafar, Pulitzer Price winner Roy Gutman joined the group via Skype to give them insight into how ethical reporting on conflicts and wars can reflect in fieldwork. He stressed the importance of journalists to dig deeper, to not accept the first version of a story. “Good journalism is that you do not stop at stories people tell you,” he told participants. Gutman also brought the topic of activism from Monday’s panel “Journalists as activist or observers” back into discussion. For him there is no debate: “Journalists should not be activists. We are there to report the facts on the ground.”

With the input and the professional experience, it was time to get the production going. The editorial team consisting of Maria Wölfle, Assaad Thebian, and Pascale Müller introduced the online magazine as the final output of the workshop. Topics ranged from the conflict between refugees and the local administration in Berlin over the housing crisis and Russian separatists in Latvia. As Gutman said: “Essence of good reporting is to take the little thing you can observe on ground and put it in the bigger picture.” In the next days small reporting teams will keep working on their stories to make this happen.

Text: Pascale Müller

Conflict zones: Working Conditions and the Danger of a Single Story

Exciting, glamorous and challenging: the reality of working as a war correspondent isn’t always being portrayed. What’s it like reporting from a conflict area, how do journalists cope with the situations that arise, and how should they?

The panellists: Moritz Gathmann, journalist with focus on Russia and Caucasia, peace activist Gülsen D., Christoph Dreyer from Reporters Without Border and Krsto Lazarevic, freelance journalist.

This is what twitter had to say during the discussion.

When moderator Maria Wölfle, journalist and menac team member, opened the panel by addressing the security issue aspects for journalists in conflict zones, Gathmann raised awareness concerning the possible impact of posts on journalists’ social media pages.

This point was also picked up by participants and further discussed on twitter by users not taking part in Rethinking Journalism on-site.

 

Another important point mentioned on the panel was on-the-ground security.

Moritz Gathmann quoted a journalist who said that in extreme situations, such as being arrested-you stop being a journalist and get involved in interaction with the people around you and the ones who arrested you.

When the discussion ventured in the direction of coping with psychological aspects of working in conflict areas, Dreyer mentioned trainings for journalists.

However, according to a participant in the audience, this isn’t necessarily a solution.

There seemed to be agreement that writing in and from conflict zones also means knowing one´s own limits.

Panellist Gülsen D. stressed the advice given by war correspondent Simone Schlindwein from our first panel discussion on Monday.

The panel further discussed the ethics, quality, and techniques of reporting from conflict zones.

Another topic covered in the panel discussion was the actual impact of reporting in and from conflict zones.

Due to lack of time, not all topics the audience would have liked to discuss were covered in the 1,5 hour long panel.

The Danger of a Single Story, and other things to reflect on:

The second part of the day focused on input on ethical journalism by peace activist Gülsen D. The sessions were interactive, and included a Skype conversation with an ICT security expert and plenty of videos.

Gülsen started off with a brief version of Chimamanda Adichie´s Ted talk “The Danger of a Single Story”. The purpose of this video was to reflect on how we as journalists ourselves might reproduce the “Single Story”, and how this could be avoided.

Watch the full video here:

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Another video was shown to discuss the impacts for journalists when a reporter misses a story.

Roy Gutman on Missing the Real Story in the war in Croatia

In this one you can find a general overview on security.

The Heat: Reporting from conflicts and war zones 2.
What challenges do they face and why do they do it? Courtney Radsch is the Advocacy Director for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Asra Nomani is an author, journalist and activist, she was also a close friend of journalist Daniel Pearl who was brutally murdered by al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

and here a specific overview of security in war zones.

James Nachtwey on Dangers in Covering War in African conflicts

This leads us to the psychosocial effects of war.

Savasi Anlatan Kadinlar – Sofia Amara

Finally, a video on war and conflict reporting.

Lindsey Hilsum – Savasi Anlatan Kadinlar Fragman

Text by Lisa Zeller

“Of Icebergs, Onions, and Trees”

Here’s a recap of the first two days of Rethinking Journalism project taking place in Berlin this week.

Rethinking Journalism was officially launched by project coordinator Anna Saraste at the European Information Centre.

Strangers became friends during the introduction sessions that were facilitated by Katarzyna Mortoń, board member of European Youth Press (EYP):

Participants introduced themselves to each other using a  “Speed Dating” format.

The “What is Conflict?” session was delivered by Vanessa Bassil, founder of the Media Association for Peace. Vanessa went into detail about conflict analysis tools. Did you know that icebergs, onions, and trees can be used to analyse conflicts? Participants then discussed these tools and metaphors with Vanessa and each other.

The “Journalist as an observer or activist?” panel discussion with Vanessa Bassil; Linda Walter, researcher on European & International Politics at European University Viadrina; and Simone Schlindwein, war correspondent from the Great Lakes region. The panel was moderated by Rebecca Bengtsson, lecturer in New Media, ICT and Development at Malmö University and board member of the European Youth Press.

Day 2

The second day started off at our new venue at Rosa Luxemburg Foundation with more sessions, group activities and further discussions about conflicts and the concept of peace journalism.

The day ended with a guided tour through Berlin. In line with our overall topic – conflicts – our guides especially showed us places that had a history with conflicts.

Text: Lisa Zeller
Photo credits: Assaad Thebian, Katarzyna Morton

*This post has been edited*

Workshop week Rethinking Journalism Monday, Sept. 15 – Sunday Sept. 21

“Journalism can never be silent;
that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault.” (Henry Anatole Grunwald)

Within the context of conflicts, journalists have the professional responsibility to avoid stereotypes and contribute to a better understanding of the conflict and its solution.

From September 15-21, 30 young media makers and journalists from Egypt, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Latvia, Lebanon, Austria, and Tunisia will be meeting in Berlin to venture deeper into this topic. Beginning with a broader understanding of the term “conflict” that includes but also goes beyond so-called conflict zones, the young journalists will learn about concepts of peace journalism and conflict-sensitive reporting.

After theoretical introductions to these topics by notable peace journalists Vanessa Bassil (Founder of the Media Association for Peace in Lebanon), participants will then delve into practical media analysis. This analysis will serve as the basis for guidelines on conflict reporting that the participants will set up. These guidelines will be applied in media products that will be produced from Thursday until the end of the workshop week. A magazine featuring written pieces will be released online shortly after the event.

The project is carried out by the European Youth Press in cooperation with six partner organisations and the support of Linke Medienakademie. It is funded by the European Commission, German Foreign Ministry, and the Rosa Luxemburg foundation.

During the project, two panel discussions featuring notable conflict reporters, activists, and scientists will take place. The panel sessions are open to the public. The first, about Journalists as activists or observers, was held on September 15. The second, about working conditions for journalists in conflict zones, will take place on September 17.

An International Peace Day celebration will fittingly conclude the event on September 21.

Among the participants in Berlin will be remarkable journalists, bloggers, and activists.

For questions and interviews, please refer to project coordinator Anna Saraste: a.saraste@youthpress.org

*****This post has been edited******

Rethinking Journalism: Introducing the Participants

Menac introduces to you the next eleven participants of the Rethinking Journalism session.

Aya Chebbi (Tunisia)

Aya Chebbi is an award winning pan-Africanist activist and renowned blogger. Her passion for storytelling has taken her to over 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where conflicts are complex to deconstruct. She has written pieces for Arab, American, German, Swedish, British and South African magazines and websites with a keen focus on social movements, human rights, peace and conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. Interested in filmmaking, peace and conflict, Aya produced long documentary “Africa Inspire: Kenya’s Conscious Transformation” and short documentary “Arab Muslims Living in the USA”, which was shortlisted for PLURAL + 2013 Youth Video Festival.

Kathrin Faltermeier (Germany)

Kathrin studied Political Sciences in Germany and France and holds a Masters degree in „International Political Journalism“ from Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence. She worked as a journalist in Senegal and was editorial assistant for the European online magazine Cafébabel. She currently lives in Tunis.

Emmanuel Haddad (Lebanon)

Emmanuel has been a freelance journalist for 3 years and reported from zones of political unrest and conflict for the last 2 years, in countries such as Niger, Mali, Lebanon and Iraq. He tries to work on the margins of a conflict, on how it affects people in their every day life, strategies of survival and resistance to violence, and not only on the political and military aspects of it. Emmanuel’s work has been published in media such as Le Courrier, La Liberté, Sept, Alternatives Internationales, La Cité, Jeune Afrique, L’Express, Regards, Imagine, Terra Eco.

Sally Eshun (Germany)

Sally is an editor-in-chief of a youth magazine (FREIHAFEN) and contributing editor at local online magazine. She thinks it is important to question news reporting on sensitive issues and to contribute to a de-escalating atmosphere as a journalist. Especially in war zones.

Katharina Walbert (Austria)

Katharina is 19 years old and is studying Journalism and Communication studies in Vienna. She is board member of Youth Press Austria and did journalistic work for different magazines. Katharina is fascinated about journalism since she is a little kid, like when she worked for her school magazin at the age of 10.

Inasa Bibic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Although born and raised in Sarajevo, Inasa has lived in Berlin for 2 years now. As a student of Humanities, the Arts and Social Thought at Bard College Berlin, she is very much interested in the interconnectedness of the world, people and all phenomena that surround us. It is through (mostly journalistic) writing and photography that she has found he mediums of expressing these things. Inasa strongly believes that people can be impacted through powerful storytelling and imagery. Making these mediums impactful is still a learning path for her. One of the main reasons she applied for “Rethinking Journalism” is exactly thanks to its plethora of topics, as well as combined theoretical and practical work. As somebody interested in interdisciplinary fields and socially aware creative work, she believes trainings such as this one can be more helpful in forming a professional path (or a life call) than four years of college often are. There comes a time when you just have to go out there and do what feels right for you, and not what the books have been telling you your whole life.

Helene Timm (Germany)

Helene Timm has always liked to be engaged in a variety of projects with lots of different people. Writing became one of the most important tools to communicate with others and spread the word about social, cultural or political issues. But whenever she takes a look at the news, I feel like media is not making too much of an effort to search for peaceful solutions but is focusing on the downfalls in the world. That is why she likes to see media as an opportunity for herself and everyone else to change the world-view.

Hend Kortam (Egypt)

Hend Kortam is a 22-year old, Cairo-based journalist. I love traveling because it is an enriching and life-changing experience that provides an opportunity to meet and bond with people from different countries and to learn about different cultures. Writing news for print and online media is what she does the best. That means that she often finds herself writing about countries in conflict, an often challenging task, both on the personal and professional levels. For the time being, she will do all she can to provide accurate and objective reporting on the developing crises in the region, until the day that the Middle East will have peace.

Radhouane Addala (Tunisia)

Radhouane Addala is a a freelance correspondent and producer based in Tunis with experience working across the Maghreb for international news agencies as a reporter, stringer and fixer. He now mostly works with television and as the LA Times’ special correspondent in Tunisia.

Teresa Mayr (Austria)

Teresa finished BA in African Studies last year and she is about to finish he BA in International Development at the University of Vienna. She just started a Masters in Social Economy and Social Work at the FH Campus Wien – University of Applied Sciences. Teresa’s last internship was at the Institute for Peace Support and Conflict Management. Besides she is working with the Diakonie for the Ecumenical Accompany Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), she was an EA in 2012 and spent 3 months in Palestine and Israel.

Yara Nahle (Lebanon)

Yara is a student and journalist from Lebanon. She writes in local media outlets. She is interested in the political, economic and social structures of my country and the region. And she believes in empowering the youth and activating its participation in shaping these structures. Hence, most of her writings are concerned with the youth and their role. She is also aiming at involving herself in types of journalism other than print. She believes in the great role the media can play to influence the course of events, that is why she chose to enter such an influential field of life, and she will only try to use it in a way as to make it exercise a more positive impact on the world.

Nedim Hadrovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Nedim is a people person and loves cultures and colorful food. He has spent the majority of his life living and studying abroad, from the Middle East to the Far East. He graduated with a Digital Media and Film degree and is an aspiring journalist, media expert, and filmmaker. His visual work has been shown at galleries and festivals in Malaysia, Singapore and New York City, and he has written for Deutsche Welle and OpenDemocracy. He is currently preparing his feature documentary on the Bosnian Jewish community.

Rethinking Journalism: Introducing the Participants

In one week over thirty young media makers from Algeria, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Germany, Latvia and Lebanon will gather in Berlin for the 2014 session of Rethinking Journalism.

Menac introduces to you the first ten of them!

Alicia Prager (Austria)

       

Alicia is studying Political Science and International Development in Vienna. In the course of her studies, she is focusing on European integration as well as on the field of International Relations. Alicia is passionate about journalism ever since she worked at the students’ department of an Austrian newspaper during high school. She believes that journalists play a crucial part in shaping the public opinion and in forming prejudices and stereotypes. This makes it very important that journalists are aware of their possible influence on society.

Agnija Kazusa (Latvia)

Agnija is a freelance journalist, blogger and youth worker. In the past, she has worked as an editor-in-chief for a local newspaper, hosted a radio show and coordinated several youth projects with FEJS (Forum for European Journalism Students) Latvija. Agnija is currently involved in several writing projects, her blog Traveltotellthetale.com being one of them. Just as she can’t imagine her life without coffee and music, she can’t imagine journalism without accurate and emphatetic reporting especially in the times of wars, conflicts, riots and tragedies.

Ahlem Henchiri (Tunisia)

Ahlem is 23 years old and teaches English. She wants to develop her journalistic skills and become more professional. She is also an active member of AJMEC in Tunisia.

Boro Todorović (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Boro is a 21-year old journalism student from Bosnia who want to change journalism in his country. He aspires to be a journalist who helps people to find peaceful solutions and thus stop conflicts.

Ahmed Medien (Tunisia)

Ahmed Medien is a recent business graduate from Tunis, Tunisia. He works at the moment as a freelance marketer and writer and aims to achieving work-location independence.

Anne Steinbach (Germany)

Anne is a Berlin-based journalism student who has travelled the world for the last couple of years, and also possesses a strong passion for journalism. Developing countries, sustainable issues and the ever-changing field of journalism with its fast development belong to her greatest interests.

Irina Scheitz (Austria)

Irina loves writing, particularly about people’s realities, their culture, their fears and dreams. She studied social and cultural anthropology in Vienna and Ireland and developed an interest in societies in conflict. Irina thinks it is crucial to see the individual stories in order to understand the reasons behind a conflict.

Massinissa Benlakehal (Algeria)

Massinissa Benlakehal is a journalist based between Algiers and Tunis. His articles and photographs focus on issues relating to various social, political and security topics, as well as local development in North Africa, including Algeria, Tunisia and the Sahel. After seven years as a staff reporter for Algerian outlets, and a two-year experience with Algerie Presse Service (APS), Massinissa decided to become a freelance journalist aiming at covering conflict and war areas.

Mathias Birsens (Germany)

Mathias is studying Middle Eastern Studies in Hamburg. In addition, he is working as a journalist for the German Press Agency dpa and others as a journalist and photographer. He has been to the Middle East several times. Witnessing the Middle East conflict in Jerusalem and Ramallah, Mathias says was a breaking point for his awareness for the difficulties related to conflict-sensitive reporting.

Dhaker Youssef (Tunisia)

Dhaker is 24 years old, and he graduated last year with a degree in English business. He is an open-minded and sharing person. He has participated in many projects concerning journalism and had experience in university radio. Dhaker is active in the Tunisian youth organisation AJMEC.