 Hello everyone, I am Shirin At-Tabra, and I am a senior researcher with ODI which is a research institute in London working on governance and humanitarian issues. We have launched an initiative with ODI focusing on the Mediterranean region and on peace-building and economic collaboration called ODI-MED and this is the second webinar in a series of webinars. We are organizing in the framework of ODI-MED and the governance and politics project in ODI. I welcome all of you and I hope that you are able to listen to my voice and to my interpretation also clearly and if there are any issues you can notify us with the chat box. I welcome all of you and I thank you once again for partaking into this webinar which is a part of a collaboration between ODI and USIP that we are what that we that we cherish particularly as both institutions work and focus on peace-building in the Arab world and around the world. Our webinar today which I will be moderating comprises a set of senior and honorable researchers in peace studies and in peace-building and the aim behind this webinar is to shed light on a very important topic which is the impact of COVID-19 on peace-building locally in the MENA region. There are different views and opinions and several research pieces published about the issue. Some of them are pessimistic regarding the impact of COVID-19 on social cohesion and on the different conflict zones and some of them are more or rather optimistic because COVID-19 has created a political and social scene that is propitious and conducive to peace-building but it's very important and crucial that we listen to different stakeholders and actors from these countries from the MENA region and in this webinar we will focus on the Yemeni and Iraqi and Syrian experiences and we will discuss also the impact on the whole MENA region in general. We'll focus on different axes and as I said in the beginning we'll focus on the impact of COVID-19 from a critical perspective and from a firsthand experience on the ground in the MENA region on the economic social and political spheres in these countries and the repercussions of COVID-19 on peace-making on the short, mid and long terms and the impact of this COVID on economies and the war economies that we have in the MENA region. We will discuss also issues pertaining to misinformation and disinformation on social media or classical media and what kind of impact does it have on the ground and I will discuss also the role of international organizations in supporting peace countries in peace-building and what is the best role to be played particularly in this situation of conflict before introducing the different panelists we have today. I would like to give the word or the opening address to Mrs. Catherine Nawajyako and she is the director of politics and governance in ODI and then to Dr. Elia Boone the head of or director of the MENA programs in USIP Catherine over to you thank you. It's my great pleasure to welcome you all to this joint USIP ODI event entitled the impact of COVID-19 on local peace-building in the Middle East. ODI is delighted to co-host this event as part of its ODI MED initiative in partnership with the politics and governance program. Its purpose to facilitate policy focused research and dialogue on the underlying economic, social including cultural and political dynamics that underpin conflict and violence in the region in its multiple forms. This event is particularly timely given that we in ODI's politics and governance team are embarked on our own strategic redefinition of our conflict related work part of which includes rethinking peace-building. The repercussions real or anticipated of COVID-19 on conflict dynamics worldwide has been the subject of sustained international attention ever since the UN secretary general called for universal ceasefire in the wake of the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. In order to limit the spread of the virus and facilitate access to much needed humanitarian assistance. Much of this attention has focused on whether or not peace-building peace agreements have taken place. Cease fires are being ignored and the politics of the pandemic are playing out in ways that have enabled conflict and violence rather than deterred them. There is less interest however now in so-called local peace-building efforts and in how they have affected, they have been affected by the COVID pandemic yet we know that in highly fractured conflict affected settings in which social cohesion is further challenged by COVID-19 local peace-builders are the unsung heroes playing a critical role in strengthening community resilience in the face of conflict and violence at a micro level and in rebuilding ties that bind and in negotiating humanitarian access and protection for civilians in particular for vulnerable groups. How are local peace-building efforts in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen, in Yemen? How are they coping with the impacts of COVID on peace in the short and long term? These are the questions that I'm sure you'll have course to deliberate on. So I'm delighted therefore that ODI with UCIP are co-hosting an event focused on local peace-building in the Middle East in order to shine much needed spotlight on this issue in a region which is often associated more with war than peace. So I very much look forward to hearing from all of you panelists and participants concrete ideas for continued collaboration between UCIP and ODI and why not the development of a joint research agenda building on our respective competences and shared desire to build back together better. So I look forward to hearing the discussions and wish you all a successful event. Thank you. Thank you Catherine. Chokran, Catherine, and you said Elid for Dal. Yes, thank you Catherine and thank you Sherin. I was asked to use English for my opening remarks so I will comply with the request although I had a different preference but that's fine. So good morning or good afternoon everyone depending on where you are. I know some people are joining us from different time zones and I'd like to welcome you to this webinar which is a second collaboration between UCIP and ODI, a collaboration that looks very promising and I would like to see gone Catherine and you know at least contemplating the possibilities of developing a joint research agenda or different types of collaboration. As Sherin mentioned, we did organize a previous event on North Africa and this one is focused on Middle East, more specifically Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. So a few words about the institute. UCIP is a non-partisan independent institute founded by the Congress 1984 and our mandate is to prevent and mitigate violent conflicts. We achieve our mandate or fulfill our mandate through three types of programming. We build the capacities of local actors both governmental and non-governmental on issues related to peace building and conflict management and prevention. The second type of program is the research and the policy work which is basically our think tank function and the third one is our engagement on the ground mostly through community-based dialogues, different types and models of dialogues that I will spare you the details for now but that would be the third type of programs that we implement and specifically in the Middle East and North Africa we are active since 2003 and we started obviously in Iraq and over the years we have implemented several projects and we facilitated several dialogues including establishing a strategy or helping with the establishment of an Iraqi-led organization that became later on our strategic partner and the name of the organization Sanat for Peace Building and we have one of the panelists today coming from Sanat which is a great reward for USIP's efforts to see Sanat you know being featured in these events. A lot has been written or said about the effects of pandemic on local peace building or on peace building in general. There are definitely challenges and opportunities presented by this pandemic. However our observations that there are specific types of anxieties that are somehow either stronger or different from previous similar situations. You know the first anxiety comes from the you know the very basic situation of being in a pandemic so basically not knowing whether someone will contract the virus or not so basically an anxiety about your own well-being. The second type of anxiety is about the future you know given the uncertainty and the divisions among the scientific community in the world. I think people are also not only anxious about whether they will get sick or not they are also anxious about what will happen next about you know when they will resume their normal activities when they will be able to travel when they will see their relatives. And the third and the third point that I would like to mention here is as a result of these anxieties combined and other anxieties you know coming from the economic depression that everyone is already not forecasting anymore. I think we're we're in fully in the depression at this stage but the mindset and the priorities of people have shifted. So the same actors with whom we were working before you know are still engaging with us and they are still you know discussing and trying to do something but we can certainly feel that their priorities have shifted from you know looking into social cohesion matters or reconciliation or dialogue issues to more of a survival mode I would say. In Iraq you know despite these challenges we were able to finalize two reconciliation agreements one in Libya and one in Iraq. In Iraq and which is the focus of this webinar we work together with our strategic partner Sanad on an agreement in Tallahfar. Tallahfar is a for those who know Iraq or the history of Iraq. Tallahfar is a very well known city in northern Iraq because it you know it used to be the hotbed of a lot of terrorist activities at some point and it is considered one of the complex locations to work on in Iraq. Nevertheless we are really proud that we were able to finalize the agreement during the pandemic. Obviously the work on this dialogue track started in 2015 so it's roughly five years of work that culminated in this agreement in you know last month. In Syria we you know we because of many factors not only the pandemic but our focus at this stage is to continue building the capacity of our local partner so we did not work on dialogues per se in the last few months again not only because of the pandemic but also because of other developments on the ground and from you know from this from the work that we've done during the pandemic we've realized how much the logistical challenges are weighing on our ability to implement programs in the conflict areas and when I when I say logistic challenges I mentioned the fact that we are not able to do in person activities anymore that we are not able to travel anymore you know bringing in experts is not as easy as before if not impossible but in addition to these challenges logistical challenges we felt also what I just described before which is the how the priorities and the mindset of people have shifted. So I really hope that the three speakers will will give us additional insights into these challenges. I don't want to spend a lot of time explaining what we've been through but I really look forward to the three presentations and I look forward to a great discussion. I encourage you to interact with the speakers who are really experts in their fields and I'd like to thank the team who worked on organizing this event from both the ODI and VSIP sides and to thank our partner ODI one more time. Thank you very much and enjoy the rest of the event. Thank you. Thank you Eli and Catherine for this introduction and I would like to mention that if you need interpretation whether from Arabic into English or from English into Arabic you can choose the Korean option unfortunately that you are seeing on your screen Korean here stands for Arabic because we don't have the Arabic option in the zoom parameters and once again I reiterate my welcoming to the panelists and participants and I am really honored to present and moderate this discussion. First we start with Professor Sultan Barakat who is the founding director of center for conflict and humanitarian crisis. He is a renowned academic not only in the Arab world but worldwide and then we will move to Noor Qais from Saned and Mr. Eli talked about Saned which is a society organization located in Iraq and Noor is a university professor in the university of political science in Iraq and then Mrs. Nadwa al-Dausali I think she's known to many participants she's an expert and researcher on tribal issues in Yemen. We start with Mr. Sultan Barakat the floor is yours thank you. Mike please the speaker is not using the microphone or is not turning the microphone on go ahead thank you Shirin thank you Catherine and Eli for this valuable opportunity to be part of this webinar I'm very pleased to see that there is a cooperation between UDI and USIP focusing on the MENA region I think it's high time that we work together on this particular region I think I have seven to ten minutes and I will focus on some general points and maybe during the discussion we can delve deeper first regarding COVID-19 and conflict torn regions I think it's a blessing in disguise because some of these war torn conflict torn regions were besieged and movement in and out was very difficult and this I think was a blessing because the outbreak did not happen as it happened elsewhere in three regions in the world and Iraq for example because of the mobility the intense mobility between Iraq and Iran I think Iraq can be considered an exception and it was prone and exposed to COVID-19 Mr. Sultan can you turn on your microphone we are unable to listen Mr. Sultan and fortunately I think there is a connection issue or internet issue with Mr. Sultan while waiting for the connection to be re-established can we move to Mrs. Noor Qais and then we will give Mr. Sultan the floor when he sorts out his connection issue I think he's muting his microphone Mrs. Noor are you here yes Mr. Sultan are you we were not able to listen unfortunately I think there is an issue with Mr. Sultan Mrs. Noor the floor is yours can you give us your insight on the impact of COVID-19 in Iraq on economy society and politics and peace building locally can you give us an update on what's happening in Iraq we will give you the floor and then we will go back to Mr. Sultan when it is possible Noor could you please turn on your microphone because we can't hear you thank you thank you my dear I welcome all participants and I commend this very interesting initiative regarding the general repercussions of the pandemic I can say that they were dire and extremely negative in general in conflict torn regions in Iraq we notice that there is a dire sense of frustration and disillusionment because of jobs loss of lives in addition to very to arise in political tension I don't want to jump to conclusions regarding the topics we are talking about today but let me tell you that the COVID-19 pandemic in Iraq is unique of its kind it's different from other countries and how it is impacting them I visited a few neighboring countries in the region and worldwide and I noticed that there is a huge difference between the situation in Iraq and in other countries because Iraq is a very exhausted state in terms of infrastructure very poor infrastructure and in addition to the escalated tension lately which compounded the negative impact of COVID-19 thank you very much thank you Mrs. Noor you tackled the fact that there are changes at the local levels in the regions in Iraq and you talked about the dire repercussions in Iraq and maybe during discussion you can pinpoint and identify these repercussions on peace building particularly and also social cohesion in various regions in Iraq you also alluded to the differences from one country to another you said that the situation in Iraq is different from Libya for example or different from other countries also in the region we try to re-establish connection with mr sultan are you with us sir unfortunately I think mr sultan is still facing internet issues we hope that we will be able to listen to his input because I am sure his perspective may be different or interesting and he has also thorough experience in the region now we move on to Mrs. Nedwa Adosari and she will be talking about the situation in Yemen I want to tell you that in ODI we are drafting studies and research pieces on the situation in Yemen and the impact of COVID-19 on economy and politics in the country and we want to get the insights of Mrs. Nedwa the floor is yours madam thank you Shereen are you listening to me very well thank you I thank ODI and USIP for this kind invitation to talk about COVID-19 repercussions on peacebuilding in Yemen to answer the question regarding COVID-19 repercussions on peacebuilding I can say yes and no it's ambivalent because the repercussion was not a direct one and local peacemakers in Yemen were not particularly affected by the pandemic what happened in Yemen is that people try to coexist and live with the virus there were attempts of lockdown and of curfews in more than one region but they were very short lived people continue to live their lives normally and we can say that the Yemeni population opted unwittingly to herd immunity the Yemeni population of course believe in God and believe in faith and they always say I may catch the virus even when I am at home so most people and since most people live on on day-to-day basis so they can't stay at home and just get salaries they have to work on day-to-day basis also there were some tribal reconciliations and some tribal conflicts were resolved even during the pandemic exchange of hostages also in May which is the peak of the outbreak in Aden there were there was an escalation of a war of the war between the militia and the government and the main road the highway was shut down but a tribal reconciliate tribal mediation managed to reach a reconciliation between the two warring parties there was some negative impact on society organizations despite the fact that many organizations continue to document war crimes and war kidnapping for example by a feminist organization also trying to uncover the fate of abductees and trying to free them there was a bit of a bad impact on some projects on the ground because of funding issues because there was a shifting priority from the international community from peacebuilding to combating the virus however there were indirect repercussions I think in the Houthi controlled areas I think the outbreak gave the opportunity to Houthi forces to control to better control these areas and they refuse to share data with any entity external to them and they also created a kind of misinformation and also they did not let data go out to the to the world and they threatened to sanction or to punish those doctors or those nurses who would post pictures or post data about people who have the COVID-19 and so the Houthi were trying to muzzle freedom of expression and there was an atmosphere of terror created by the Houthi forces mainly against those who caught the virus there was a criminalization of being sick of having the COVID-19 there were rumors also that they are using COVID-19 to get rid of their opponents those who died in the hospital we don't know whether they really died out of COVID-19 or out of other reasons so many people did not go to the hospital or prefer not to go to the hospital because they feared that going to the hospital would be synonymous to death whether with COVID-19 or with or because of other causes this atmosphere of terror was a propitious to more control and more dominance by the Houthis and the material repercussions and the financial repercussions was extremely dire 80 percent of money transferred by Yemeni diaspora fell and that's naturally because many of the Yemeni diaspora lost their jobs abroad these money financial transfers are very important because they are the biggest revenues for the state in general they they are between 3.5 to 4 billion dollars that's the official figure but most people transfer money in an informal way through non-official means and I think they can go up to 10 billion dollars and I think losing almost 80 percent of that led to an economic recession some were prompted to go to the front to look for jobs or to look for money and to look for income and that's I think a fuel to the war and one important point is that COVID-19 is an international global priority and not a Yemeni priority and now we are seeing that all the funding shifted from governance projects from peacebuilding projects to combating the repercussions of COVID-19 I agree that's important but we need to find the balance you can fight the virus and many many many people can survive the virus but they can survive hunger and they can survive the war and that's why we have to strike that very important and very difficult balance I'm very pleased to answer all your questions if there are questions thank you Mrs. Nedwa you talked about very important topics you talked about the priorities of the Yemeni population focusing on COVID-19 at the expense of other important topics or in the mindset of the general population that they have other more urgent priorities and the international and regional organizations have to pay more attention to that balance we are receiving questions from our audience but I am keen on going back to Mr. Sultan Barakat but unfortunately I think we still have a technical issue anyway let's start discussing our panelists and I have very quick questions to them and then we will give the floor to Mr. Sultan if possible and if we will not manage I'm sure we will find other ways and we will ultimately include his address in the reporting or the video that we will publish later on and then we'll open floor for questions for you quick for Q&A actually my first question to Mrs. Noor about the situation in Iraq particularly in your opinion Mrs. Noor what's the repercussion of COVID-19 on the economic scene in Iraq and mainly the war economy as we name it in Libya for example or Yemen masks and tribes used to against COVID-19 have become a tool used by the war by the warring parties in order to expand their control and the subjugation of different regions did you perceive any similar instances in Iraq or can you give us a glimpse of what's happening economically because of COVID-19 thank you my dear I think the economic sector has been hit very hard by COVID-19 in Iraq it's almost collapsing and I think the situation is very complex because of the outbreak of the virus worldwide and what led to this very quick economic depression goes to issues pertaining to oil prices we are facing some issues to listen to Mrs. Noor sorry we have different social categories in our society and I think the most vulnerable category are those who are living on day to day basis your voice is heard now but we are not able to see I'm sorry I think the economic sector in Iraq is most affected more than the social and the political spheres because with this pandemic we also faced a fall or a collapse in oil prices which make up more than 95% of economic revenues and also the lockdown that was imposed on during a long period in Iraq and the government could not provide alternatives to the citizens those who rely on daily income were the most affected and the most vulnerable economically speaking and regarding example you have given about Libya I think what you said about Libya applies to Iraq because we have now a very fertile and enterprising business of COVID-19 related items and drugs but what's good here is that the Iraqi population are committed to the safety and deterrence gestures some of them are related to the cultural upbringing and some of them are related to the social and economic aspects figures in Iraq are not as high as what's happening around the world we are between 2000 and 4000 in terms of cases on daily basis but that's dangerous enough because the medical infrastructure in Iraq is poor and incapable of accommodating more cases regarding the losses or the number of life losses can also be shocking to people in Iraq today for more than 50 days the government couldn't provide the salaries of governmental civil servants that's considered to be middle class let alone the vulnerable category I was talking about that's regarding economic repercussion thank you mrs. Noor mrs. Nadua can you shed more light on the situation in Yemen and are people or businesses exploiting the outbreak of COVID-19 either in the north or in the Houthi controlled regions or in any other region can you give us an idea about the impact of COVID-19 or on war economy particularly I agree with Noor at the beginning of the outbreak of the pandemic there was fear and people were panic buying masks and the disinfectant gel and prices were shockingly high all over Yemen in Houthi areas or in governmental held areas but just as what Noor depicted people were not committed to the lockdown ultimately almost everyone tried to live along the virus and coexist with its dangers and risks thank you mrs. Nadua and then I have another question to you and then we will go back to mr. Sultan who is back with us the second question to Noor and Nadua pertains to this information and misinformation vehicle on social media or on any other means of communication in your communities and even in the west we have seen different ways of disinformation and deception on how to handle COVID-19 you have a comment on disinformation and misinformation and how did that impact social cohesion and social coexistence and did it have any impact on the ongoing conflicts in your respective countries Noor go ahead thank you regarding the misinformation I think we have different drivers and vectors first in my opinion is fear this virus has been a surprise and a shock to the whole world and I think misinformation is rife because we don't have a deterrence against that people who spread such fake news are not held accountable and are not punished in Iraq also we have we have a peculiarity I don't know if it exists elsewhere there are groups that support diffusing some kind of information for example people spreading that coronavirus or COVID-19 is a worldwide conspiracy by Americans or it's a part of the battle between the world superpowers and us as vulnerable weak states and some key figures like medical doctors like key civil society activists try to exploit this situation to market themselves and we have an instance of a popular doctor a very famous one who would post fake or misinformation and would deceive people to gain in terms of reputation and in I can give you a particular instance where people were belittling the importance of COVID-19 they were claiming that it is a false virus that there is no violence virus and you have to believe in God and believe in the fate God has determined for us so all of that I consider to be drivers for misinformation and I think ultimately the problem is that we did not have accountability for such deeds and that led to a loss of lives in Iraq thank you thank you Noor Nadwa the floor is yours regarding misinformation in Yemen regardless of the COVID-19 situation the Houthis are the best and in terms of using misinformation very effectively and they thrived on that during COVID the COVID pandemic as I said they wanted to subjugate and spread terror and the Houthis also abdel malek al-Houthi their leader he said that or claimed that American companies created this biological product to to spread it all over the world and that was an information that was widely diffused on social media the minister of health the Houthi minister of health said also that Yemeni doctors are trying to produce a vaccine and that Yemen will be the country providing the vaccination to the whole world I don't can say that there were a lot of misinformation but I can say that there was a lot of momentum in terms of this information in some of the Houthi channels some we have seen some people saying that instead of dying out of the COVID-19 you can fight on the front and you will not die after contracting the virus instead you will die as a martyr if ever you will die that was one of the narratives widely diffused in the first case recognized by the Houthi government they said that it was a Somali migrant but that's that was not true it was not a Somali migrant that's an attempt to put the blame on others on people who are external to their to their group and they always try to picture themselves as in control and that the regions under their control are safe and immune and the only threat can come from outside so when they started admitting cases they claimed that these cases came from the areas of the government and that's not true because the Houthi areas are closed up and from travelers who come from abroad thank you thank you you focused on ways through which the COVID-19 has been politicized in Iraq and Yemen and ways through which the COVID-19 has been used to spread terror and to serve political agendas for the different warring parties on the ground I want to move from the two cases of Yemen and Iraq to the Houthi region and now we'll focus on that with Mr Sultan Barakat and with particular attention to Syria the situation in Syria the floor is yours sir thank you did you listen to my intervention the first one we only heard the two minutes so can you summarize that and then move on with your speech I apologize for this interruption I wish I could listen to Nur and Nadwa because I think they have very interesting ideas I will repeat what I said wars and conflicts just as Nader said limit mobility and the limited mobility curbed the spread of the virus in some regions with a few exceptions like Iraq and the the intense movement between Iran and Iraq so we can consider that Iraq was an exception but Gaza strip the Houthi regions regions in Syria I think that these areas were enjoyed a blessing in disguise and to focus on COVID-19's repercussion on peace building locally and whether that is positive or a negative I think in general the repercussion will be negative and dire because this pandemic added fuel to fire in more than one community and one economy many countries in the region will be suffering from high rates of in-depthness because of of the resources they have devoted to fighting COVID-19 and also due to the lockdown and the isolation they imposed on themselves trying to emulate some western countries this led to spend overspending in the region and I think in the next two years we will see the repercussions the dire repercussions of that mainly in countries which suffer politically like Lebanon, Syria and Jordan I think we can see community cracks and social divisions already springing and in terms of the repercussion also some despotic regimes used COVID-19 as a pretext to engage in lockdowns some of them I consider random and excessive and also to spread rumors to stigmatize certain groups or certain denominations because of the virus of course this virus is a some groups of vehicles that it is a global conspiracy that subscribes of course to the conspiracy theory and I can't partake in that logic of course there were opportunities to benefit from COVID-19 to change the orientation of certain resources in some countries for example in raising certain statistics and linking mortalities to COVID-19 only in a bet to get more funding some assistance and support I think ultimately went through the wrong hands and not to the communities that have a dire need for them I want to make an observation also about COVID-19 causing more and more poverty in many regions and at the same time conversely it was a driver of civil society work and volunteerism in Lebanon and Jordan and it was a breakaway from the social divisions and religious divisions these communities suffer from but these instances were not consistent at an international dimension and the secretary general called for global ceasefire to help overcome COVID-19 repercussions but I don't think that these developing countries responded positively to this call mainly in terms of providing assistance what we perceive is that even developed countries try to get the assistance for themselves and there was an unhealthy competition worldwide and the expenses dispersed on COVID-19 were primarily for consumption for the protection equipment and drugs and so on and so forth so they can't really be considered real development in these countries and many of them were imported from abroad in Idlib in Syria for example which was subject to violence in the beginning of 2020 some non-governmental organizations worked hard to shift from emergency work to long-term development and sustainable work but the advent of COVID-19 stopped all of that because these organizations found themselves obliged to deal with the COVID-19 repercussions and newly found issues one of the main challenges that the region will face is reconstruction and peace building in a sustainable manner in the future due to the economic depression and recession the region will be drawn in and also the political concessions the region will have to do in order to get the assistance it needs to overcome COVID-19 repercussions for Palestine, Lebanon, Syria here I talk about normalization with Israel and the new borders between Lebanon and Israel all of that will be used as a pressure in order to facilitate these objectives and will reflect will have a negative reflection on the region regarding peace building and mediation I noted down some observations after my engagement in Afghan mediation work and in Yemen also the pandemic made opportunities to face communication very scarce and unlikely same for political talks and that had negative impact but also positive impact from another perspective because it can be used as a research topic give you the example of using Zoom and other virtual platforms which created new opportunities and allowed for more engagement for people all over the world engaging with each other that was very unlikely in the past because of lack of funding you know how difficult it is to get someone from Yemen of course to go and attend a meeting in any Arab country or European countries so I think that's an opportunity to be seized and the second point I want to shed light is establishing and restoring trust in those who are engaged in these political talks they can record the meeting and they can know things and that's something that was not possible in the past what we missed however is the human contact and the direct contact because many of these political talks which used to take place around lunch or around dinner are not possible now and the pandemic also alleviated the difficulties of certain political talks with few exceptions like Sudan reconciliation agreement between the government and the militias in Juba it took place in a very difficult situation actually and the government of the south took all precautions in terms of COVID-19 however Doha opened talks on September between an Afghan group or a group representing the government and militia groups and they drafted a protocol on COVID-19 prevention and I think that was a very good opportunity and everyone was scrutinized in order to make the opportunity and the discussion safe for everyone some of the speakers or the attendees opposed the use of new technologies like the Qatar system called Ahtiras which classifies people in terms of green or orange or red some of some people consider that this is an intrusion of privacy and it can lead to spying people with diplomatic passports were exempted but that was a venture actually for Qatar to host such high-level talks it was a risk and some other countries did not venture that the positive dimension is that there was a competition between countries to host these talks but with the outbreak of COVID-19 many countries withdrew themselves because they did not want new problems in addition to COVID-19 and that paved the way for Qatar and made all stakeholders focus more on the key objective issues they are deliberating and the need to engage in these talks in an earnest manner. Finally maybe the next couple of days will publish a research piece on the safe use of technology and not everyone has access to technology unfortunately but now I'm talking about technology but now I think I am evidence of issues that we can face because of technology ultimately I can say that there are opportunities in technology but we have to explore more in terms of privacy and security and for moderators also it will give them an opportunity to control interruptions and to organize interventions and make the discussion run smoothly these are good points to be capitalized upon in the future thank you very much I welcome your questions thank you Mr Sultan thank you for your thorough comprehensive talk about the COVID-19 repercussions on the MENA region and also your particular drawing on technology and the creation of a propitious conducive environment for talks that otherwise could only take place face to face but now thanks to Zoom and Webex it has become possible and easier and you also mentioned the risks pertaining to privacy and security which are underlying these technologies and the negative use of such technologies I would like to open the floor for questions and we have a number of questions from our audience the first question is about the role or the issues pertaining to governance in the MENA region and is the extreme focus on COVID-19 a kind of misinformation deluding us to the biggest problem in the Middle East which is governance and corruption this is the first question I don't know who would like to take it Mr Sultan would you like would you like to take it I think the lockdown has been used excessively and people could not perceive the logic why look down on Thursday and Friday and not the other days some interpret this as a way to impede Friday sermons or to not allow people to pray that's of course some Salafist hardliners some economic businesses also complained about that entertainment businesses also schools and I think all countries around the world faced such instances and issues because of these disagreements the particular disagreements in the Arab world in terms of denominations religious affiliations we tend to become aggressive in our interpretations and I think decision makers had to pay more attention to that for example refugee camps and look down on the refugee camps for their safety and health but you are crippling them and you are stifling them economically speaking so all of these matters have to be thought about thoroughly in order to apply the principle of do no harm how can I ensure the general health and the security while taken into account peacebuilding and also community reconciliation every step taken in our region caused enough bloodshed and and I think we should have been more pre cautious in the adoption of such drastic measures and now I have a question to Mrs. Noor about the situation in Iraq has COVID-19 had a particular impact on religious minorities and ethnic minorities in Iraq thank you minorities in Iraq did not enjoy a better situation than others I think all citizens suffer from very poor services that applies to everyone maybe minorities and I'm talking here based on direct ceremonies of minorities I know in Iraq they themselves say that the suffering applies to everyone and is relevant to everyone what they have suffered the most is the delay of resolving some of their own issues for instance we have projects directed to ethnicities and minorities in Sahel Nainawa for example dialogue sessions aiming to resolve the conflict between Sharkas and Christians and also the Azidi camp issues I think they were they were impacted negatively by COVID-19 pandemic mainly during the lockdown after that with the restoration of ordinary life or they have managed to restore negotiation and mediation but not as it was prior to COVID-19 I can I want to add something as the Iraqi government is focusing exclusively on on the general issues of the country not the issues pertaining to minorities for example they are keen and focusing on resolving the economic issues on the political tension and the pressures they are subject to from the external powers so in terms of the agenda and priorities I think that COVID-19 led to the downsizing and belittling the importance of the issues of minorities thank you thank you Mrs. Noor I have the next question directed to Mrs. Nadwa about the best strategies through which we can help Yemen to combat COVID-19 mainly in the light of lack of technology and also we don't have exact figures as to the number of people who have COVID-19 and also the the unlikelihood of social distancing and lockdown and precaution measures as it was as it is in other countries because of the di-economic situation so Mrs. Nadwa what is the best we can do in this light I will answer this question but let me if go back to the governance issue first collecting governance issues in favor of COVID-19 is not new it has been frequent in the past and common enough local the international community and international organizations either neglect the demands of local organizations or they try to use them to serve them and their interests for example in the past before COVID-19 they were supporting the national dialogue and the national reconciliation and ultimately it failed so there is a tendency from the international community and international donors they are obsessed with the immediate issues now they are obsessed with the mediation by the UN envoy between the government and the Houthis but this mediation led by the UN is facing a lot of issues and there are a lot of intricacies but all what we are seeing here is that all the support is being channeled to to that mediation while ignoring local priorities like governance now we can support economy we can support security for example with the international donations but there is a total rejection and there is an obsession with the peace process led by the UN envoy which is being questioned by many Yemeni people I think the process is mired with flaws but anyway that's I think the principle being applied by the international community they neglect and ignore all together the local privacy or they try to exploit them or orchestrate them to serve international interests and they put conditions working on these local issues while they should support the international endeavors and I think that's a big mistake made by the international community we should not focus on only one process because that process can be doomed and regarding your question supporting Yemen overcome COVID-19 major support powers are facing difficulties to overcome COVID-19 like the US for example but the support has to be sustainable and as I said we can support local governance in certain areas we can support the security sector reform and the international community can implement programs to alleviate the suffering of Yemeni population this community of course in our community we don't have a state per se and we are facing challenges way harder and dire than more dire than the virus and what it poses the next question is related to what we have discussed and in the Middle East and in conflict torn countries do you agree that there is a lack of awareness about the risk and the danger of the virus because of other agendas that are more forceful like the war agenda that makes people unable to focus on the virus and its risks because they are more preoccupied with the war and if it is the case are there organizations or institutions on the ground providing medical services and trying to do medical outreach about COVID-19 while the conflict or the war is being managed by other actors and stakeholders and endeavoring to alleviate the level of and mitigate the level of violence so there are are there different actors playing on these different dimensions I think Mrs. Nadwa can answer this question and then Nur yes of course there are institutions locally working on different dimensions there are some society organizations and young leaders who have done an excellent job youth initiatives using WhatsApp or Facebook for example or very simple videos explaining with very local and simple language how population can protect themselves and that was a very laudable initiative but there are also effective society organizations and local authorities that need to be supported there are medical doctors and groups of doctors who launched a very good initiative and they can be supported they need to be supported most of the medical doctors do not receive their salaries so maybe they can be incentivized or provided with their salaries many medical doctors left their jobs because they were not protected and many other doctors died because of the the pandemic so there are ways and means and possibilities of supporting official and non-official institutions that can make a pivotal shift if supported and provided with assistance Mrs. Nur do you have a comment on local and governmental institutions in Iraq there are institutions suffering from a kind of chaos chaos created with the misinformation and this information and the rumors about the COVID-19 from the first outbreak until today we have governmental authorities and institutions working seriously and earnestly on combating the virus doing outreach for example the government also created a high commission and we have a newsletter explaining different figures pertaining to the COVID we don't know and we are not sure whether these figures are accurate or not but there are governmental and civil society efforts to raise awareness and sensitize on the field and on social media there are key social and community figures in the Iraqi society it made excellent achievements for example Sadun he has a daily video he posted a daily video about COVID-19 developments I think we can't consider that those who are doing outreach and those who are doing disinformation I don't think that they are clashing they are in a blatant conflict that is but whenever we have someone spreading this information we have a wave countering that discourse and debunking this and I can tell you that there are very good endeavors undertaken by reputable and renowned figures in our communities we still have only 50 or 10 minutes and we have a question to Mr. Sultan about the dialogue in Syria was there a clear impact blatant and conspicuous repercussion on the situation in Syria and are there Syrian institutions that are playing a role in peace building currently Lord is yours Mr Sultan and then we will conclude unfortunately there are questions that we couldn't take but maybe there will be future opportunities to answer on social media or on other platforms Mr Sultan go ahead Mr Sultan can you turn on your mic as far as I know in August the official peace talks between the Syrian government and the Syrian militias were delayed because of three positive cases but that did not lead to the total suspension of talks they were just delayed and after a few weeks they managed to resume the talks with a less number of people involved and they as I said they continued back then in Geneva regarding the local institutions they are working they are still working on the ground under a lot of pressure due to the economic situation and all the other repercussions pertaining to COVID-19 but I don't think that the virus in itself will stop or put an end to the peace talks or will deter people from finding solutions to their conflicts not only in Syria but anywhere in the Middle East people are jaded and they are trying to find solutions to their problems so I don't think that the virus itself will impede on these aspirations and that's why we have as I said to strike a balance very unlikely balance between health and peace building and we have to capitalize on the serious endeavors as I said in South Sudan and Qatar these two countries exemplify risk taking by hosting talks that's an investment actually and it has its cost when they came to Qatar before taking the flight they were tested and then they were on lockdown or they were in isolation sorry and and then they were tested again during the during their arrival in Qatar and then they were assigned different colors in Iraq green yellow or red yellow were quarantined and the red were in isolation actually these are all ideas that he have to be thought over and have to be invested thank you Mr Sultan I thank all speakers and Mr Ali and Mrs Catherine and at the end I want to reiterate the key points we discussed with our panelists today the first point that COVID-19 is not only health risk but risk politically and socially and economically but we have to reorder and reshuffle our priorities and assimilate and grasp the local perspectives and not just the international and global perspectives similar to what Nedwa said interest in the COVID-19 is an international priority not necessarily a local priority and we have to strike a balance between the local priorities and interests and the international interests and interventions and there are many challenges pertaining to this information around COVID-19 and the politicization by different warring parties such as what's happening in Yemen or in Iraq and the exploitation of vulnerable categories and of displaced people and of course these vulnerable categories are or face a greater challenge and greater risk and that's why they have to be supported and assisted despite this gloomy perspective there are positive impact like an increase in society volunteering work and many organizations working on outreach from a sanitary perspective while also continuing their work socially and economically and they have to be supported and they have we have to grasp and understand their own priorities from their own perspective and finally international support and assistance has to be revisited and reviewed focusing on COVID-19 without understanding the other issues pertaining to governance to politics and to economies can create or produce an even more difficult situation and the forms of competition we have today worldwide does not help communities and countries trying to overcome COVID-19 pandemic and as well as other social and political issues I hope that international organizations that attended and listened to the discussion today share ODI and USIP and Qatar Qatar center share with us and work with us on creating this new and much needed balance to take into account the local priorities and local interests and not just the international priorities and technology for example and the webinar is an evidence of that technology has created opportunities for dialogue and for mediation and reconciliation but at the same time it can be an obstacle in many forms and fashions and I hope that we can review issues pertaining to technological privacy and security and the limitations of technology and technological security in the Middle East I would like to to express my appreciation and thanking to the panelists we have only one minute I wanted to give the floor to Ali and Catherine to conclude but we can't unfortunately I hope that this is just the beginning of our collaboration and I hope we will have other opportunities of virtual meetings or face-to-face meetings I apologize also for the technical issues and I hope we'll have other opportunities to discuss such significant matters thank you very much and see you soon thank you