Region

TUNIS — Within hours of his arrest by police, Walid Denguir was dead — just one of many alleged torture victims at the centre of a fight for justice in post-revolution Tunisia.

More than three years since a pro-democracy uprising toppled long-time strongman Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, rights groups say change has been slow to reach the country's justice system.

Denguir, 34, who earned a living operating a merry-go-round with his father, was detained last November on suspicion of a drug-related offence.

"They told me that they had taken him in at around 4:00pm. Before 5:00pm I got word that my son had been arrested and afterwards someone called to tell me he was dead," his mother Faouzia Zorgui said.

"In the space of 45 minutes, they tore him to pieces," she told AFP as she wiped the white headstone marking her son's grave in Tunis which she visits every week.

The autopsy report concluded that Denguir had been beaten with a "blunt object" but did not establish a cause of death.

Zorgui has no doubt what happened.

"My son was killed under torture," she said, describing "traces of beatings and blood coming from his nose, one ear and his mouth".

Like many victims or their relatives who have filed complaints to authorities over alleged torture, Zorgui has yet to receive an official explanation.

She believes her son was tortured by the "roast chicken" method, a procedure involving tying and suspending a detainee from the ceiling, made infamous under the Ben Ali regime.

UN disappointed 

The veteran autocrat was toppled by a 2011 popular revolt calling for better respect for human rights and "dignity" for the people.

Ben Ali may have fallen but rights campaigners charge that the notorious questioning methods employed by his security apparatuses continue in the absence of police and justicial reforms.

According to the justice ministry, nearly 250 cases of alleged torture are now before the courts.

Torture is rarely a subject of public debate, even in the run up to planned parliamentary elections on October 26 that will install Tunisia's first permanent democratic legislature.

The North African nation is hailed as a rare success story following the uprisings that swept much of the Arab world in 2011.

But in June, while noting "very encouraging developments" in other areas of human rights reform, the UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, deemed Tunisia's efforts to eradicate the practice "disappointing".

Mendez said "many complaints" were now being submitted because Tunisians were "no longer afraid of filing complaints of torture".

"Unfortunately there's very little action by prosecutors and by judges in pursuing the cases," he said.

 Old habits die hard 

According to Amna Guellali, Tunisia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, "on the face of things, we can say that there is institutional and legislative progress".

She cited the banning of the use of testimonies obtained under torture and the guarantee of detainees' physical safety — enshrined in a new constitution — as examples of change.

"But the basic problem is tracking these cases. There's a new system being set up on the basis of the old system. Justice has not yet been achieved in the revolution," Guellali said.

Among the "errors" in the current system is the fact that "the judicial police obey the interior minister, which is an aberration," she added.

In addition, there is still no dedicated department to deal with torture cases.

Justice Minister Hafedh Ben Salah admits to "slowness" in dealing with torture complaints and insists on the need for police and prison reform "so that they can do their jobs without resorting to illegal practices".

"We are trying to put in place a certain number of guarantees to help curb this phenomenon," he told AFP.

"Unfortunately, behaviours do not change quickly, and it is hard to fight to make certain practices disappear."

Salah said he had prepared a parliamentary bill mandating the presence of a lawyer during the first hours of detention to "reduce the instances and spaces where abuse is usually exercised".

The minister also supports the appointment of independent doctors to look at claims of torture.

In spite of such promises, Zorgui is still waiting for answers.

"I want those who killed my son to be held to account so that I can calm down and my son can rest in peace," she said.

"Why the cover up? Why did they kill him? I want them to pay."

BEIJING — China wants to have closer military ties with Iran, the Chinese defence minister told the visiting head of the Iranian navy on Thursday, state media reported, reaffirming diplomatic links despite controversy over Iran's nuclear plans.

Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan told Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari that the two armed forces have seen "good cooperation on mutual visits, personnel training and other fields in recent years", China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

"Exchanges between the two navies have been fruitful and their warships have paid successful visits to each other," it cited Chang as saying.

"Chang ... stressed China is willing to work with Iran to further pragmatic cooperation and strengthen military-to-military ties."

Xinhua cited Sayyari as saying Iran attached great importance to its ties with China and was "ready to enhance bilateral exchanges to push forward cooperation between the two armed forces, especially in naval cooperation".

For the first time ever, two Chinese warships docked at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port to take part in a joint naval exercises in the Gulf, Iranian state media reported on
September 20.

Naval cooperation between Iran and China is aimed at reinforcing Iran's military capability in the Gulf, analysts say, as well as displaying China's plan to exert greater influence and presence beyond East Asia.

"The [port] call reflects China's military-to-military relationship with Iran," said Christian Le Mière, a naval expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.

"It is the most explicit sign of Beijing's acknowledgment of this relationship, which has remained relatively covert until now."

China's People's Liberation Army Daily separately reported that Sayyari had been given tours of a Chinese submarine and warships, where he "listened to an introduction on equipment ability and weapons systems".

Sayyari said he hoped Iran and China could cooperate on anti-piracy operations, the newspaper said.

China is Iran's top oil buyer and has been the most aggressive in raising its crude purchases after an easing of the Western sanctions aimed at ending Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Iran and the United States said last week they made some progress in high-level nuclear talks aimed at reaching a final resolution to the decade-old dispute but that much work remained to clinch a deal by a late-November deadline.

China, a participant at the nuclear talks with Iran, has consistently urged a negotiated solution and decried efforts to place sanctions which have not been endorsed by the United Nations on Iran.

GAZA CITY — Last year's feel-good winner of the TV singing contest Arab Idol said Wednesday he wants to give back to Gaza, where he grew up, by setting up an arts centre nurturing young musicians, writers and actors.

The centre would be funded by Palestinian Americans who have pledged support, Mohammed Assaf, 24, said in an interview in the Gaza City office of The Associated Press.

He said he is waiting for a new Palestinian unity government to establish a foothold in Gaza before moving ahead. Until recently, the territory was ruled by the Islamic group Hamas which has ceded some control.

Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, residents of the crowded territory have endured an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade and three wars between Israel and Hamas.

Assaf, who grew up in Gaza's Khan Younis refugee camp, catapulted to regional fame after his Arab Idol win and also performed in the US.

He has visited Gaza twice this year.

"Both times, I found Gazans to be very sad, but this time I see much more sadness," he said, referring to the period since the summer's war between Israel and Hamas.

"My generation is frustrated," he said. "Everyone I met asked me to help them leave the country. They want to leave because they have no hope. Problems here are so big and complicated. Blockade, division, wars."

Assaf said he felt equally hopeless before last year's competition in Beirut. He couldn't find a job after college and dreamed of getting a civil service job for $300 a month, he said. "Thank God, I had this rare opportunity," he said.

DUBLIN — Ireland's upper house of parliament Wednesday passed a motion calling on the Dublin government to recognise the state of Palestine in a symbolic move that is unlikely to change policy.

The vote is the latest boost for Palestinian authorities campaigning for international recognition, coming after a similar vote by the British House of Commons and Sweden's decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

The motion called on the "government to formally recognise the state of Palestine and do everything it can to help secure a viable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so that citizens of both states can live in peace and security”.

It had cross-party support and passed without a vote.

Tabling the motion, opposition senator Averil Power said Ireland should "make it clear that statehood is a right of the Palestinian people and not a bargaining chip for the Israelis to play in further sham negotiations.

"In doing so, we will help increase pressure on Israel to pursue a genuine peace process that has a real prospect of delivering peace and justice for both Israelis and Palestinians alike."

The Irish government is not bound to follow the motion, as it was initiated by an opposition lawmaker in the upper house, which has little real power.

Power told AFP that Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan would visit the senate in November to discuss the issue.

"It was great that we didn't have to have a vote as we had cross-party support, which sends out a strong message," she said.

Ahead of the vote, the Israeli ambassador to Ireland Boaz Modai said he had contacted all senators to urge them to vote against the measure.

"Stunt gestures such as recognising 'Palestine' unilaterally are counter-productive because they only give excuses to those on the Palestinian side who hope to achieve their goals without talking directly to Israel," the embassy said in a statement.

But the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the move an important expression of support for Palestinian statehood that would "increase diplomatic pressure on Israel to end the occupation".

The debate follows the collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and this year's conflict in Gaza in which more than 2,000 Palestinians and dozens of Israelis were killed.

According to an AFP count, at least 112 countries around the world have recognised a Palestinian state. A Palestinian count puts the number at 134.

BENGHAZI, Libya — When longtime dictator Muamamr Qadhafi's regime collapsed in a 2011 revolution, many Libyans looked to affluent and booming Dubai as an example of what the future could hold.

Three years on, they fear a Somalia-like "failed state" status, with the North African nation awash with weapons, lawless, at the mercy of militias and in political chaos.

On October 23, 2011, three days after Qadhafi was captured and killed, transitional authorities announced the "total liberation" of Libya, in a joyous declaration from the eastern city of Benghazi, birthplace of the eight-month conflict.

This year, there is no official programme for Thursday to celebrate what has become a national holiday.

In a country with two governments — one internationally recognised and the other self-declared — the anniversary comes at a time of deadly clashes between pro- and anti-government militias in Benghazi and west Libya.

"When the country's 'liberation' was announced, our ambition was to become a new Dubai thanks to oil revenues," said Mohamed Al Karghali, a 39-year-old teacher who fought in the revolt.

"Today, we fear becoming another Somalia or Iraq," he said.

Many Libyans even yearn for the stability of the Qadhafi days.

"The rampant regional, ideological and tribal conflicts are worse than the rule of the dictator," said Salah Mahmud Al Akuri, a doctor in Benghazi.

"Some Libyans are looking back to the old regime despite their hatred of Qadhafi."

Military expert and ex-army officer Suleiman Al Barassi said the bloodshed of the past three years has been as deadly as the revolution which cost thousands of lives.

He pins the blame on the impunity with which militias operate.

The authorities have failed to establish a new regular army or professional police force, opting to rely on militias whose interests ultimately take priority over long-term loyalty.

The militias, made up of former rebel fighters, were set up on the basis of ideological, tribal, regional or even criminal ties.

Libya 'abandoned' 

Benghazi has become a bastion of radical Islamists and a hub for attacks on security forces, journalists, political activists and Western interests.

Deserted by diplomatic missions, the Mediterranean city fell to Islamist militias in July when they drove out pro-government forces.

Almost 100 people were killed last week in a new offensive launched by forces loyal to a former general, Khalifa Haftar, a Qadhafi-era officer turned rebel, to retake the city.

Authorities had accused the controversial figure of trying to mount a coup when he embarked on a first anti-Islamist campaign in Benghazi that was unsuccessful back in May.

But with their control over Libyan territory shrinking, the government and its armed forces this time had little option but to side with Haftar.

As for Tripoli, the capital fell to a militia coalition, Fajr Libya, at the end of August after several weeks of fighting with pro-government militias from Zintan, to the west.

Fajr Libya, made up of militiamen from Misrata to the east and Islamists, seized Tripoli shortly before a newly elected parliament, dominated by anti-Islamists, took office.

Insecurity in the capital has led to most Western countries evacuating their nationals, closing embassies and pulling out foreign companies, further isolating the country.

Even the government and parliament have sought refuge in Tobruk, in the far east of Libya, while their Islamist-backed rivals have set up a parallel administration in Tripoli.

The south of the country has not been spared the mayhem, as tribes battle for control of a lucrative smuggling trade.

Hopes of an economic boom in the oil-producing state whose infrastructure is being battered each day and of a peaceful transition to democracy have all but vanished in Libya's desert sands.

University scholar Mohamed Al Kawash accused NATO countries — who waged an air campaign to help oust Qadhafi — of having "abandoned" Libya and failing to contribute to post-war reconstruction.

On a surprise visit to Tripoli earlier this month, UN chief Ban Ki-moon appealed to Libya's warring factions to end the turmoil.

"Let me be clear: if violent confrontations do not cease immediately, if sustainable peace is not restored, prosperity and a better life will be a distant dream," Ban warned.

HAMMAM SOUSSE, Tunisia — Blaring music and flags fill the hall where Tunisia's Initiative Party is warming up to test its chances in the second free election since the 2011 "Arab Spring" uprising that ousted autocrat Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali.

The party's Eagle crest may be from the post-revolutionary era, but symbols from the past dominate its campaign for Sunday's parliamentary vote, where Ben Ali's old guard are hoping to make a comeback.

Three ex-Ben Ali ministers take to the stage in the hall in the resort town of Sousse, stalwarts from his disbanded RCD party mingle with Initiative neophytes, and even one of the songs is a classic from Ben Ali rallies.

No-one represents this comeback more than Initiative Party chieftain and presidential candidate, Kamel Morjane, a Ben Ali-era foreign minister and defence minister who started his own party and clambered back into politics.

Rather than illustrating the failings of Tunisia's 2011 revolt, the return of some of the old Ben Ali elite like Morjane may say more about what the North African country got right where other Arab Spring nations went wrong.

Four years after street protests forced Ben Ali and his entourage to flee into Saudi Arabian exile, driven out by anger over corruption and repression, Tunisia's election is one last step along a shaky path from autocracy to democracy.

While in other Arab Spring nations, from Libya, Yemen to Syria, the gun still rules, Tunisian political adversaries have reconciled with the past, approved a new constitution and worked out compromises between once bitter rivals.

"If there is a chance of a government of national unity, then I am all for it," Morjane said after his party's Sousse event. "Just as we don't want to be excluded, we will not exclude anyone else. We can take the lessons from the past."

Sunday's parliamentary vote will elect the 217-member assembly, and that will chose a new prime minister to lead the government to replace Tunisia's caretaker administration. Presidential elections will follow next month.

Coalition horse-trading has become the hallmark of Tunisia's post-revolutionary politics, and with major parties not expected to win a clear majority, a national unity government may be the most likely outcome on Sunday.

The stability afforded by a unity government may be what is needed for a still fragile nation. Tunisia's new rulers must create jobs and cut public spending without disaffecting the many Tunisians who have yet to see any economic benefits of democracy.

But democracy also opened the way to the rise of hardline Islamists once oppressed under Ben Ali. Extremist militants now challenge the security forces and Tunisian fighters constitute one of the largest blocks of jihadis heading to Syria.

"The consolidation of a successful democracy in the country would be a powerful signal that reform and political pluralism are not doomed to fail in the Arab world," said Anthony Dworkin in a European Council on Foreign Relations report on the elections.

Shaky transition

Nowhere is Tunisia's deal-making clearer than between the two strongest electoral contenders, two parties on opposite sides of the political spectrum on questions such as the role of Islam in politics but which eventually reached a compromise.

Nidaa Tounes, led by Beji Caid Essebsi, an octogenarian former parliament speaker under Ben Ali, faces off against the Islamist movement Ennahda, whose leadership were exiled in Europe or spent years in prison under the former autocrat.

After the 2011 revolution, Ennahda won most seats in the first free election and formed a coalition government with two secular parties. But disputes over hardline Islam and the murder of two opposition leaders blew up into a political crisis.

After months of protests, and following the army's overthrow of an Islamist president in Egypt, Ennahda ceded power at the start of the year to a transitional government after a deal with secular opponents brokered by Tunisia's powerful trade unions.

Crucially, Ennahda proved more flexible than Islamist movements elsewhere, and it accepted the return of former Ben Ali officials into politics. Prominent former regime officials were excluded from Tunisia's first election.

The country's new constitution, praised as the region's most progressive, has also helped resolve divisive questions of politics and religion.

"Tunisia managed to differentiate itself, and made its way through. It's marked by this inclusiveness," said one Western diplomat. "One of the products is that everyone here has a place in the political context."

Jobs, costs and security

If three years ago, during the first free election, bitter disputes over the role of Islam and Tunisian identity characterised political debate, voters are now focussed on jobs, economic opportunities, the high cost of living, and security.

Nostalgia among some Tunisians for the pre-revolutionary days of better security and economic stability may benefit parties such as Nidaa Tounes and movements led by former regime officials now positioning themselves as untainted by Ben Ali-era corruption and abuse.

Known as the "remnants", former Ben Ali officials are portraying themselves as the men who have the technical skills to tackle Tunisia's economic woes and secure the international help it needs to battle militants.

Since it was forced from power, Ennahda has branded itself as a party that has learned from its mistakes in government, after criticism of its handling of the economy and its lax attitude toward hardliners.

Led by once exiled leader Rached Ghannouchi, Ennahda has decided it will not run in the presidential vote, but focus on the legislature to push for a national alliance that will help Tunisia consolidate its political gains.

Campaigning in a gritty Tunis district of garage workshops, former prime minister Ali Larayedh this week came face to face with the economic realities facing Tunisia's working classes in a neighbourhood where many backed his party in the past.

Larayedh, an Ennahda stalwart and former Ben Ali-era political prisoner who spent more than a decade in jail, was greeted repeatedly on the campaign trail by young men clamouring for jobs and better economic opportunities.

"We cannot do this by ourselves even if we have a majority," said Ennahda adviser Lotfi Zitoun. "We need to bring in as many other parties as possible."

ERBIL, Iraq/MURSITPINAR, Turkey — Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers approved a plan on Wednesday to send fighters to the Syrian town of Kobani to relieve fellow Kurds under attack by Islamic State (IS) militants, marking the semi-autonomous region’s first military foray into Syria’s war.

Kobani lies on the border with Turkey and IS fighters keen to consolidate territorial gains in northern Syria have pressed an offensive against the town even as US-led forces started bombing their positions.

The battle has also taken on major political significance for Turkey, where the siege has sparked protests among Kurds and threatened a peace process with Turkey’s own Kurdish insurgents, who are angry at the government for failing to aid Kobani.

Under pressure to go beyond humanitarian assistance for those fleeing the violence, Turkey said on Monday it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters, known as “peshmerga” or those who confront death, to cross its territory to reach Kobani.

Iraqi Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Haji Omer said the Kurdish parliament approved the plan in a session on Wednesday. “Today in parliament we agreed to send the peshmerga forces to Kobani as soon as possible,” he said.

Iraqi Kurdish official Hemin Hawrami said on Twitter the peshmerga would be equipped with heavy weapons. This would help the besieged fighters, who say they need armour-piercing weapons to fight the better-armed IS militants.

Gunshots rang out throughout the day and an air strike occurred near the centre of the Kobani in the early afternoon, while five Kurdish fighters were buried in the Turkish border town of Suruc to defiant speeches and Kurdish songs.

Idris Nassan, a local Kurdish official, said clashes had taken place in the east, southeast and southwest of Kobani.

“They [IS] are always bringing more people and weapons from the surrounding areas and also from [the Syrian province of] Raqqa and Iraq. It’s obvious every time they attack,” he said.

One resident who visited Kobani and asked not to be named said IS were still in control of the town centre.

The pro-IS Amaq News Agency released a video of fighters speaking from what they said was the centre of Kobani, claiming that their morale is high and that they are advancing despite coalition air strikes.

Suspicions

Two senior Kurdish officials said late on Tuesday that preparations were under way to send a small number of peshmerga to Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayn Al Arab, but it would take several days until the necessary arrangements were in place.

The United States said on Sunday it had air dropped medical supplies and weapons to Kurds in Kobani provided by Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) — a move Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised on Wednesday because IS fighters managed to seize some of the weapons.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday two bundles of military supplies for Kurdish fighters in Kobani went astray during an air drop earlier this week, with one destroyed later by an air strike and the other taken by IS militants.

Twenty-six other bundles of supplies were dropped to Kurds in the city and reached their targets.

“There is always going to be some margin of error in these types of operations. In fact, we routinely overload these aircraft because we know some bundles may go astray,” said US Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.

“One bundle worth of equipment is not enough equipment to give the enemy any type of advantage at all.”

Speaking at a news conference, Erdogan said he proposed the move to facilitate the passage of peshmerga fighters to Kobani in a call with US President Barack Obama at the weekend.

“At first they didn’t say yes to peshmergas, but then they gave a partial yes and we said we would help,” he said.

Erdogan added that talks were continuing among officials on the details of the peshmergas’ transit. One Turkish journalist close to the government said on Wednesday 500 of them were expected to cross into Kobani this weekend.

Although Turkey’s relations with the KRG are close, officials view those defending Kobani with suspicion because of their links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), outlawed in Turkey as a terrorist group after fighting a three-decades long insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey.

The government wants a definitive peace with the PKK, but that process has faltered in recent months, particularly as Turkey’s failure to intervene militarily in Kobani has provoked fury among many of the country’s 15 million Kurds.

Ankara has also criticised the PYD for not joining the wider struggle to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, something the Turkish authorities have been demanding for years.

The US-led campaign against IS, which has seized swathes of territory across Iraq and Syria, continued on Wednesday as air strikes killed around 25 of the militants near the northern Iraqi city of Baiji, residents said.

US Central Command said it targeted the militant group, carrying out 12 strikes near Iraq’s Mosul Dam and another six close to Kobani.

Iraqi army tanks and armoured vehicles also fought off an advance by IS militants on the town of Amiriya Fallujah, west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, army sources said.

Syria’s information minister, Omran Zoabi, meanwhile said the country’s air force had destroyed two fighter jets reportedly operated by IS militants in the north of the country.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A baby was killed and eight people injured when a car slammed into pedestrians at a Jerusalem light railway stop on Wednesday, emergency services said, in what Israeli forces described as a "terrorist attack".

The driver was shot by Israeli forces as he tried to flee the scene on foot and was in serious condition in hospital, security spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding he was a resident of Arab East Jerusalem.

Two of the injured pedestrians were in serious condition, police said.

"We can confirm that this was a terrorist attack. The driver ... is a resident of Silwan and has a terrorist background. He has served time in jail for terror activity," Rosenfeld said.

Footage of the incident showed the car veer to the right from the traffic lane and hurtle at speed into a light railway platform, hitting pedestrians before coming to a halt.

The incident took place along a main route leading into the centre of Jerusalem, close to the national security headquarters and one of the city's main hospitals at Mount Scopus.

Repeated damage caused by Palestinians to the Jerusalem light railway, which links Arab and Jewish neighbourhoods and was once hailed by Israeli authorities as a symbol of coexistence, has put a third of its carriages out of commission.

The tensions have underscored deepening divisions in the Israeli-occupied part of the city that Israel claims as its “indivisible capital”.

Tensions have been high in Jerusalem since the 50-day Gaza war that ended in August and the killing of a Palestinian teen in the city by alleged Israeli assailants to avenge the deaths of three abducted Israeli youths in the occupied West Bank.

The last deadly incidents in Jerusalem took place in August when a Palestinian killed an Israeli and overturned a bus with a construction vehicle and a gunman wounded a soldier in attacks that appeared to be a backlash against Israel’s Gaza war.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem along with Gaza and the West Bank in the 1967 war. It annexed the city shortly afterwards and passed a law in 1980 that declared all of Jerusalem its capital, a move not recognised internationally.

BAGHDAD — Classes started a month behind schedule Wednesday in many areas of Iraq because some schools are crowded with families seeking refuge from violence elsewhere in the country.

With people still living in classrooms at some schools, arrangements had to be made for students at those institutions to study elsewhere.

Authorities needed "more time to prepare the schools that are occupied by displaced families", education ministry spokeswoman Salama Al Hassan said, meaning classes could not begin as scheduled on September 21 in areas controlled by the federal government.

In the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, which has a separate educational system, classes started last month.

An estimated 1.8 million people have been displaced by violence since the beginning of the year.

Insurgents seized all of one city and parts of another west of Baghdad in January, sparking the first round of displacements.

Hundreds of thousands more fled their homes after militants led by the Islamic State group launched a sweeping offensive in June.

A building that holds two primary schools in the Saidiyah area of southern Baghdad is currently housing more than 30 families, two to a room.

Students and their parents visited the school Wednesday to pick up books and other supplies before heading to another school where they will attend class for three hours a day.

"The displaced are our responsibility, but we blame the state. It must give them their rights and our rights," said Bushra Abdulhur Kadhim, the principle of the Umm Qasr school.

Other students were luckier Wednesday.

At a primary school for girls on Palestine Street in central Baghdad, students dressed in blue and white uniforms arrived with their parents amid tight security.

The school administration held a celebration to mark the opening day, raising the flag and playing the national anthem over speakers.

But for students still in large areas north and west of Baghdad that are outside government control, the situation is far more dire.

"Students in... any area not controlled by the government will receive lessons via educational television," with an exam at the end of the year, Hassan said.

Twenty-six-year-old Saeed Mohammad has a bright future ahead of him. Born into a family of seven children in Jordan’s Irbid camp, Mohammad’s father owns a small cheese factory in the area. 

As a self-starter, he has always been more interested in working in the realm of youth, volunteerism and education. 

In April, 2012, he started “Irbid Youth Volunteers” as a registered nonprofit designed to stimulate the culture of volunteering in the northern city. 

Mohammad strongly believes, “if you want to change your community, you have to change yourself first.”

A self-titled, “social entrepreneur”, Mohammad is brimming with excitement as he explains how he attracts young leaders, encourages them to come up with an issue they want to tackle and spends a year actively guiding these teams to find solutions to improve upon the identified areas of concern. 

He exudes a keen intelligence and passion for volunteering, but admits there have been roadblocks along his journey, with some friends and family urging him to get a “real” job. 

Mohammad insists, “working on yourself and your community is more important than making money” and he feels concerned about the vast number of talented people who choose to leave their communities. 

This so-called “brain-drain” encourages him even more strongly to give back locally and inspire other young leaders to increase their civic engagement and expand their interests beyond their studies.

In 2000, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were endorsed as a common framework of shared priorities of all UN Member states. The Post-2015 development agenda is the strategic development agenda that will guide the efforts of the international community after the MDGs come to an end. 

This time around, using a participatory approach, the UN is facilitating at the global level an inclusive dialogue on Post-2015 possible priority areas with its member states, as well as all stakeholders, to shape the future development framework. 

In 2013, Mohammad actively participated in the Post-2015 national consultations. 

This year, after Jordan was selected as one of seven countries in the world to support the second phase of Post-2015 consultations under the theme “partnership with civil society and other actors”, he was eager to engage again. 

In July 2014, Mohammad assisted UNESCO Amman in carrying out focus groups consultations designed to gather insights and recommendations from local stakeholders. 

He will be pivotal in encouraging civil society and NGOs to connect and discuss the critical role of youth as key actors shaping resilient communities and a peaceful future.

UNESCO is committed to ensuring that young women and men are engaged in policies and programmes affecting them and leading action to promote peace and sustainable development in their countries and communities. 

Supporting innovators like Mohammad is in line with UNESCO’s Operational Strategy on Youth (2014-2021) with a key focus on civic engagement, democratic participation and social innovation. In early June, 2014, with generous funding from the European Union, a new youth-focused project began with the engagement of the UNESCO Amman office. 

The “Networks of Mediterranean Youth” project is an innovative intersectoral response aimed at improving the access and effective participation of young men and women in developing and implementing national strategies and policies affecting them. 

In June, UNESCO’s Amman Office sponsored Mohammad to participate in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, held at the UN Secretariat in New York. 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the more than 1,000 youth organisers, delegates and representatives, opening the session with words that spoke to Mohammad: “There is a world of need out there, but also a world of opportunity. So I urge you to keep doing your part. Keep showing your leadership as global citizens.”

Aimed at including and encouraging young voices in addressing the challenges of attaining the MDGs and shaping the post-2015 development agenda, Mohammad declared that he felt, “empowered by the time spent at the forum and inspired to continue to work for the youth in my community”. 

His remarkable journey is just beginning; he is a strong catalyst for youth engagement and a true community champion who is sure to inspire many more. 

The UN office in Amman contributed this article to The Jordan Times on the occasion of UN Day.