Lords to hear from Amnesty International and Oxfam on situation in Middle East
The House of Lords International Relations Committee continues its inquiry into the Middle East this week with evidence sessions with Amnesty International, Oxfam, International Alert and Professor Umut Özkirimili.
The Committee is examining the transformation of power in the Middle East and its impact on the UK's relationships in the region.
The evidence sessions will start at 10:30am on Wednesday 11 January in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords. Giving evidence to the Committee will be:
10:30am:
- Ms Rebecca Crozier, Middle East and North Africa Programme Manager, International Alert
- Mr Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director, Amnesty International
- Mr Tim Holmes, Regional Director for Middle East, Oxfam
11:30am:
- Professor Umut Ozkirimli, Professor of Political Science, Lund University (Sweden), and Senior Fellow, Sabanci University (Turkey)
In the first session the Committee will focus on the impact of the youthful populations of Arab countries and how charities can effectively engage with young people in the Middle East, how the UK can support political reform in the more stable countries in the region and how the UK should balance maintaining security relationships in the region with concerns about human rights abuses by allied nations.
In the second session the Committee will explore the health of the UK-Turkish relations, the domestic factors driving Turkey's policy in the Middle East and the Turkish government's view on the prospects of an autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq and Syria.
