Monthly archive : "April, 2020"

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to officially adopt a multiculturalism policy. The decision was made under the leadership of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and in 1982, section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognized multiculturalism as a national agenda. Canada is nowadays a nation of immigrants, and has founded its immigration policy upon attracting educated and skilled foreign workers from different countries to enhance its economy and improve its people’s standard of living. The country is facing challenges such as an aging population and declining birth rate, and is turning to immigrants to fill the gaps. Canada is one of the top four Western nations when it...

Kourosh Ziabari - Responsible Statecraft: The exodus of Afghan immigrants fleeing Iran in the recent weeks because of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the Islamic Republic has largely gone off the radar of global media, but is actually a tragedy that has the potential of spawning broad, devastating consequences. Iran has been hosting between 3 and 4 million Afghans, of whom only 1 million are registered refugees with legal status and entitlement to government support. Afghans in Iran have faced discrimination on different levels, and unequal access to healthcare services is one of them. For decades, international organizations have been offering financial assistance to Iran to subsidize its support for the Afghan...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Multiculturalism is a treasured British asset, and people of diverse national, ethnic and religious backgrounds have historically contributed to the British society at the same time as benefiting from the economic, social and educational opportunities it has been offering to its residents equally. Some scholars assert that British multiculturalism has retreated, blaming the divisive Brexit debate for the regression of diversity in the United Kingdom; however, the country is still a conglomerate of citizens representing nearly every nation, racial group and faith in the world, living in harmony despite their differences. Some sources argue that the first wave of migrants to the contemporary British Isles...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Media headlines these days are invariably dominated by developments surrounding the global outbreak of COVID-19 that first surfaced in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and was declared a “pandemic” by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. The deadly virus, which shares many symptoms with regular influenza, has affected over 2oo countries and territories, claimed nearly 132,000 lives and has triggered unprecedented shutdowns, cancellation of events and gatherings, confined students and clerical workers to homes and prompted many governments to impose national quarantines. SARS-CoV-2 is the name given to the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 is the disease associated with...

Kourosh Ziabari - Responsible Statecraft: Like much of the world, Iran is also engulfed by the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Thus far, 4,232 people have died and more than 60,000 Iranians have contracted the virus. The country is the epicenter of the disease in the Middle East. Aside from its health impacts, the noxious pandemic has had a clear message for the Iranian leadership: Iran needs viable international partnerships, and to alleviate adversities of this magnitude, it has to disentangle itself from isolation and be part of the international community. Evidently, there are ultra-conservatives and hardliners in Iran, whose vision for the future of Iran is the establishment of an “Islamic North Korea,” bereft...

Youth Time International Movement is officially opening the application call for participants for its International Youth Summer School 2020. The event will take place in Reykjavik, Iceland from June 25-30, 2020. The theme this year is: Future Skills for Workplace Sustainability: Preparing for Transition. Organized in partnership with the University of Iceland and City of Reykjavik, it will gather together nearly 90 attendees, experts and trainers from all over the world with the aim of discussing ideas and solutions to some of the most prevalent youth issues. The application call will close on April 24, 2020. Results will be announced on May 1, 2020. All the information on the...