Travel reports
My work as Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation to the Arabian Peninsula is sometimes a tightrope walk. You can read why in my report on our recent mission to the United Arab Emirates:
A crackdown on women’s rights, violence, a climate of fear and a humanitarian crisis: Afghanistan is in a sorry state after the Taliban took over. I met with activists, journalists, women’s rights defenders – and also with Taliban representatives.
I travelled to Iraq at the end of March 2022. After music had been virtually eradicated from the city for a long time, the Mosul Traditional Music Festival was now taking place. Learn more about my trip in this interview:
Afghan women and MPs want to establish a parliament in exile in Greece: reason enough for me to pay them a visit. The topic of arms exports and the new traffic light coalition in Germany also played a major role in my trip.
Despite Corona, I was able to visit the Gulf region again. Read more about my visit to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq in this article!
In October and November, for about two weeks, I visited Baghdad, Erbil and Mosul in Iraq as well as Qamishli and Hassakeh in Northeast Syria. I met with activists, parliamentarians, ministers, military leaders and diplomats. Find out more here
Im Dezember war ich das erste mal in offizieller Funktion als Europaabgeordnete unterwegs in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, und zwar zu Gast beim Landesverband der Europa-Union.
Just as I planned my visit, another round of protests sparked in the Middle East: Anti-government protests resurfaced in Algeria. Critical voices by Egypt’s youth against the government were suffocated in September in a fierce clampdown with thousands detained. In October, young people in Iraq and Lebanon took to the streets calling for political reforms and an end of corruption.
A day before I arrived in Iraq, the Lebanese Prime Minster had resigned following weeks of protests. While people in Lebanon were celebrating in the streets, Iraqi security forces continued to kill people in the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere. Over the past month more than 250 of the largely peaceful protesters have died. Here is one of the few English articles about the protest.
