Our Israel office in Tel Aviv, established in 1998, is a continuation of programmes that began in 1992. The office aims to promote Israeli democracy, debates about the Middle East conflict, and exchanges and dialogue between Israel and Germany.

Article seven of the Lebanese Constitution guarantees equality of rights, obligations and duties to all citizens. But women in Lebanon are still far away from having the same rights. This article explains how family, sect, and the government conspiring against the participation of women in the public sphere.

The gender-democratic principles of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, resolved when the Foundation was reestablished, are as relevant as ever. 

In this interview Dr. C. Kek Pung, founder and president of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights talks about the main problems in Cambodia: land grabbing, poverty, trafficking and corruption. Even the EU has not taken any action to prevent injustices of the system and is still importing Cambodian "blood sugar".

Nobody expects free and fair elections in Cambodia. Dr. C. Kek Pung from the NGO LICADHO explains the irregularities of the electoral process and risks people take when observing the elections.

Given the candidacy of so many sons of leading CPP politicians – having a son and a son-in-law of Hun Sen in parliament is among their aspirations – the ruling party can therefore fully concentrate on establishing a new Cambodian dynasty. It has little to do with a liberal democracy.

On June 19 the St.Petersburg based LGTB organization "Coming Out" was found guilty before court of operating as a "foreign agent". Olga Lenkova, head of communications for Coming Out, talks about the consequences of the verdict and the strong social and legal oppression that the Russian LGTB community is subjected to today.  

On June 20, 2013, the Heinrich Böll Foundation Israel, the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue held the conference 20 Years since the Oslo Accords - Success and/or Failure?. In advance of a comprehensive publication of contributions, we are pleased to present this analysis by Dr. Ephraim Lavie on the early foundation of obstacles in the Oslo negotiation process.

Dr. Ziad Majed is a Lebanese professor and political writer. The Syrian journalist Ahmad Silal talked with him about the international and Arab positions in relation to the Syrian revolution and the challenges that face it.

In wars, rape has been used as a tool to go beyond the physical and military defeat of the enemy, to subdue a society politically and morally. The present article, written by psycho-therapist Dr. Jamal Khalil Sobh, sheds light on the repeated war crime of rapes of women, including the recent tragic incidents in Syria.