NPWJ DELEGATION PARTICIPATED IN THE FORUM FOR THE FUTURE SUBMINISTERIAL MEETING HELD IN DUBAI

Dubai, 9 June 2008


A delegation of No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) attended the subministerial meeting of the Forum for the Future, which took place on 9 June 2008 in Dubai (UAE). The Forum for the Future is the annual meeting of G8 and broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) countries, whose aim is to bring together willing governments, political leaders and civil society representatives from countries in the bMENA Region, G-8 countries and others with the aim to favour a collaborative and transparent environment among these fundamental elements of society.
 
The meeting saw the participation of more than 150 government and civil society representatives, to discuss political reforms, freedom of expression, women empowerment, education and environment issues.
 
The NPWJ delegation was composed by prominent non-state actors from the Region, among which Mr Bakhtiar Amin, President of the International Alliance for Justice, from Iraq; Ms. Amal Basha, Chair of the Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights, from Yemen; Professor Hoda Chalak, Chair of the Civil Society Initiative, and Ms. Brigitte Chelebian, Director of Justice Without Frontiers, from Lebanon; Ms. Rola Dashti, Chair of the Kuwait Economic Society, from Kuwait; Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim, director of the Ibn Kalhun Center, from Egypt and Mr. Mohsen Marzouk, Secretary General of the Arab Democracy Foundation, from Tunisia.
 
During the meeting, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) presented a document elaborated by the DAD Partners, aimed at identifying guiding principles for a stronger collaboration between governments and civil society of the Region, with a view to consolidate the rule of law, the respect of human rights and the development of democratic reform processes.
 
Since 2004 No Peace Without Justice has played an instrumental role, as civil society counterpart of the Italian Government, to coordinate the Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD) program - led by the governments of Italy, Turkey and Yemen and their respective civil society partners (NPWJ-Italy, TESEV-Turkey, HRITC-Yemen) - by acting as focal point for the other DAD partners’ activities, reinforcing the peer-to-peer nature of the DAD partnership and though a sustained DAD coordination process. The DAD program is designed to foster productive dialogue between civil society and governments of the MENA region.
 
The overall objective of the NPWJ MENA Democracy program is to promote democratic values, liberal institutions and open government through the development of political mechanisms of consultation that recognise non-state actors, NGOs and civil society as a legitimate and necessary counterpart for dialogue with State institutions on issues of democratic reform. The program is carried out both at national and at regional levels, in cooperation with several governments, non-governmental and institutional partners, aiming to develop effective and durable consultation and dialogue mechanisms on democratic reform.
 
Documentation