NPWJ Delegation participated in the Fifth Forum for the Future Ministerial Meeting in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, 18-19 october 2008

A delegation of No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) took part to the Fifth Forum for the Future Ministerial Meeting, held on 18-19 October 2008 in Abu Dhabi, under the co-chairmanships of the United Arab Emirates and Japan. The meeting saw the participation of high-level government delegations and 60 civil society representatives from G8 and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, as well as regional and international organizations and institutions, with the aim to examine the state of play of progress accomplished in the realm of political reforms and human rights promotion in the Region as well as prospects for co-operation between civil society governments on these issues.
 
The NPWJ delegation, which also contributed to the Civil Society Parallel Forum to be held in Dubai on 15-17 October, 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 Ministerial meeting, NPWJ introduced a document to define guiding principles for stronger dialogue and cooperation between governments and civil society of the MENA Region, with a view to consolidating the rule of law, the respect of human rights and the development of democratic reform processes.

The Partnership Document, which has been acknowledged by the Forum delegates and will be integrated in its final recommendations, is the result of a process of consultation promoted by NPWJ in the framework of the Democracy Assistance Dialogue Program, involving both governments and civil society from the G8 and the bMENA region. The document represents a tangible accomplishment of the principles and the methods that DAD partners contributed to foster inside the Forum the Forum for the Future process in the last five years, as the only intergovernmental bMENA forum where civil society is able to interact directly with regional governments and G-8 countries.
 
NPWJ will continue to promote the principle that dialogue and cooperation between governments and civil society in a peaceful, non-violent, legitimate, open, and constructive framework is a fundamental component of the democratic reform processes and to develop further cooperative work in these areas during the 2009 Forum for the Future, under the Italian G8 presidency.
 
Since 2004, No Peace Without Justice has played an instrumental role, as the civil society counterpart of the Italian Government, in coordinating the DAD program - led by the governments of Italy, Turkey and Yemen and their respective civil society partners (NPWJ-Italy, TESEV-Turkey, HRITC-Yemen) - by reinforcing the peer-to-peer nature of the DAD partnership through a sustained coordination process. The DAD program is designed to foster effective and durable consultation and dialogue mechanisms between civil society and governments of the MENA region on issues of democratic reform and human rights promotion.
 
Further information on the Forum can also be found on the dedicated website: www.forumforthefuture.ae

 
Documentation:
 
Partnership Document, presented by the DAD partners at the Fifth Forum for the Future, Abu Dhabi, 19 October 2008
 
Chair’s Summary, Fifth Forum for the Future, Abu Dhabi, 19 October 2008
 
Program, Fifth Forum for the Future, Ministerial Meeting, 18-19 October 2008