Campaigning for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Democracy, the Rule of Law and International Justice
Third Forum for the Future
Niccolo’ Figà-Talamanca,
for No Peace Without Justice
Thank you, Madam Chair,
Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the delegation of No Peace Without Justice, we would like to express our sincere thanks and admiration to Jordan as a host country, for the outstanding organisation of this meeting, both on the point of view of hospitality, and from the point of view of the format and the substance, for their leadership on the program, to build on the successful Bahraini experience and take the process one year and one step further.
We also would like to thank the Governments that have offered to host the next session of the Forum for the Future, in cooperation with the Government of Germany. We would like to wish them a smooth organisational and political process, and we would like to assure them of our most committed cooperation in the coming twelve months.
Over the last two years, this Forum has seen tremendous change of scope and format. The process is moving steady; the format is evolving, and represents an important achievement.
It is an honour for No Peace Without Justice to be present to this third meeting of the Forum for the Future and we are grateful for the opportunity to say a few words of introduction to our discussion on the Democracy Assistance Dialogue process.
The exciting news at this Forum for the Future is that Morocco has expressed its willingness to join the Democracy Assistance Dialogue as a full partner. We very much welcome this interest and we are delighted to be working side-by-side with Morocco once again on this project. Morocco was already a true partner throughout this process, committing its own political capital, sharing with and along-side the partners the political risks, and hopefully sharing with us some of the rewards that this process can bring, in terms of dialogue, open government, transparency and pluralism.
The challenge of the DAD is to demonstrate that with constructive interaction between governments and non-state actors in the Region consensus can be reached even on politically sensitive issues. The Rabat Colloquium pioneered successful civil society participation side-by-side with governments in a multi-lateral regional forum, with discussion taking place in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect. The fruits were immediately evident at the last year Forum, hosted by Bahrain, where also thanks to our Bahraini partners, Governments, non-state actors, civil society, were there as partners to the whole meeting, including this ministerial session.
Now it is the time to give effect to the willingness expressed in the Rabat final statement to initiate a precedent of dialogue between governments and non-state actors, even on sensitive political issues, explore together the boundaries of the “red lines”, by transposing to the national political field, the same type of effective civil society, private sector, participation, in dialogue and consultation.
Together with all our partners, today we can bear witness that at a regional level the promise was fulfilled, thanks to the determination of both governments and non-state actors, within and outside the DAD partnership.
Madam Chair,
To paraphrase the intervention of our colleague from the United Kingdom, sometimes we in civil society think that we are the only ones who know how to fix everything, and that the answers lie within our midst. In fact, the reality is that we need to take governments with us, walk side by side, and take responsibility for the path, not simply point out where we think that things are going wrong. That was our challenge then, and in this forum this cooperation and consultation is embodied.
Our challenge now - the objective we hope to pursue with partners- is to transpose the willingness and the commitment of both governments and non-state actors, expressed at a regional level, inside the national political discourse, inside each countries political decision-making-process, transposing the same type of effective civil society consultation and participation in dialogue and in decision-making processes and implement the commitments into practice. Establish a method and a practice of continuous dialogue between non state actors and Government institutions.
Establishing a practice that we are satisfied can turn from a precedent to a habit, from a habit to a practice, from a practice to a sustainable and self-reinforcing policy.
We look forward, in close partnership with the Government of Italy, to work with any willing partner at this Forum, to explore how the precedent of dialogue can turn into a policy of consultation with civil society.