Gianluca Eramo,
for No Peace Without Justice
Thank you, Mr Chairman,
It is an honour for No Peace Without Justice to be present to this third meeting of the Forum for the Future.
Over the last two years, this forum has seen tremendous change of scope and format. The process is moving steady, and represents an important achievement. All the involved parties are working together towards the fruitful interaction between Governments and non-State actors within the region. No Peace Without Justice supports this fruitful interaction and is committed to reinforce it.
At the first meeting of the Forum in Rabat in December 2004, we attended a “parallel” forum. It was on that occasion that together with our partner governments and their civil society counterparts we agreed that the “parallel” formula was not enough.
Our challenge then, the objective we had set for ourselves as partners was to establish a peer-to-peer dialogue format for interaction between governments and non-state actors, between G8 and the region, and other partners.
I should recognise in particular the Government of Morocco, host to the First Forum, who has been 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 Rabat Colloquium of October 2005 co-hosted by the Governments of Morocco and Italy and organised by No Peace Without Justice in partnership with the NGO Maroc 2020 was and still is a milestone in constructive interaction between governments and non-state actors in the Region, an example of how consensus can be reached even on politically sensitive issues: the - Colloquium - pioneered - successful – civil society - participation side-by-side with governments - in a multilateral 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 the ministerial session.
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.
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.
That was our challenge then. 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, and 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.
Establish a method and a practice of continuous dialogue between non state actors and Government institutions.
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.
Allow me, Mr Chairman, to introduce our delegation to this Senior Officials meeting:
First of all, those members of the No Peace Without Justice DAD delegation who -for one reason or another- could not make it today: from Egypt, Mr Saad Eddin Ibrahim, representing our partner the Ibn Khaldun Centre; from Palestine, Mr Riad Malki, representing our partner Panorama; from Morocco, Mr Ali Belhaj, representing our partner Maroc 2020. Also, Ms Amal Basha from Yemen, representing our partner Sisters Arab Forum could not make it, but is highly represented here by our Ms Sabrah, of Sisters Arab Forum of Yemen. With her, allow me Mr Chairman also to introduce the other members of the No Peace Without Justice delegation who could make it: I would like to introduce Mr Emad Yusef, of International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), who is our partner in our endeavours this year. Also, I would like to introduce Mr Mohsen Marzouk, who is the coordinator of one of the most concrete examples of the results that the DAD has had the honour of assisting, the Al Kawakibi Democracy Centre.
The DAD may not have been the “dad” (or the “father”), of the Centre, but we would like to think that it has been at least “Mid-Wife”. Finally, it is my honour to introduce, Ms Rola Dashti, our partner in Kuwait, and in fact I would ask her if she can say a few words on her perspectives and political challenges of the coming year.
With your permission, Mr Chairman, I would like to yield the remainder of my time over to her.
Rola Dashti (Kuwait),
Member of the No Peace Without Justice DAD delegation
Thank you Mr Chairman, Excellencies,
Since the inception of this forum at the end of each meeting our MENA government are making good commitments, however their accomplishments are still minor and we still lag behind the fulfilment of the Rabat declaration, let alone other declarations that we signed.
At the democratic front, for example, there is no question that our MENA region has made some advances in political participation through elections that allowed some space for freedom of expression for candidates. During this year for instance, we witnessed Presidential Elections in Yemen, Historical elections in Kuwait, where women participated as candidates and voters for the first time, and in Bahrain, where the opposition has joined and participated in elections.
However, Democracy is not only elections: it is about good governance, accountability, effective participation of all society stakeholders; its about the ability of citizens to think freely, speak, freely and be able to work freely to reach her or his aspiration.
Today, the spread of democratic reform slogans by governments with some commitments here and there is not enough. We need a measurable action-oriented partnership plan, with milestones, that will involve the three main pillars (Government, civil society and private sector) in its preparation and will ensure the effective participation of both gender – women and men – in its implementation.
Our MENA region is blessed with young population, full of energy, hope, determination, and expectation for peaceful and prosperous future.
It is our duty, as government and civil society, to ensure the full utilisation of these resources towards the development of our MENA region through real participation in the decision-making process, active engagement of women in public life, good governance with accountability and freedom of expression in Media. Our stake is high, none of us alone own our nations; we need to effectively work together in partnership to ensure the survival of our societies from extremist ideologies and terrorism, and the time is now and not “in the future”.
