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Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD): Political Pluralism and Electoral Processes in the broader Middle East and North Africa
Program

Venice, 21-23 July 2005

Wednesday, 20 July 2005

 

Arrival of participants

 

21.00 Welcome Dinner hosted by NPWJ at “Monastery of San Nicolò”

 

 

 

Thursday, 21 July 2005

 

9.00 – 9.30              Registration

 

9.30 – 10.30            Welcome Remarks

Diego Vecchiato, Director, International Relations, Regione Veneto

Horst Fischer, President, EIUC

Message  from Hon. Gianfranco Fini, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy, read by Sergio Scarantino, Minister Plenipotentiary

Emma Bonino, MEP, founder of No Peace Without Justice

 

 

11.00 – 13.00          Introduction and Presentation of Panels

 

Chair:                      Georg Ulrich, Secretary General, EIUC

 

General introduction:                Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, Program Director, NPWJ

 

Introduction to the Panels:

Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Director, Khaldun Centre for Developmental Studies, Egypt

Panel I: Standards, Status and Role of Political Parties

Riad Malki, Director General, Panorama, Palestine

Panel II:  Electoral systems and rules, passive and active electorate, electoral monitoring

 

Said Essoulami, Director, Centre for Media Freedom in the MENA, Morocco

Panel III: Access to the Media for political parties and civil society organisations

 

 

13.00 – 15.00          Lunch

 

15.00 – 19.00          Panel I: Standards, status and role of Political Parties

 

Chair and Introductory Remarks: Saad Dine El Otmani, Secretary-General, Parti de la Justice et du Développement, Morocco

 

Discussant Guy Haarscher, Professor, Université Libre de Bruxelles, EIUC

Rapporteur: Mohamed Al-Tayeb, Chair, Committee for Human Rights, Liberties & Civic Organizations, Shura Council, Yemen

Interventions by: Bahey El Din Hassan, Director, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Egypt

Rana Ahmed Ghanem Al-Dubai, Chief, Cultural Division Unionist Popular, Yemen

Ellen Khouri, Consultant and Trainer, Human Rights and Democratisation, Jordan

Farid Ghadry, President,  Reform Party, Syria

Mohammed Zahi Mogherbi, Professor, Department of Political Science, Garyounis University, Benghazi, Libya 

Moshen Marzouk, Algeria Project Director, Freedom House, Tunisia

Akhtam Naisse, President, Committees for the Defence of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria

David French, Chief Executive, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, United Kingdom

Daoud Barakat, Board Member, SHAML Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Centre

Rend Rahim Francke, Executive Director, Iraq Foundation, Iraq

Mohamed Farid-Hassanein, Former Member of Parliament, Egypt

Elhabib Eddaqqaq, Professor of Law, Member, Political Office of Constitutional Union Party, Morocco

Gerard Philippe Latulippe, Resident Director, National Democratic Institute, Marocco

Salah Khalil, Businessman, Egypt

Al Sadig Al Saddig Abdelrahman Al-Mahdi, Former Prime Minister, Chairman, Umma Party, Sudan

Edward McMillan Scott, MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament

 

19:30                       Dinner hosted by NPWJ at the “Villa Mabapa”

 

 

Friday, 22 July 2005

 

9.30 – 13.00            Panel II: Electoral systems and rules, passive and active electorate, electoral monitoringChair and Introductory Remarks: Abdul Karim Al-Eryani, Secretary-General, People’s General Congress, Yemen

 

Discussant: Koen De Feyter, Professor, E.MA Academic Coordinator, EIUC

 

RapporteurAmin Baktiar, Former Minister of Human Rights, Iraq

Interventions by:Rola Dashti, Chair, Kuwait Economic Society

Hoda El-Khatib, Lawyer, Professor at Saint Joseph University, Organisation for Civil Act, Lebanon

Barbara Ibrahim, Board Member, Khaldun Center for Developmental Studies, Egypt 

Abdellah El Oualladi, President, Organisation Marocaine des Droits Humains, Morocco

Rhizlaine Benachir, Vice Coordinator, Joussour-Forum des Femmes Marocaines, Morocco

Ahmad Nader Nadery, Commissioner, Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Afghanistan

Emma Bonino, MEP, Head of the EU Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan, Italy

Amal Basha, Chair, Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights, Yemen

Shahida Jamil, Barrister-at-law, Advocate, High Court of Sindh, Former Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights, Pakistan

Hatoon al-Fassi, Professor, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Habib Jenhani, Professor, Human Rights and Science College, Tunisia

Mona Makram-Ebeid, Adjunct Professor, Political Science Department, American University in Cairo; President, Association for Advancement of Education, Egypt

Mohamed Abdul Malik Al-Mutawakil, Professor of Political Science, Sana'a University, Yemen

Jourchi Slaheddine, Vice-President, Tunisian League of Human Rights, Tunisia

Hassan Elsawaf, Businessman, Board Member, Khaldun Centre for Developmental Studies, Egypt

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, President, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Bahrain

Mohamed Farid-Hassanein, former Egyptian MP, Egypt

Bahey Eldin Hassan, Director, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Egypt

Ziad Majed, Project coordinator, IDEA "Democracy in the Arab World Project", Lebanon 

Rend Rahim Francke, Executive Director, Iraq Foundation, Iraq

Noureddine Ben Braham, MP, Algerian Parliament, Algeria 

Sabiha Gundogar, Program Officer, TESEV's Foreign Policy Program, Turkey

Munira Fakhro, Associate Professor, University of Bahrain, Bahrain

Aktham Naisse, Lawyer, President of C.D.F, Committees for the Defense of Democratics and Human Rights in Syria, Syria

Ali Belhaj, President, Maroc 2020, Morocco

Amina Bouayach, Vice-president, Organisation Marocaine des Droits de l’Homme, Morocco

Antonio Spinelli, Senior Program Officer, Electoral Processes, International IDEA, Sweden

Walid Salem, Coordinator, Middle East Citizens Assembly (MECA), Palestine

Salah Khalil, Businessman, Egypt

 

13.00- 15.00            Lunch

 

15.00 – 19.00          Panel III: Access to the Media for political parties and civil society organisations

 

Chair and Introductory Remarks: Hisham Kassen, Vice-Chairman and CEO, Al Masri Al Youm – Daily Independent, Egypt

Discussant:               Gabor Halmai, Professor, EIUC

 

Rapporteur:              Moshen Marzouk, Algeria Project Director, Freedom House, Tunisia

 

Allal Mourad, Coordinator, Non-Governmental Platform for the EuroMed Civil Forum, Tunisia

Reza Eslami Soema, Assistant Professor, Unesco Chair for Human Rights, Peace and Democracy, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Alireza Rabi, Chair, Middle East Citizen Assembly, Iran

Jourchi Slaheddine, Journalist, Vice-President, Tunisian League of Human Rights, Tunisia

Anna Barducci-Mahjar, Journalist, Il Foglio, Italy

Abdel Rahman Abu Arafeh, Director, The Arab Thought Forum, Palestine

Amina Bouayach, Vice-President, Organisation Marocaine des Droits de l’Homme, Morocco

Khaled Fouad Allam, Columnist, La Repubblica, Italy

Massimo Bordin, Director, Radio Radicale, Italy