MENA Democracy: NPWJ urges for civil society participation to 2010 Forum for the Future in Doha

On 15 March 2010 No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) will participate in Doha, Qatar, in a civil society consultative meeting in preparation of the 7th Forum for the Future, the annual meeting of Governments and Civil Society of G8 and broader Middle East and North Africa (bMENA) countries, to be held this year under the co-presidency of Qatar and Canada. Participants of the Doha meeting will include civil society representatives from the Region, representatives of the Qatari and Canadian governments as well as of the US Department of State.

The meeting, organised by the Qatari National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) in cooperation with the Arab Democracy Foundation (ADF), will provide an opportunity to discuss and brainstorming on specific themes and initiatives to be implemented in the 2010 Forum for the Future program with the aim to promote political reforms and human rights in the Region as well as to foster co-operation on these issues between civil society and governments in a legitimate, open, and constructive framework.

NPWJ intends to reinforce a constructive environment for civil society that can be conducive to the preparation of the 2010 Forum for the Future. To this end, NPWJ is promoting continuous and inclusive consultation with all the parties involved in the organisation of the Forum’s activities, in order to facilitate a positive and fruitful dialogue between governments and civil society representatives, aiming at the development of proposals and goals that can be jointly agreed upon by the democracy advocates and governments of the bMENA Region.

For further information, please contact: Gianluca Eramo, email: geramo@npwj.org, phone: +32 2 548 39 29 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32 (0)2 548-3914.