News

More than one hundred representatives of Arab governments, political parties, trade unions and civil society assembled in Cairo on January 16 and 17, 2008 for a regional conference to discuss ways and means to fill the basic right of freedom of association with life. Entitled "Promoting Government-Civil Society Dialogue and Reforming Laws," the event brought together delegates from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan and the host country Egypt. They met under the patronage of Amr Musa, Secretary General of the League of Arab Sates, who also provided the venue for the political gathering.

The second major event in a row, this conference at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League is part of a three year project cosponsored by the European Commission. The project aims at promoting dialogue between the governments, civil society, trade unions and political parties in the important area of reforming legislation concerning the freedom of association and bringing this into harmony with generally accepted international standards.

It is a joint project of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty and her Arab partner organizations:

- Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Cairo
- Arab Center for the Development of Rule of Law and Integrity, Beirut
- National Cntre for Human Rights, Amman
- Coalition for Integrity AMAN, Ramallah

In his opening address, the Commissioner for Civil Society of the Arab League, Taher Masri, said: “It is time to unite, on an Arab level, and formulate a common language and understanding around these three laws.” Dr. Ronald Meinardus, Regional Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, noted: “A democratic society without freedom of association is unthinkable.”

At the end of two days of engaged and, at times, passionate debates, the participants agreed on a detailed list of policy recommendations. With the approval of the representatives of the Arab League, these recommendations will be communicated to the stake holders and promoted in strategically important target groups in the respective Arab countries.

For an update of the project visit www.arab-laws-reform.net