CIVIL
SOCIETY CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS REFORM IN THE ARAB WORLD
The
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is organising a conference in
Morocco in December that will bring together government officials and civil
society groups from Arab countries to discuss new initiatives for promoting
human rights and democratic reform in the region.
Sponsored
by the European Commission and the World Bank, and organised in partnership with
the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights, the International Federation for
Human Rights and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, the conference
will take place in Rabat from 8 to 9 December 2004.
CIHRS
says it hopes the conference will spur participants to initiate a "new
mechanism" for enhancing human rights and advocating for political reform
in the Middle East and North Africa. It adds that the conference will give civil
society groups a rare chance to enter into a dialogue with government officials.
The
timing of the conference is not coincidental. It will run alongside the G8 Forum
for the Future, a summit aimed at strengthening political, economic and social
ties between the Group of Eight nations and the Middle East and North Africa.
The recommendations of the CIHRS conference will be presented at the G8 Forum
for the Future.
For
more information, contact CIHRS: 9 Rustom St, Garden City , Cairo, Egypt, P.O.
Box 117, Maglis El-Shaab, Cairo, Egypt; Tel: +202 7951112 / +202 7946065; Fax:
+202 7921913; Email: info@cihrs.org; Website: http://www.cihrs.org
Visit:
-G8
Declaration on Middle East Reform:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3793305.stm
-BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3789241.stm
(Source:
IFEX COMMUNIQUE, VOL 13 NO 48 | 30 NOVEMBER 2004)
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