ADF Will Engage NGOs to Promote Democracy

by Gulf Times

The Arab Democracy Foundation (ADF) will seek to engage the Arab NGOs committed to the civil work and peaceful exchange of power, to achieve its mission of promoting democracy in the Arab countries, newly- appointed ADF Secretary General Mohsin Marzouq has said.

Addressing a press conference held at the National Human Rights Committee, Marzouq, who is also a Tunisian rights activist and expert at the Arab Human Rights Institute, said the newly-founded Doha- based foundation would seek to establish partnerships with the civil societies and rights groups in the region to promote democratization in the region. “We will seek the help of the rights groups, centers and activists to monitor situation of the human rights in their respective countries. We will provide them the required support and work as a house of experience for them,” he said.

Posted on: 04/04/08

Stability Vital to Future of Gulf

by Samir Salama (Gulf News)

Gulf countries should adopt a model of a civilian state—not a secular or religious one—that guarantees full liberties for their citizens, academics told a conference here on Wednesday.

Dr. Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said: "We must continue to pursue political reform and expand opportunities for participation to preserve political stability. Since the birth of the UAE in 1971, the region has witnessed consecutive conflicts and crises. Therefore, stability is vital to building a better future."

Posted on: 04/04/08

HRW Urges Saudi to Protect Child Suspects

by Agence France Presse

Human Rights Watch called on Saudi Arabia to protect children suspected of criminal offenses from abuses during interrogation and trial, in a report released on Tuesday. …

HRW said it had documented the "routine" arrest in Saudi Arabia of children "for such ‘offenses’ as begging, running away from home or being alone with a member of the opposite sex."

Posted on: 04/04/08

Egypt Police Detain 51 Brotherhood Members

by Aziz El-Kaissouni (Reuters)

Police detained 51 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful opposition group, in dawn raids in several provinces on Thursday, security sources said.

The Brotherhood, which seeks an Islamic state through non-violent and democratic means, confirmed the arrests on its website and said they had occurred in six provinces.

Posted on: 04/04/08

The Future of Democracy in the Middle East

“The failure of democracies to take hold in Gaza and Iraq justify both the 1984 declaration by Samuel P. Huntington and the argument a decade later by Gilles Kepel, a prominent French scholar and analyst of radical Islam, that Islamic cultural traditions may prevent democratic development.”
–David Bukay, professor of Middle East Studies, University of Haifa, “Can There Be an Islamic Democracy?” Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2007

VS.

“Democracy is hugely important. I think that we can now safely conclude that military power, external military power, is perhaps not the best way to promote democracy in the Middle East. In fact, if anything, it can be a hostage to fortune. My own personal belief is that democracy will come to the Middle East, but it has to be locally owned and it has to be locally driven. And we are seeing some of those movements emerge, and we ought to support them."
–Navtej Dhillon, director, Middle East Youth Initiative, The Brookings Institution, speaking in a series on “Boosting Smart Power: The Role of the United States in the Middle East,” February 14, 2008