The Doha Roundtable on Democracy in the Middle East and North Africa January 9-10, 2011 Doha, Qatar Agenda | Participants | Documents

Roundtable Agenda

The roundtable, organized by the International Steering Committee of the Community, the Council for a Community of Democracies, the Arab Democracy Foundation, and the civil society preparatory meetings of the 2011 Forum for the Future, identified problems of democracy in the region and prepare recommendations to share with the governments of the Community of Democracies (CD) for action by those governments. The report of this roundtable will contribute to the CD Ministerial declaration to be issued in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2011, and will be communicated to the CD’s Convening Group, the Permanent Secretariat to the CD, and the CD Working Groups.

Sunday, January 9, 2011
10:00 AM	Welcoming Remarks
	His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Rumaihi, Assistant to the Foreign Minister for Follow Up Affairs and Chairperson of the Permanent Committee for the Organization of Conferences; Chairperson of the International Conference on New or Restored Democracies Movement VI
	Mohsen Marzouk, Secretary-General of the Arab Democracy Foundation
	Robert LaGamma, Council for a Community of Democracies
10:30 AM	Participant Introductions
11:00 AM	The Community of Democracies Process and Preparations for Vilnius
	Ambassador Ina Marčiulionytė, Chief Coordinator of the Community of Democracies
	Paul Graham, Chairman of the International Steering Committee
	Robert LaGamma, Council for a Community of Democracies
12:00 PM	Discussion
01:30 PM	Lunch
03:30 PM	Public Perceptions toward Democracy in the MENA Region
	Chair: Rogaia Abu Sharaf, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
	Mohamed Younis, Gallup Center
	Fares Braizat, Director of the Public Opinion Program at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies
04:30 PM	Enabling and Protecting Civil Society in the Region | Review of Regional Developments
	Chair: Slaheddine Jourchi, President of Jahedh Forum
	Amr Hamzawy, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
	Emad Shahin, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
	Mark Farha, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
6:00 PM	Close
Monday, January 10, 2011
9:00 AM	A New Initiative: Toward an Arab Democracy Charter
	Chair and Speaker: Mohsen Marzouk, Arab Democracy Foundation
	The Essential Elements of a Democracy Charter: The Experiences in Africa and the Americas
	Paul Graham, Executive Director of the Institute for Democracy in Africa
	Jorge Sanin, Organization of American States
10:00 AM	Coffee Break
10:30 AM	Three Initiatives from the Arab Region
	Chair: Emad E. Shahin, Notre Dame University
	The Citizenship (MUWATANA) Campaign | Hoda Khatib Chalak, OPAC and Local Implementer of the Campaign on behalf of the Arab Civil Society Coalition for Citizenship
	The Partnership Document | Amine Ghali, Program Director of Al-Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center
	The Casablanca Call for Human Rights and Democracy | Radwan Masmoudi, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy
11:30 PM	Special Themes to be Addressed in an Arab Democracy Charter
	Problems of Gender Equality in the Region
	Chair: Nabila Hamza, Foundation for the Future
	Wajeeha Al-Baharna, Vice President of the Bahrain Women’s Association
	Amira Sonbol, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
	Democracy Education
	Chair: Robert LaGamma, Council for a Community of Democracies
	Radwan Ziadeh, Director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights
	Reza Eslami Somea, Professor of Human Rights at Shahid Beheshti University, Iran
01:30 PM	Lunch
03:30 PM	Special Themes to be Addressed in an Arab Democracy Charter (Continued)
	Corporate Social Responsibility and Democratic Development
	Chair: Hoda Khatib Chalak, OPAC
	Gregg Willhauck, Center for International Private Enterprise
	Amer Khayatt, Director of the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization
04:30 PM	Coffee Break
05:00 PM	Creating a Process to draft a Charter and establish a timeline
05:30 PM	Preliminary Review of Recommendations to be Presented to the CD
	Mohsen Marzouk, Secretary-General of the Arab Democracy Foundation
	Paul Graham, Chairman of the International Steering Committee
	Robert LaGamma, Council for a Community of Democracies
07:00 PM	Conclusion of Roundtable

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