Civil Society Parallel Forum – An Amazing Event

By Kirk Wolcott

I just returned from Sana’a, Yemen, and what I saw there was truly amazing.
The fourth annual Civil Society Parallel Forum, which precedes the multinational Forum for the Future planned for early next year, not only brought together 300 leading civil society activists from every country in the Arab world, plus some of the neighboring states, but the range and level of discussion was both surprising and exhilarating.

In the conference hall, participants freely talked about such controversial topics as winning their freedom of expression and improving the legal environment for non-governmental organizations.

In the six thematic workshops, participants exchanged strong views on difficult issues, such as increasing youth political participation and ensuring women’s full legal rights.

In the hotel lobby, participants openly debated about the need for radical changes in their respective education systems, labor markets, and private sectors.

Hearing all of this talk, as one of several international observers in attendance, I realized how such public pronouncements and debate would not have been possible in a venue such as this ten years ago, or maybe even five.

During the past three Forums for the Future – held 2004 in Morocco, 2005 in Bahrain, and 2006 in Jordan – Arab governments have gone from actively dissuading civil society participation to eventually permitting non-governmental representatives a place at the table.  Yet these gains were largely squandered last year at the Dead Sea, when civil society actors spent most of their time lamenting civil society’s circumstances or rehashing familiar positions on regional political issues, rather than developing effective strategies for holding their governments accountable to reform promises. 

Not so in Sana’a.  This time the conference organizers made sure proceedings remained pointed, practical, and professional.  The six thematic workshops led to a series of well articulated recommendations that will be presented at the upcoming Forum for the Future by 24 leading civil society actors – including six MEPI “alumni” – who were elected by the larger assembly.

The real challenge will come in turning all of this talk into action.  As one participant observed: “Our governments love making promises they rarely keep.  Look at freedom of expression: none of the recommendations we made at the third Forum for the Future have been adopted, and the situation in most of our countries has deteriorated since then.”

Toward this end, the participants went to work in Sana’a.  They presented a “Report on the State of Democracy in the Countries of the Middle East,” which details where governments have failed in their commitments.  They rolled out a strategy for monitoring government actions and publicly shaming those who fail to keep their promises in the future.  And they devised a plan with specific requirements for civil society organizations in an effort to sustain the momentum generated in Yemen.

Now, it is up to the government representatives at the Forum for the Future to maintain the momentum by taking on the challenge of addressing civil society’s demands.

Kirk Wolcott, Deputy Director of the MEPI Regional Office in Tunis, participated in the Forum for the Future conferences in Bahrain and Jordan.