ICNL’s July 2006 Conference on Civil Society Law in Beirut, Lebanon
PUBLISHED: JULY 9, 2006
From July 2 – 5, 2006, ICNL held a conference on Strengthening Civil Society in the Arab Region: Models for Legal Reform. The conference brought together several dozen leading lawyers, academics and civil society activists from throughout the Arab world to consider critical issues relating to the role of laws governing civil society in promoting a stronger civil society in the Middle East. Participants representing 12 countries had the opportunity to discuss a range of topics related to the laws governing civil society and law reform, and to make recommendations for action.
Conference participants attended interactive sessions and panels devoted to a variety of topics specific to the needs of Arab civil society organizations, including how to strengthen civil society in the Arab world, establish political will for legal reform, enhance civil society participation in government decision-making, and build on existing law reform initiatives in the Middle East.
The conference also featured presentations on the fellowship research projects of ICNL Middle East Associative Rights Senior Fellows Ziad Abdel Samad, Executive Director of the Arab NGO Network for Development (Lebanon); Sa’ed Karajah, Senior Partner at Karajah & Associates Law Firm (Jordan); and Mohamed Agati, Executive Manager of the Development Support Center for Consultancy and Training (Egypt).