National Association for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms Its first step begins with building participatory relationships with African organizations

The National Association for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms held its virtual meeting with organizations and personalities in the African continent and some important personalities in the Middle East through the application of “Zoom” to discuss the challenges of civil work in Africa, which came under the title “A view of the future and seeing important experiences of civil society work in the region of Africa and the Middle East The meeting aimed to develop a future vision of the pivotal role of civil society within the continent and build bridges of cooperation between them to address the problems that the African continent has been facing throughout the ages through a number of axes, namely:
1 – The importance of the role that civil organizations play in Africa
2 – The most prominent problems faced by civil society organizations in Africa
The extent of harmonization of local legislation and the development of civil work
Continuity of civil work
– Interventions in the mechanism of civil work in Africa.
Media and a course in tarnishing the image of civil society organizations, especially human rights organizations.
– The ability of civil and human rights organizations to reach citizens and play the role of positive mediator between governments and peoples
3 – What are the most prominent proposals to reduce the problems that hinder civil work in Africa and the Middle East?
4 – The most important experiences of civil work in the Middle East and the Near East, to benefit from them within the African continent
The meeting witnessed a distinguished and effective presence of 20 organizations and public figures from several countries, namely Uganda, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Nigeria, Congo, Algeria, Angola, Morocco, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Benin, Tunisia, Mali, in addition to The participation of a number of personalities and organizations from outside the African continent from Bangladesh, Iraq, Jordan, and France to present their inspiring experiences there.
The event lasted about two hours and was moderated by Professor Walid Farooq, President of the National Association for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms, and Dr. Morisanda Koyate from Uganda, Executive Director of the African Countries Committee (IAC), who won the Nelson Mandela Prize for the year 2020, which was presented by nations. The United Every Five Years and Professor / Gladys McCamburi, President and Founder of the Raven Foundation for Human Rights in Kenya, Professor / Shady Abdel Karim, President of the Al-Haq Foundation for Freedom of Opinion and Expression and Human Rights from Egypt, and Professor / Joseph Aquinola is a journalist and trainer on freedom of opinion and expression in Nigeria.
The Iraqi Skilled Women Organization also participated in the interventions to present their distinguished experiences. Professor / Balsam Faleh Al-Tamimi, President of the Organization from Iraq, and Dr. Anemol Hawke, a member of the International Organization for Human Rights in Bangladesh.
The participants stressed the importance of the role of civil society in the process of economic, social and human rights reform in the African continent and the importance of looking at the inspiring experiences within Africa.
The attendees agreed to hold a consultative meeting during the coming period in order to set up mechanisms for cooperation and sharing between them during the coming period. It was also agreed on a number of recommendations indicated by the participants in the meeting, namely:
1- Examining local legislation within African countries that hinders the work of organizations and giving more space for work.
2 – Attention to the problems of African countries, such as poverty, education, democratic development, and freedom of opinion and expression within the African continent
3 – Establishing a framework for joint action between African organizations to transfer expertise and address problems on the African continent.
4- Communicating with the local media in order to stereotype civil society in Africa
5 – Developing and creating a lobby of African organizations to play their role in the universal periodic review mechanism of the International Council for Human Rights.
6- Capacity building for small local African organizations in Africa
7 – Communicating with international organizations operating on the African continent for sharing and cooperation