Solidarity Committee Backs Arab Civil Society Leaders

Freedom House, through its MEPI-funded New Generation of Advocates program, recently launched an International Solidarity Committee whose members are supporting civil society leaders in the region striving to promote democracy, human rights, and an independent media.

Toward this end, Freedom House has established mentoring relationships between members of the Solidarity Committee and a number of New Generation activists who are working for peaceful political change in the Middle East and North Africa. 

According to a Freedom House release, “former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights Melvin Levitsky is mentoring Egyptian social justice advocate Reham Welson to bolster a grassroots movement in Egypt, while former U.S. Ambassador Mark Palmer is connecting the Algerian head of a cultural organization, Noureddine Nesrouche, with American musicians who may participate in a benefit concert promoting peace and understanding through musical exchange.”

Meanwhile, the release said, “conflict management expert Chester Crocker is helping Algerian journalist Amel Blidi to develop a national reconciliation and peace initiative in Algeria, while in Europe, Freedom House is putting European Member of Parliament Jana Hybaskova in touch with Syrian human rights and democracy advocates whom she will meet with on an upcoming trip.”

Freedom House seeks additional members for the Solidarity Committee to connect with democracy and human rights advocates in the Middle East and North Africa, and those wishing for more information should contact: sweiss@freedomhouse.org.

Earlier this year the New Generation of Advocates program, which receives frunding from MEPI and other sources, selected and sent 17 fellows from North Africa on an exchange program to Jordan to strenghten their advocacy skills and then to Washington, DC, and Budapest, Hungary, to learn how governmental, nongovernmental, and media organizations function in democratic environments.

These emerging democratic leaders – who work as lawyers, bloggers, journalists, professors, and human rights activists – were placed in fellowships with nonprofit organizations in the United States and throughout Europe working on advocacy campaigns, press freedom, torture prevention, and community activism efforts.