Doha Declaration for Democracy and Reform, June 3–4, 2004
(http://www.npwj.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1715)
The Doha Declaration for Democracy and Reform, although not as detailed or comprehensive as the Civil Forum letter, offers a bold formula for reforming the Arab world. The declaration was issued at the end of a two-day conference conceived by Egyptian reformer Saad Ed-Din Ibrahim and hosted by Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center. The Qatari government also supported the conference. More than one hundred participants from across the Arab world, representing a broad spectrum of journalists, activists, and politicians, signed the declaration.
The Doha Declaration opens by stating that “democratic change has become a nonnegotiable choice which cannot be postponed.” The statement asserts that no inherent contradictions exist between Arab culture, Islam, and democracy, noting that two-thirds of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims already live in democracies. It also admonishes against “hiding behind the necessity to resolve the Palestinian question before implementing political reform.” It later calls on Arab governments to cease their exploitation of the Iraq and Palestine questions to postpone political reform.
The proposal’s key demands include calls for constitutional reforms that will transform absolute monarchies into constitutional monarchies and circumscribe presidential powers in republics. The declaration also calls for free and fair elections; the abolition of emergency laws, special courts, and extrajudicial procedures; an independent judiciary; guarantees for the freedom of expression and association; greater political participation for women; and unrestricted freedom to form political parties. The proposal also demands the withdrawal of Arab militaries from politics, underscoring the need for civil-military transition. The initiative’s follow-up mechanisms include the slated establishment of an Arab Democracy Watch based in Qatar. The group will monitor and follow-up on Doha Declaration proposals as well as other Arab reform initiatives such as those of Beirut (see above), Alexandria, and Sana’a (see below).
The initiative is notable for two key innovations that, if implemented successfully, may make significant contributions toward Arab reform promotion. First, the Doha Declaration calls for the creation of “national pacts” that would delineate the principles of political participation, establishing rules of engagement for the political arena. Fear that Islamist opposition groups will exploit any genuine political opening to seize power via elections and to implement antidemocratic measures (e.g., shari’a law) constitutes a key obstacle to moving forward with serious political reform. Essentially, these charters or pacts could lay out the “rules of the game” and establish an agreed-upon set of values and guarantees endorsed across the political spectrum, thereby opening the way for freer political participation within the confines of these universal guarantees. Equally important, these pacts could help consolidate and strengthen reform advocates, bridging the divide between secular and moderate Islamist reformers. By rallying these disparate pro-reform elements, the region’s inchoate reform movement could gain important momentum. While the national pact concept is still quite vague and in need of further development, it nonetheless offers an innovative approach to a key challenge for reformers.
Second, the declaration provides an important opening for addressing the issue of civil-military transition, a pivotal question for many of the region’s governments as they embark on the path of reform. In many Arab countries, particularly those with militarybacked governments, the role of the army as defined by their respective constitutions has been kept purposefully vague. In countries such as Algeria or Syria, the military and its related security services typically serve the narrowly defined interests of the regime in power. The army is often used to ensure against the rise of a powerful domestic opposition rather than to safeguard national sovereignty against foreign threats. By raising the issue of the military’s role in the political arena, the Doha Declaration could help to initiate a much-needed dialogue within countries on defining the future role of the military.
Finally, the Doha conference’s participants included a number of representatives reflecting a broad range of political views and issues. Women’s groups, media organizations, human rights groups, and a variety of political parties and other civil society organizations attended the conference. The conference also placed particular emphasis on the participation of both women and youth, two key constituent groups who will be critical to the success of any reform effort in the region. |
