| INTRODUCTION From 8-9 November 1998, a Civil Society Forum on the progress in implementation of the World Summit for Social Development in the Arab States was held in Amman, Jordan. The Forum was attended by representatives of civil society organisations from 17 countries in the region. The forum was held under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Talal, Chair of the Queen Alia Fund for Social Development and Honorary Human Development Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Forum was convened by the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and co-organised by its Jordanian National Committee the Queen Alia Fund for Social Development (QAF). The Civil Society Forum was part of a series which ICSW is organising around the world before the special review of implementation of the Copenhagen agreements which will be conducted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in June 2000. The General Assembly review will be held in Geneva five years after the Summit and has become known as Copenhagen + 5. It will concentrate on accelerating progress with implementation of the existing agreements, not on negotiating new agreements. The Arab States Forum was held over two days and was a mixture of plenary and workshop sessions. Speakers included leading governmental and non-governmental experts. A number of keynote speeches are included in this report alongside the main recommendations arising out of the workshops. The recommendations will be used to promote civil society priorities in the UN’s official preparatory process for the Copenhagen + 5 review. Vote of thanks ICSW and the QAF are sincerely grateful to the Arab States Bureau of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government whose generous financial support made this Forum possible. ICSW and the QAF would like to thank Dr Aida Najjar, the Chief Rapporteur of the Forum for her hard work and dedication in completing this report. |
