On the sidelines of the first Arab Justice Conference, which was organized by the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession in the Lebanese capital Beirut during the period from 14 to 16 June 1999, a special meeting was held between Arab non-governmental organizations to study the mechanisms for forming an alliance of Arab non-governmental organizations in order to establish the court, and in response to the recommendation of the general session held within the activities of the conference, which concluded with the necessity of establishing an Arab organization in order to promote the idea of the court and address the relevant authorities in the Arab countries in order to sign and ratify the Rome Statute establishing the court… The participants decided to establish the Arab Alliance of Non-Governmental Organizations in order to establish the court… In this context, the Coordinating Committee for the Alliance was formed, which included the organizations mentioned in the following table:
1- Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession – Egypt
2- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies – Egypt
3- Legal Studies and Information Center – Egypt
4- Amnesty International (Tunisia Branch) – Tunisia
5- Kuwait Lawyers Association, Women’s Issues Committee – Kuwait
6- Civil Society Forum – Yemen
7- Moroccan Organization for Human Rights – Morocco
8- Palestinian Center for Human Rights – Palestine
9- Democracy Development Group – Egypt
10- Egyptian Organization for Human Rights – Egypt
11- Arab Commission for Human Rights – Syria “Headquartered in France”
12- Moroccan Organization for Human Rights – Morocco
13- Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights (LAW) – Palestine
14- Yemeni Writers and Authors Union – Yemen
15- Balance “Law Group for Human Rights, and the International Institute for Women’s Solidarity” Jordan
16- Arab Archives Foundation – Jordan
17- Alternative Development Studies Center – Egypt
18- Jordanian Jurists Association – Jordan
19- Algerian League for Human Rights – Algeria
20- Arab Institute for Human Rights – Tunisia
21- Yemeni Studies and Research Center – Yemen
22- Salah Al-Hujailan Consulting Office – Saudi Arabia
The tasks of the Coordination Committee were determined in light of several axes, the most important of which was developing an action plan for the Alliance that included at that time issuing publications and brochures and organizing the necessary workshops to provide a complete picture to Arab public opinion about the importance of establishing the International Criminal Court…
The Alliance’s objectives and strategy:
- Calling on Arab governments to ratify the Rome Statute.
- Coordinating the efforts of Arab non-governmental organizations with the aim of creating a public opinion supporting the establishment of the International Criminal Court.
- Informing citizens, civil society institutions and political parties about the importance of the Court and its role.
- Calling on Arab jurists to discuss the Court’s papers and study how to benefit from them at the Arab level.
- Supporting the media and information aspect for non-members of the Alliance regarding the Court.
