As an attempt from Ramallah center for Human Rights Studies to deepening the concept of tolerance especially after the growing manifestations of internal armed conflicts in many countries of the Arab world, which resulted in a notable retreat in the culture of tolerance in the region, and in order to confront all manifestations of intolerance, RCHRS as well as many Arab capitals have announced Today the establishment of the Arab Network for Tolerance.

Following is the Founding statement for the Arab Network for Tolerance

Arab countries during the last two decades have witnessed foreign military assaults and internal armed conflicts negatively impacting on governments and peoples’ relations as well as those between the people of the one nation, severely risking the social fabric of these countries. During this phase, ethnic, sectarian and tribal allegiances were recharged by internal and external forces in order to fuel conflicts in many Arab countries and in others they were revived to deliberately bring about divisions pushing the Arab people into internal conflicts that could ultimately lead to civil wars.

These negative transformations have led people to line up on ethnic, sectarian and religions grounds in certain countries, and/or divisions were used in order to achieve personal or factional interests in others. These divisions and the negative manner by which they were employed have resulted in decreased margins of tolerance among the Arab peoples, and between peoples of the one nation. Political differences between conflicting parties, with the absence of democratic practices’ culture and the lack of true commitment to these principles, have led conflicting parties to violent clashes and to the use of force in some cases in settling their differences. During that same period, social relations witnessed major setbacks towards reviving tribal conflicts and an accelerated pace of eroding women and minorities’ rights.

Given the great risks of these negative transformations on the future of the Arab world, the future of its peoples and citizens, a number of civil society organizations and defenders of human rights and democratic values in many Arab countries, upon the initiative launched by Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies in Palestine, gathered to examine these transformations, and to seriously consider the possibility of forming a legal framework aimed at addressing the negative impacts resulting from these transformations, adopting programs which help in overcoming them and disseminating the culture, values and concepts of tolerance in local communities. Over the past two years a series of meetings were held in many Arab countries during which these transformations, their cause, their current consequences and their future dangers were analyzed. After extensive research and discussions, it has been agreed to establish the Arab Network for Tolerance.

The Arab Network for Tolerance is an Arab independent network gathering a number of human rights organizations and human rights defenders from among academics, writers, journalists, intellectuals and lawyers. It aims at reinstating respect to the culture of tolerance, defending democratic values and consolidating them on the societal level. The intellectual and legal basis and references of the Arab Network for Tolerance is the International Bill of Human Rights, related declarations and conventions, most importantly is UNESCO’s Declaration of Principles on Tolerance adopted in 1996, and the progressive humanitarian and civilizational heritage in the Arab world and worldwide.

As we announce the establishment of the Arab Network for Tolerance, we emphasize that the network seeks to achieve the following objectives:

First: Combat all forms and manifestations of violence and intolerance on the official and popular levels in the Arab countries and spread a culture of peace, tolerance and genuine democratic traditions;

Second: Stress the fact that the essence of tolerance is based on the principle of the right to be different; calling for the respect of this right, its application on the ground, defending the preservation of this right and nurturing a culture of respect for those who are different and supporting the positive aspects of this culture.

Third: Demand more margins of public freedoms as an essential component of establishing fundamental rights underpinning the value of tolerance, primarily the right to freedom of belief, be it religious or otherwise, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to organize and peacefully assemble and the right to political pluralism. These rights should be translated on the legal and legislative levels and we should struggle to achieve them on the ground.

Fourth: Remedy the religious rhetoric so as to become an essential mean of spreading the culture of tolerance and its values, renouncing all forms of incitement against those who are different and combating radicalism and religious and ideological extremism.

Fifth: Stressing the importance of equal rights for women, combating all forms of discrimination against them and enabling them to enjoy their rights as citizens. Equality is a fundamental right for women as human beings and is a main pillar of tolerance culture. In order to enable women to contribute to the dissemination of this culture and to deeply root it in their children, we must first allow women the opportunity to enjoy equal rights.

Sixth: Guide the various media outlets and utilize them in the best possible mean in order to create a public opinion hostile to extremist tendencies of any type or source, by promoting a culture of dialogue and acceptance of different beliefs.

Seventh: Eliminate all forms of partisan intolerance and incitement against those who have different political opinions by rethinking the existing political and party cultures generating intolerant political manifestations.

Eighth: Mobilizing civil society organizations in the Arab world to become more involved in spreading the culture and values of tolerance, combating all manifestations of intolerance and discrimination, and in criticizing and rectifying government performance to enhance human rights protection.

Ninth: Exerting more efforts in reconsidering social upraising, and adopting programs which enhance the culture of tolerance within the family, schools and universities. This would not be achieved without a drastic change in the educational system, especially in the preliminary stages, with emphasis on developing a culture of tolerance among students and developing curricula and teaching methods leading to the achievement of these goals.

Download News File