Report of Activities 2007 - Club of Madrid

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CLUB DE MADRID: REPORT OF ACTIVITIES 2007SHARED SOCIETIES PROJECT, component: “Religion, Democratic Leadership andIntercultural Dialogue: Conference in Oslo on Religion, Politics and DemocraticDevelopment”In mid-May, a conference was held in Oslo on religion, politics and democratic development. Itwas co-organised by the Club of Madrid, the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights and theFoundation for Dialogue amongst Civilisations. The conference “Religion, Democracy andExtremism” brought together over forty political and religious leaders, academics andgovernment representatives from Western and Moslem countries. The host was the President ofthe Oslo Centre, Kjell Magne Bondevik, a priest and former Prime Minister of Norway as wellas a Member of the Club of Madrid, and the session was led jointly by Ricardo Lagos, Presidentof the Club of Madrid and former President of Chile, and Mohammad Khatami, formerPresident of Iran and a cleric. The participants included other Members of the Club of Madridsuch as the imam Al Sadig Al-Mahdi, former Prime Minister of Sudan, Abdulkarim Al-Eryani,former President of Yemen, Vigdis Finnbogadóttir, former President of Iceland and CassamUteem, former Primer Minister of Mauritius.The subject of the conference was the interaction between religion and politics, with a specialfocus being placed on the cases of Iran and Norway, both of which are confessional States, withvarious religious minorities and experience in governments under clerics. Three main topicswere covered: the interaction between religion and politics, extremism and tolerance.Discussions were also held on the limits for religion in politics and for politics in religion; theway in which religion and democracy can mutually strengthen each other; the connectionsbetween violence and religion; and common ground between Christianity and Islam in terms offreedom, equality, human dignity, tolerance and peace. The meeting closed with the signatureof the Oslo Declaration, in which the participants agreed on the need to find internationalinitiatives to reduce conflicts based on difference and to provide platforms for peacefuldialogue.This conference formed part of a broader, two-year project of the Club of Madrid on leadershipfor managing diversity and dialogue for democratic development, which has the support of theEuropean Commission, the Norwegian government and other donors. In parallel and togetherwith the Club of Madrid, the Oslo Centre and the Foundation for Dialogue amongstCivilisations are organising a two-year project focusing on the construction of tolerance andunderstanding amongst religions through dialogue and the exploration of common ground forco-existence. In the framework of this project, the organisers intend to convene a secondconference in Teheran in autumn 2008.DEMOCRACY AND TERRORISM PROJECT: Participation by the Club of Madrid inthe Annual Conference of the EastWest Institute (EWI) on global security (20-23February 2007)The EastWest Institute’s Fourth International Security Conference on “Protection of People,Economies and Infrastructure against Terrorism and Organised Crime” took place at the end ofFebruary in the headquarters of the World Customs Organisation in Brussels. The conferenceconcluded with a meeting on Democracy and Terrorism, organised in conjunction with the Clubof Madrid. Participants reviewed the Madrid Agenda, the main legacy of the InternationalSummit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, held in commemoration of the 11th Marchattacks in Madrid. The Madrid Agenda is based on contributions received from more than 200distinguished international experts and academics, Club of Madrid Members, Heads of Stateand Prime Ministers, and leaders of international organisations and NGOs, in a challenge to the10/17
CLUB DE MADRID: REPORT OF ACTIVITIES 2007international community to consider the causes behind the development of terrorism.The participants discussed the successes and failures of the last two years in the fight againstterrorism, refuted myths in the existing debate and provided new political choices forgovernments and international organisations for efficiently dealing with terrorism and violentextremists. They also reviewed the lessons learnt from recent attempts to build a democracy inAfghanistan, and analysed the delicate balance between security, freedom and civil freedoms.The participants included prestigious speakers and panel members, with former Heads of Stateand Prime Ministers, important academics and experts from all over the world, including theSecretary General of the Club of Madrid Fernando Perpiñá-Robert and Members Sadig Al-Mahdi, former Prime Minister of Sudan, Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister ofNorway, Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada, Mary Robinson, former President ofIreland, and Petre Roman, former Prime Minister of Romania. Also present were Michel Danet,Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation, John Edwin Mroz, President and ChiefExecutive Officer of the EastWest Institute, Peter Neumann, Director of the Centre for DefenceStudies at King’s College, London, and Louise Richardson, Dean of the Radcliffe Institute forAdvanced Study and Professor at Harvard University.RAPID RESPONSE FOR EFFECTIVE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP: “Leadership,consensus-building and support for national dialogue in East Timor”A delegation from the Club of Madrid, led by Valdis Birkavs (Latvia) Jennifer Mary Shipley(New Zealand), Fidel Ramos (Philippines) and Cassam Uteem (Mauritius) travelled to Dili inJuly on a 1-week mission with the objective of providing leadership support for democraticconsolidation in Timor-Leste.The delegation held working meetings with senior officials in the Timor government,representatives of civil society organisations such as the Church and young people’s andwomen’s groups, political party leaders, the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste, membersof the diplomatic community in Dili and representatives of donor agencies such as the EuropeanCommission, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to exchange impressions anddiscuss democratic, political and socio-economic challenges and opportunities in Timor-Leste.The Club of Madrid Members shared their own experiences of leadership and democratictransition and offered to talk with the Timor leaders about how to consolidate the Timordemocracy and future development.This was the fifth mission by the Club of Madrid to Timor-Leste within a project financed bythe European Commission. On previous occasions, help was provided for assessing thesituation and setting the project goals with the Timor leaders (November 2006), and diversityand peaceful coexistence in Timor were celebrated during the commemoration of the 10thanniversary of the granting of the Nobel Peace Award to the Timor leaders.RAPID RESPONSE FOR EFFECTIVE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP: Support forDemocratic Leadership in KosovoAs part of its Support for Democratic Leadership Project in Kosovo, the Club of Madrid sent afact-finding mission to Pristina from 9 to 12 February with collaboration from the Project ofJustice in Times of Transition and the East-West Management Institute. The mission was led bythe international expert from Sri Lanka, Ram Mannikalingam.11/17
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