This event was organized in Bahrain on 20 and 21 December 2006 and gathered participants from
Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Yemen, either representatives of NGOs or acting in their individual capacity.
FIDH has already organized a series of activities related to the ratification and implementation of the Rome Statute establishing the ICC in the Arab region since 2004. The Manama seminar constitutes a follow-up on these activities and was organized by FIDH at the request of the participants in order to strengthen the regional efforts for the ratification of the Rome Statute.
Obstacles to ratification in each targeted country were identified and the participants, in order to overcome them, agreed on the following:
– Establishing a Gulf Coalition for the ICC
– Establishing a Steering Committee composed of representatives from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Yemen.
– The following persons / NGOs agreed to form this Steering Committee: Abdulla Alderazi (Bahrain Human Rights Society), Nasser Burdestani (Amnesty International-Bahrain), Dr Najeeb Al Nuaimi (lawyer Qatar), Anwar Rasheed (Journalist, Kuwait), Dr. Adel Al Ghanim (Saudi Arabia) and Amal Basha (Sisters Arabic Forum, Yemen).
– The Steering Committee will define its work plan and elaborate the strategies of the coalition, including the enlargment to new membership from the sub-region
– FIDH, CICC and other International NGOs are invited to support the newly established Gulf Coalition
– Media from the Gulf Region should promote the ICC and the activities of the Gulf coalition as well as national coalitions in the region.
The Gulf Coalition and FIDH call upon the States of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen to commit to the principles and objectives of the ICC and therefore to become States Parties to the ICC Statute in the near future.