Young Arab Voices Contribute to the Revitalisation of the Arab League

30th April 2012: The Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) and the British Council (BC) are pleased to announce a special dialogue forum with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAS), H.E. Dr Nabil El Araby, and in the framework of the ‘Young Arab Voices’ regional debating programme.

The Dialogue Forum, which will be hosted at the Arab League headquarters next to Cairo’s TahrirSquare, focuses on pan-Arab cooperation and the role of the Arab League in the new regional context. It has been timed to follow the Arab League’s historic Baghdad Summit of March 2012, through which the Arab states communicated that ‘in these particular times the Arab societies with them rightfully calling for freedom and prosperity are in need of a revitalised role for the LAS at the regional and international level, a role that meets their aspirations’.

Through the Dialogue, the LAS Secretary-General will share a stage for the first time with young debaters from Arab societies experiencing political transition and reform, including Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco and Palestine. BBC Arabic will moderate the debate, which will be broadcast to millions of people across the region. In addition, new media group Soilya will provide VoxPop videos on pan-Arab issues which have been filmed during the last month with youth across the other LAS countries, including in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Algeria.
The special dialogue forum has been organised in the framework of ‘Young Arab Voices’, the joint debating programme of the British Council and Anna Lindh Foundation, co-financed through the UK government’s Arab Partnership Initiative. Launched amidst the Arab uprisings of 2011, Young Arab Voices focuses on training young people in debating and advocacy skills, and has already led to the establishment of new debating clubs in schools, universities, cultural centres and NGOs across the Arab region.

To follow the live updates on Twitter and contribute to the online discussion use the hashtag: #LASdebate