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Summary: NGOs and civil society groups met in Morocco, from February 15 to 19, to organise the Arab Regional Civil Society Forum on Children. The meeting brought together more than 200 participants from 21 Countries and 10 regional and international organisations. The meeting resulted in the The Rabat Declaration and Recommendations.
In the Rabat Declaration, the non-governmental and civil society representatives, who took part in the Forum emphasized the following: That they shall work in coordination and partnership with each other to utilize all their efforts, experiences and capabilities in the service of the best interests of childhood throughout the world, particularly in the Arab World, in order to activate the values inherent in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as a minimum upon which their combined will coincides with the will of the international community. That they shall urge regional and international organizations, as well as States, Governments and leaders world-wide, to be closely bound by the Convention and to lay down economic and developmental policies aimed at the well-being of children, insuring them safety, dignity, and equality, in an environment free from conflict, sanctions, and diseases. That they shall insist on children’s full participation and contribution to the fulfillment of the Civil Society’s objectives, out of the belief that there can be no building of children’s future except with them and through them. That they shall leave no stone unturned in urging Arab Governments to rise to their duty of safeguarding and guaranteeing the rights of children, adolescents and youth and in providing all the capabilities and mechanisms necessary for rehabilitating children and responding to their needs. That they shall renew their commitment to working towards lifting sanctions and boycotts, and to calling for the cessation of wars, armed conflicts and occupation and the alleviation the detrimental effects of these hardships on victimized children in Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, the Occupied Golan Heights, and other places.