Qatar to create "democracy centre" for Arab world
May 30, 2007
Times of Oman, Doha – Qatar, an absolute monarchy, said on Tuesday it was establishing a democracy centre for the Arab world, a region the United Nations says lacks basic human freedoms.
"The Arab Centre for Democracy will encourage the Arab region to adopt democratic culture," Sheikha Mouza Bint Nasser al Misnad, wife of the emir of Qatar, announced in Doha at the end of a forum on democracy in the Arab world, without giving further details.
A controversial report issued by the UN Development Programme in April last year sharply criticised a regression of basic human freedoms in Arab countries, warning that repression was stifling the opportunity for an overall "Arab renaissance."
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