Beirut is witnessing a major step towards establishing the International Alliance for Peace and Development 

Maat signed a cooperation protocol with Volunteers Without Borders, Lebanon

Akil: Volunteers Without Borders is an important addition to the coalition Issa: Our goals coincide with the goals of the coalition

In a major step towards establishing the International Alliance for Peace and Development, the Lebanese capital Beirut witnessed, on Monday, November 6, 2017, the signing of a cooperation protocol between the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights (Egypt) and Volunteers Without Borders (Lebanon). The lawyer in cassation, and on behalf of Volunteers Without Borders, its head, the international human rights expert, Riad Issa, was witnessed by a group of heads of Lebanese human rights societies, activists and media figures, in addition to members and volunteers of Volunteers Without Borders.

For his part, Ayman Aqil said that the Maat Foundation took the initiative last September to call for the establishment of the coalition, which witnessed the response and welcome of a large number of civil society organizations in the Arab, European and African surroundings, and a number of cooperation protocols had already been signed with Tunisian, Greek, and Yemeni organizations. In the past weeks, these efforts culminated in the accession of one of the largest Lebanese organizations to the coalition, adding that Volunteers Without Borders is an important addition to the group of founders of the alliance, and Aqeel expected that the official launch of the coalition will take place during the first quarter of 2018.

Mr. Riad Issa, President of Volunteers Without Borders, welcomed the joining of the coalition, indicating that his foundation seeks primarily to spread the values, principles and concepts of volunteering and its development, and it is based in its work on a rule that considers volunteering as a means of solidarity and solidarity between people and peoples, and it is the behavior that helps a person to exercise his humanity through Giving, helping, support, providing service, advice and action. He added that these values converge with the core of the alliance’s idea, goals and objectives.

The protocol signed between Maat and Volunteers Without Borders stipulated the two parties' determination to implement activities aimed at achieving the goals of the International Alliance for Peace and Development, which are to improve human rights conditions and confront attempts to undermine peace and violence, terror and intimidation, and to work effectively through international, regional and national forums and mechanisms to stop the spread of these practices. Those that oppose human values and threaten world peace, and call for improvement of public policies related to supporting peace and countering violence, terrorism and extremism.

It is worth noting that the International Alliance for Peace and Development stems from the ground of the moral responsibility of civil society organizations in peacemaking, and the human rights values that have been agreed upon by the world since 1948 and included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, then expressed in detail the package of human rights conventions and covenants adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, in succession. The coalition will include organizations interested in issues of peace, democracy, human rights and countering extremism and terrorism across the world.