HM King’s Arab Court Initiative Backed By 4th Summit Of Arab-South American Countries

The 4th Summit of Arab-South American Countries (ASPA) welcomed the initiative of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa to establish the Arab Human Rights Court. The two-day summit, which concluded on November 11th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, backed the pan-Arab court initiative which confirms and upholds Arab support for the principle of the rule of the law.

The initiative which was endorsed in the Doha Summit 2013, won the backing of the Arab Summit which convened in Kuwait in March 2014 and approved its basic law.

The final communiqué (the Riyadh Declaration) which was issued at the conclusion the 4th ASPA Summit welcomed the award which was bestowed on HM King Hamad by the Organization of Coexistence between Religions and Civilizations. The Riyadh Declaration saluted the award which acknowledges the contributions of HM the King, as well as his role in strengthening dialogue between religions and cultures; fostering mutual respect between all peoples and societies; and building bridges of confidences and the renunciation of hatred.

The statement also commended the Kingdom of Bahrain for hosting the Conference on Dialogue between Civilizations and Cultures (May 5–7 2014) and welcomed the results of the International Conference on Terror Finance, which was also held last year in Bahrain in November.

ASPA welcomed the hosting of a conference on protecting non-governmental institutions (NGOS) from terror-linked finance which will be held soon in Bahrain. It also backed the forthcoming ministerial conference on the implementation of the developments goals in Arab countries, set to be held on December 6–7 in Bahrain.