National Interest Foundation

U.S. Policy on Human Rights in the Middle East
2019-11-21 11:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York) | Rayburn House Building – Room 2075, 45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC, 20515, United States
Capitol Hill Event
Rayburn House Building – Room 2075
45 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, D.C. 20515

U.S. Policy on Human Rights in the Middle East

Remarks by Congressman Gerry Connolly (D – Virginia),
House Committee on Foreign Affairs

Panel I: “Human Rights in the Middle East”
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

– Areej Al Sadhan, Human Rights Activist
– Matthew Hedges, Durham University (UK)
– Amel Ahmed, Nala Films for HBO
– Abdullah Alaoudh, Georgetown University
– Moderator: Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, The American Conservative

Panel II: “U.S. Foreign Policy and Human Rights”
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

– Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch
– Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
– Mohamed Soltan, The Freedom Initiative
– Congressman Nick Rahall, D – West Virginia
– Moderator: Bruce Fein, Fein & DelValle PLLC

Lunch will be served from 12:30 PM – 1:00 PM

We invite you to join us on November 21, 2019 on Capitol Hill for a panel discussion on human rights issues in the Middle East, and how western powers could spearhead the change for freedom in a region of turmoil and conflict.
Issues of the validity of democracy in the region and human rights are at the very center of the challenges facing Middle Eastern society today. The international community’s chilling complacency towards wide-scale human rights violations in the Middle East and North Africa has emboldened governments to commit appalling violations by giving them the sense that they need never fear facing justice.
“Too many times western allies of governments in the MENA region have put lucrative business deals, security co-operation or billions of dollars’ worth of arms sales before human rights, fueling abuses and creating a climate where MENA governments feel ‘untouchable’ and above the law” says Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
Limited space is available. Registration is required.

Libya: What Does the Berlin Conference Have in Store?
2019-11-12 12:30 - 14:00 | National Interest Foundation, 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 7000, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
In the coming months, perhaps weeks, Germany plans to hold a UN-backed international conference on the future of Libya. Despite two previous European conferences on Libya in the last year, one in Palermo and another in Paris, warlord Khalifa Haftar and his allies continue to use military means to capture power in Libya. Regional players including France, Italy, UAE, Russia, and Turkey have exhausted the country’s ability to sustain its political stability. With the absence of a clear US role in Libya and a stagnant UN Mission, Libya continues to be a troubled backyard for Europe.
Since April 4th, the Libyan Arab Forces led by warlord Khalifa Haftar have continued their brutal and unsuccessful offensive on the Libyan capital Tripoli. This military campaign has targeted dozens of civilian establishments, including migrant detention centers, leaving thousands of people dead and over 100 thousand others internally displaced.
How do European actors interact in post-Gaddafi Libya, and what is the nature of German engagement in Libya? What can Germany offer the Libyan people and peace process, and what are the expected deliverables of this significant conference?
On November 12th, the Libyan American Alliance and the National Interest Foundation will hold an expert discussion on these competing dynamics and the upcoming Berlin conference on Libya. Questions from the audience will follow the panelists’ brief statements. Lunch will be served.

About our Speakers:
Dario Cristiani is the IAI/GMF Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, based in Washington, D.C., working on Italian foreign policy, the Mediterranean, and global politics. A native of Naples, Italy, he has more than fifteen years of experience as a private political risk consultant, working on Mediterranean and emerging markets. He received his Ph.D. in Middle East and Mediterranean studies from King’s College London in 2015, and he got a BA and MA (with distinctions) from the University of Naples L’Orientale, where he also started his academic career as a teaching and e-learning assistant in political science and comparative politics. He has been the director of executive training in global risk analysis and crisis management and an adjunct professor in international affairs and conflict studies at Vesalius College in Brussels. He continues teaching as a guest lecturer in several institutions in Europe and the Maghreb (Koninklijke Militaire School, Istituto Alti Studi Difesa, Sit Tunis). He has lived in Tunisia, Turkey, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.
Dr. William Lawrence has thirty-two years experience working on the MENA region and wider Muslim world and lived immersively for thirteen years in seven Muslim majority countries. Since 2011, he has served successively as International Crisis Group’s North Africa Project Director, as the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy’s Middle East and North Africa Program Director, and as Control Risk’s Middle East and North Africa Associate Director. Previously, he served as Senior Advisor for Global Engagement in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), working closely with the White House on core Obama administration Cairo-speech-related initiatives. He co-created the Global Innovation Through Science and Technology (GIST) Program, the U.S. Science Envoy Program, and the Maghreb Digital Library; co-chaired of the U.S.-Egypt S&T development fund for four years; and served at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, helping negotiate the first U.S.-Libya bilateral agreement in decades. He has taught at Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Tufts/Fletcher School, Amideast/Mohamed V in Rabat, and Cadi Ayyad in Marrakesh and lectured at over 100 universities worldwide. He appears regularly on NPR, BBC, VOA, France 24, Al Jazeera Arabic and English, and CCTV (China). He received six merit awards from the U.S. State Department, two medals from the Egyptian government, and an alumni achievement award from Duke University. He co-produced 6 MENA-related documentary films and 14 albums of North African music.
Asma Khalifa is a Libyan activist and researcher who has worked on human rights, women’s rights, and youth empowerment since 2011. Growing up as a non-Arab, Amazigh Libyan under the rule of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, Khalifa witnessed the negative impact of discrimination and violence against women. She has spent her career contributing to the building of Libya’s civil society and has recently worked on peacebuilding and conflict transformation in the country. For her efforts, Khalifa received the 2016 Luxembourg Peace Prize during the World Peace Forum in the European Parliament and, in 2017, she was named one of the “100 Most Influential Young Africans” by the Africa Youth Awards. Khalifa is also the co-founder of Tamazight Women’s Movement, a think/do tank that is working on gender equality and research on the indigenous women of Libya and North Africa.

About our Moderator:
Mosadek Hobrara is the Executive Director of the Libyan American Alliance. He holds a Master of Science degree in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Law from Tripoli University (Libya). Professionally, Mosadek is the Executive Director of the Libyan American Alliance (LAA). Mosadek was previously engaged in providing mediation work in Libya, he was a lead member at the Libyan Notables Council for Reconciliation, a non-governmental organization conducting local mediation efforts in Libya. He facilitated multiple ceasefire agreements between local factions mainly in southern Libya. Mosadek was also a project manager at the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), a Swiss NGO supporting the peacebuilding processes in Libya. During his work with the Center, he was in charge of organizing and facilitating roundtable talks between regional actors, political leaders, tribal actors, and civil society leaders. During and after the Arab Spring, he participated intensively as an activist advocating for issues of human rights and transitional justice.

Egypt, What's Next? with Dr. Amr Darrag
2019-10-24 12:00 - 14:00 | National Interest Foundation, 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 7000, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
The National Interest Foundation invites you to attend our lunch discussion on Egypt with Dr. Amr Darrag.
About our Speaker:
Dr. Amr Darrag served as Egypt’s Minister of Planning and International Cooperation. In 2014, he established and is currently Chairman of “The Egyptian Institute for Political and Strategic Studies” a think tank based in Istanbul, Turkey. He was elected as Secretary General of the Assembly drafting the 2012 Egyptian Constitution. He is a founding member and used to be member of the Executive Board of the Egyptian Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). He served as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Development and Planning Committee of the FJP. Before that, he was elected Secretary General of the FJP in Giza Governorate, 2011. He was originally a Civil Engineering Professor at Cairo University and he got his Ph.D. from Purdue University, USA in 1987. He was elected as Vice-Chairman of Cairo University Staff Association, 1999-2008. He has been partner and top executive of several international and Egyptian engineering consultancy firms.

The Deal of the Century and Israeli Democracy: How Palestinian Citizens of Israel are the Key to Peace in the Middle East
2019-06-12 12:00 - 13:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A luncheon discussion with Jafar Farah
Founder and Director of The Mossawa Center, the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel
The National Interest Foundation is pleased to invite you to attend our luncheon discussion during which Jafar Farah will examine prospects for Middle East peace in light of the recent announcements on Israeli elections and political developments in the United States.
The United States has an interest in protecting the security of its long-term ally, Israel, and thereby also has an interest in achieving a negotiated settlement in Israel and Palestine, which would improve regional security. However, the ongoing tendency to disregard the needs of Palestinians, both in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel, has precluded the achievement of sustainable and just peace, undermining regional security and the livelihoods of Palestinians and Israelis alike.

About our Speaker:
Jaffar Farah is the Founder and Director of Mossawa, the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel. Jafar is a long-time advocate and activist for civil rights for the Arab community. He was formerly chair of the National Union of Arab Students and President of the Committee for Arab Students at the University of Haifa. After holding these posts, he founded CEGAS, the Center for Educational Guidance for Arab Students. As a community organizer and activist, he was involved in establishing several organizations such as I’lam, ACAP (Arab Center for Alternative Planning) and the follow-up committee for Arab education. Before establishing Mossawa, Jafar worked as a journalist for the local network of Ha’aretz and as a TV producer. He continues to write articles that are published regularly in the Hebrew and Arabic press. He is one of the founders of the first Arab-language television station in Israel: Hala TV.

"Yemen: A Brutal War, US Involvement, & Options"
2019-04-11 12:00 - 14:00 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
Discussion With Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson:
VIP EVENT
The Yemen war has entered its fifth year with no end in sight, a staggering human toll, and no convincing results to speak of. Over 100,000 Yemeni children have been killed by Saudi-led bombings, hunger and lack of basic medical care. Terrorist groups such as AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS have reemerged stronger in alliance with the Saudi-led coalition.
Why is the United States involved in this war, and what are the long-term repercussions of this war that created the largest humanitarian crisis? What should the U.S. do to avert greater instability in the region and at what cost? Join us for a discussion with colonel Wilkerson, a seasoned military and political expert who will offer a realistic and balanced explanation of the conflict.
Featured Speaker:
Lawrence Wilkerson is a Former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell’s. He also served as Associate Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, where he was responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political, military and legislative affairs (2001-02).
Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served in the U.S. Army 31 years. During that time, he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (1987 to 1989), Special Assistant to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Powell (1989-93), and Director and Deputy Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia (1993-97). Wilkerson retired from active service in 1997 in the rank of a colonel to work as an adviser to General Powell.

The American Middle East Policy Summit - The Forum Intellectual: United States Policy in the Middle East (Visions and Transformations)
2019-03-23 | Dosso Dossi Hotels, 34080, Aksemsettin Mahallesi, Istanbul, Turkey
Time
Sessions Manager
Panelists Speaker
Sessions

9.30AM – 10.00AM

Mr. Mohammad Al-Rashed
Khaled Saffuri

Opening Remarks

10.00AM – 11.30AM
Dr.Ali – Alkandari
Khaled El Gindy, Brookings Institution
Karen Attiah, Global Opinions Editor, Washington Post
Dr. Amr Darrag, Egyptian Institute for Studies
Dr. Burhan Aldin Duran, Director of SETA
A Case for Dignity: Freedom and Autocracy in the Middle East

11.30AM – 11.45AM

Break

11.45AM – 1.15PM
Saul Anuzis
Rep. Nick Rahall, Former U.S. Congressman
Doug Bandow, Cato Institute and the Huffington Post
Dr. Ahmed Ramadan,
Prof. Ahmet Uysal, Director of Middle Eastern Studies Center, Ankara
The U.S and Middle East: In Search of Strategy

1.15PM – 2.15PM

Lunch

2.15PM – 3.45PM
Dr. Ahmed Attawna
Rep. James Moran, Former U.S. Congressman
John Fund, Editor of National Review Online, Political Commentator on FOX news
Dr. Abdullah Al, Kuwait University
Dr. Hakki Uygur, Center for Iranian Studies, Ankara
Will there be a US war on Iran?

3.45PM – 4.00PM

Break

4.00PM – 5.30PM
Dr. Gammal Nassar
Michael Steele, Former Chairman of Republican Party, Political Commentator MSNBC
Tim Constantine, Capitol Hill Show
Dr. Halil Mutlu, Turkish American Steering Committee
Dr. Ali Bakir, Kuwait University
Dr. Talha Kosa, Ibn Haldun University
The United States and Turkey in the Middle East: Managing Conflict and Forging Cooperation

Arrive: March 22, 2019
Panel Discussions: March 23, 2019
Social Day and Istanbul Tour: March 24, 2019
Departure: March 25, 2019

Why the U.S. Always Gets It Wrong On the Middle East
2019-02-06 12:00 - 13:30 | 1800 K Street, NW, Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A luncheon discussion with
David Hearst
Foreign Policy Writer and Editor

The National Interest Foundation is pleased to invite you to attend our luncheon discussion where David Hearst tackles the topic of U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East.
Our estrangement from the Middle East derives from trends that are much deeper than the manifest deficiencies of executive and congressional leadership in Washington. The U.S and our partners in the Middle East have developed contradictory interests and priorities. Where shared values existed at all, they have increasingly diverged. There have been massive changes in geoeconomics, energy markets, power balances, demographics, religious ideologies and attitudes toward America. Many of these changes were catalyzed by historic and recent U.S policy errors.
Join us as we evaluate these faulty methods and discuss new strategy ideas in approaching the Middle East.

About our Speaker:
David Hearst is the Editor in Chief of the Middle East Eye. He left The Guardian as its chief foreign leader writer. In a career spanning 29 years, he covered the Brighton bomb, the miner’s strike, the loyalist backlash in the wake of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in Northern Ireland, the first conflicts in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in Slovenia and Croatia, the end of the Soviet Union , Chechnya, and the bushfire wars that accompanied it. He charted Boris Yeltsin’s moral and physical decline and the conditions which created the rise of Putin. After Ireland, he was appointed Europe correspondent for Guardian Europe, then joined the Moscow bureau in 1992, before becoming bureau chief in 1994. He left Russia in 1997 to join the foreign desk, became European editor and then Associate Foreign Editor. He joined The Guardian from The Scotsman, where he worked as an education correspondent. @davidahearst

The Future of Democracy in Tunisia
2019-01-22 12:00 - 13:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A luncheon discussion with elected female parliamentarian from Tunisia,
Meherzia Labidi Maïza
The National Interest Foundation is pleased to invite you to attend our luncheon discussion where Meherzia Labidi tackles the question on Tunisia’s future of a stable democracy.
Tunisia is the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring protests that ripped through the region over the past decade. By 2013, the democratic process was almost derailed by unfulfilled economic promises, political and ideological disagreements, and foreign meddling. Fortunately, local and international mediation then helped to avert catastrophe and pave the way for elections. But less than a year before the next general election, scheduled for late 2019, the country is again in crisis. Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi warned this past Monday that the country’s democratic experience is not in a safe situation. He also warned of the risks of a general strike called by his country’s largest labour union for Thursday. What happens next is a critical test of where Tunisian democracy is headed.

About our Speaker:
Known as “most senior elected woman in the Middle East”, Meherzia Labidi Maïza is currently a member of the Tunisian Parliament and Head of the Committee For Women, Family, Children and the Elderly Affairs. She was proud of helping to include a clause to protect women’s rights into Tunisia’s post Arab Spring constitution. She is also the honorary president of the organisation Religion for Peace. She has a degree in English literature and writes on topics linked to women and education. She is also a translator, and specialises in Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic finance. She holds a certificate in theatre studies and a Master’s degree in translation from Sorbonne University. She teaches translation at the European Institute of Social Science in Paris.

China's Cultural Genocide Against the Uyghurs
2018-11-14 12:00 - 13:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
Luncheon Discussion on US China Relations and Human Rights

A Luncheon Discussion on
US-China Relations and Human Rights

The National Interest Foundation is pleased to invite you to attend our luncheon discussion where expert Omer Kanat will tackle the issue of Uyghur Muslims and the Xinjang “education” camps. Pervasive ethnic discrimination, severe religious repression, and increasing cultural suppression justified by the government in the name of the “fight against separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism” continue to fuel rising tensions in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Xinjiang’s mass indoctrination centers are expected to be an area of focus during a major United Nations Human Rights Council review of China this month.
Occurring this month as well, in a possible sign of resolving the trade dispute between the US and China, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chinese politburo member Yang Jiechi and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe will take part in diplomatic and security talks. Mattis and Wei discussed that the world’s two largest economies need to deepen high-level ties to reduce the risk of conflict.

About our Speaker:

Omer Kanat is the chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Uyghur Congress. He co-founded the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) in 2003, as well as the World Uyghur Youth Congress, where he served as president from 1996-2000. Mr. Kanat was the Senior Editor of Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service, where he covered the War in Afghanistan & Iraq, edited Uyghur-language news, and conducted interviews with prominent figures in Inner Asia, including his holiness the Dalai Lama.

Discussion with Ambassador Vygaudas Usackas: "The Future of NATO and Transatlantic Relations"
2018-10-15 00:00 - 01:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A Luncheon Discussion with Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas
Join us for a round table discussion with Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas on the future of NATO and Transatlantic Relations.
Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas currently serves as the Director of the European Institute at Kaunas Technological University. From 2013 to 2017 he served as the European Union’s Ambassador to Russia. He previously served as the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan. Prior to heading Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ušackas was the Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States and Mexico from 2001 through 2006, then Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Currently, he is a candidate for President of the Republic of Lithuania.

UNRWA's Resiliency for Security and Human Development for Palestinian Refugees
2018-09-18 00:00 - 01:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A Luncheon Discussion with the Director of UNRWA’S DC Representative Office, Elizabeth Campbell
Join us for a round table discussion with Elizabeth Campbell on UNRWA and the continual and latest efforts to fostering the human development of Palestinian Refugees.
Prior to joining UNRWA, Elizabeth was the Senior humanitarian policy advisor in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs in the Department of State. Her role included working on refugee and humanitarian issues in the United Nations system. Campbell has also served as a senior advocate for Refugees International, where she focused on the humanitarian crises in East Africa and the Middle East. She was director of Refugee Council USA, an NGO consortium focused on refugee resettlement and protection.

Yemen: The Forgotten War
2018-05-02 11:30 - 14:00 | Rayburn House Building – Room 2075, 45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC, 20515, United States
The Yemen war has entered its fourth year with no end in sight. Thousands of civilians have been killed, 130 children die every day from starvation and lack of medical aid due to blockade, and terrorist groups have flourished amid the chaos.
What are the United States’ options to avoid greater instability in the region and at what cost? Join us for a discussion with seasoned speakers and regional experts who will offer their insights and views on the roots and fallout of the conflict.

Speakers:
Flynt Leverett, Former senior director for Middle East affairs on the George W. Bush’s National Security Council, former CIA & State Department official, professor at the Pennsylvania State University School of International Affairs.
Doug Bandow, Former special assistant to President Regan, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, author and analyst.
Sama’a Al-Hamdani, Former political officer at Yemen embassy in Washington, “Yemeniaty” director & political analyst & consultant.
Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist, author, & Washington Post columnist.
