Thursday

Shiko started the day with a presentation on UN humanitarian aid work in Afghanistan and the challenges involved in developing a human rights sytem and indeed restructuring the country. He explained that this is more than just a development project, it is a unique situation with UN workers encountering many obstacles and indeed resistance to achieve the protection of human rights. He talked about the extremely poor state of women's rights, the difficulty in gaining access to those in need of aid, the importance of working with local NGOs in the country, building trust with refugees and overcoming language barriers. He argued for the necessity of identifying agencies with expertise specific to particular issues.

Malak and Andre talked about the background of the Colloquium, how it began as a dream of south-south dialogue and how it has changed and developed over the years to become a forum for countries of the Global South to discuss the reality of issues faced in the south. Working together, this forum has resulted in a strong network with strong relationships. Participants offered suggestions on how to continue to improve and strengthen the Colloquium, ideas such as: more inclusion of Middle East countries, the importance of documenting the Colloquium, addition of the French language and the need to tap into resources in participant countries.

A short video showing photos of past Colloquiums was shared with the group.