Middle East & North Africa

In the Middle East and North Africa, the ABA administers regional and bilateral programs focusing on judicial development, women's rights, the role of women in the legal and judicial profession, legal education reform, and legal profession reform.
 
The ABA maintains offices and/or bilateral programs in Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, and Yemen.  The ABA also conducts regional programs for members of the legal community in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

The ABA’s technical legal assistance programs are funded by the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.  The ABA also receives significant funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Read the February - April 2007 Middle East & North Africa Division Update

Podcast: Bridging Social Divisions in Lebanon

Aline Matta, Director of ABA ROLI’s programs in Lebanon, narrates the story of how students in their final year of law school started out somewhat cynical and ended up, through their clinical experience, becoming devoted advocates for social justice and the rule of law. Read more »»

 

Jordan’s Applied Science University First to Adopt More Practical Legal Curriculum

Following the March 2007 Conference on Upgrading Legal Education, ABA ROLI has been working with a committee of professors from several Jordanian universities to develop courses in “Legal Research and Writing,” and “Legal English.”  Read more »»

 

Important New MOUs in Algeria and Qatar

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative has bolstered its partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa region by signing Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with key partners in Qatar and Algeria. Read more »»

The Arab Women's Legal Network

The Arab Women's Legal Network is a non-profit, nongovernmental regional entity that aims to facilitate the advancement of Arab women working in the legal field. The Network brings together judges, legal practitioners, legal advisors in government and nongovernmental organizations, legal academics and other qualified women working in the legal field by providing a forum for the exchange of expertise, the provision of specialized training and professional development programs and the publication of materials aimed at strengthening Arab women in the law. Read More »»

 

The Arab Council for Judicial and Legal Studies

In September 2003, the Kingdom of Bahrain, in cooperation with the United States, hosted the first Arab Judicial Forum. The ABA organized the event. The three-day event brought together high-level government officials and nongovernmental reformers active in the judicial arena from fifteen Arab countries, the Palestinian Authority, the United Kingdom and the United States to discuss essential elements of sound judicial systems, identify common issues and develop plans for ongoing programs to address those issues. Read More »»