Governance of large metropolises:
The international NGOs of the Committee on Democracy gathered to discuss on governance in large metropolises at the Council of Europe, on June 26th.
They called on the President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan to "restore dialogue between the authorities and civil society and see to it that evreryone's fundamental right and freedoms are protected and that bodies for mediation and direct democracy, citizens' assemblies, neighbourhood councils, conciliation conferences or any other form of direct participation are set up. "

The round table moderated by  Anne-Marie Chavanon, chair of the Committee, included :
Rt Hon. Jeffrey Donaldson, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Rapporteur on "The Governance of Large Metropolises", among which Berlin, Istanbul and London
Kayhan Karaca, Europe correspondent of NTV Turkey, on the developments in Istanbul
Nicolas Detrie, director of "Yes we Camp", the challenge of a bottom up initiative in the metropolis of Marseille (France)
Antonella Valmorbida, director of Alda, coordinator of the Committee Working group on the promotion of the "Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision Making Process"  translated into 19 languages

We, Doctors of the World, are calling for all parties to respect the rules of international law in times of war, including respecting medical care providers and their ethical obligation to provide care.

Health professionals are murdered and tortured; hospitals are inaccessible to the wounded who fear reprisals and there are constant barriers to receiving medical care in hospitals and in bombed and besieged areas. Secretly carrying medicines is now a crime. Today, violence toward civilians knows no bounds...

There are an estimated 70,000 dead, in addition to thousands of prison detainees, hundreds of thousands of displaced people or refugees, and how many wounded with no medical care?

Those are the first lines of the call for Syria launched by Doctors of the World  and presented bay its Director General, Pierre SALIGNON

A call to be supported by all NGOs attending the committee last June 26th, in Strasbourg

Links to be put on our websites :

• http://appelsyrie.medecinsdumonde.org/EN/
• http://appelsyrie.medecinsdumonde.org/

The commission also heard on June 26th  the intervention of Jean-Pierre Estival, political scientist and economist, author of a recent book on Syria ("The Syrian tragedy, popular revolt or conspiracy" published by Harmattan). The speaker exposed the political , sociological, cultural and religious complexity of this key country in  the Middle East and the ongoing conflicts in the region