The Doha Debates are a forum for free speech in Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

 and tackle the region's most controversial and topical issues. They are sponsored by Qatar Foundation

Qatar Foundation

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a government-funded, chartered, non-profit organization in the state of Qatar, founded in 1995 by decree of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar and chaired by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned...

 and their broadcasting rights are sold to BBC World News where they are aired monthly, eight times a year.

In addition to BBC World News The Doha Debates are broadcast on MHz Networks

MHz Networks

MHz Networks is a Northern Virginia based independent, non-commercial educational broadcaster operated by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation. The legal broadcast callsigns for the two stations of MHz Networks are WNVC and WNVT...

 and Thirteen (television station) in the USA, GEO TV

Geo TV

Geo TV or Geo Television is a Pakistani television network, founded by Mr. Mir Shakil ur Rehman in May 2002 and owned by Independent Media Corporation. The channel began test transmission on 14 August 2002, with regular transmission beginning 1 October 2002...

 in Pakistan, TV BiH in Bosnia and Hertzegovina and the Real News Network in Canada and the USA. The total potential global audience for The Debates is over 350 million.

The Debates entered into their seventh series in October 2010.

How the Debates work

The Doha Debates are chaired by the award-winning, former BBC correspondent and interviewer Tim Sebastian

Tim Sebastian

Tim Sebastian is a television journalist. He is the moderator of the New Arab Debates and the Doha Debates, and was the first presenter of BBC's HARDtalk....

, who founded them in 2004 and secured their editorial independence. No government, official body or broadcaster has any control over what is said at the sessions or who is invited. Televised eight times a year by BBC World News, the debates are based on a centuries-old format, refined by the famous Oxford Union

Oxford Union

The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...

. They focus on a single, controversial motion, with two speakers for and against. Once they have outlined their arguments, each speaker is questioned by the chairman and the discussion is then opened up to the
audience for argument and a final electronic vote.

Specials

The Doha Debates have become the Middle East’s forum of choice for many prominent statesmen. Special events – which feature Q&A sessions with a single guest – have attracted such names as Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

, Mohamed El Baradei, Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres

GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...

, Amre Moussa, Ayad Allawi, and Mahmoud Zahar.

Television broadcast

The Doha Debates can be watched on television on the BBC World News, MHz Network, Channel 13 New York, GEO TV, The Real News Network and TV BiH.

Local and international audience

Two thirds of the local audience are students, from a wide range of Arab and Islamic countries. In several debates they have adopted radical and unexpected positions. Clear majorities have stated that Muslims are failing to combat extremism and that the Palestinians risk becoming their own worst enemy. Internationally, the debates have attracted wide attention. BBC World News is seen by nearly 300 million viewers, across 200 countries. The website – www.thedohadebates.com - now receives more than a million hits a month.

Past motions

The Debates confront head-on the sensitive topics of the region: torture, terrorism and suicide bombings, political turmoil and human rights. Past motions have questioned whether it was time to talk to Al Qaeda; whether Hezbollah had the right to fight a war on Lebanon’s behalf; and whether the pro-Israel lobby was successfully stifling criticism of the country’s actions.

Part of Qatar Foundation

The Doha Debates are hosted and funded by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development - a private, chartered, non-profit organization, founded in 1995 and chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned. The Doha Debates supported the creation of QatarDebate

Qatardebate

QatarDebate, a member of Qatar Foundation and the National Debating Organisation for Qatar, is a civic engagement initiative which aims to develop and support the standard of open discussion and debate among students and young people in Qatar and the broader Arab world.- Founding :QatarDebate was...

, an independent student debating organization for Qatar, in 2007.

External links

• The Jerusalem Post, 5 June 2008 'Between the lines: speaking to the region across a wide gulf'
• - The National, 4 June 2008 'Free Exchange'
• http://thedohadebates.com/files/pdf/Oryx,%20June%20Edition,%202008.pdf- Oryx Magazine, June Edition 'Beyond borders: Interview with Juan Cole
  Juan Cole
  John Ricardo I. "Juan" Cole is an American scholar, public intellectual, and historian of the modern Middle East and South Asia. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on...
  
  ]'
• - Christian Science Monitor, 23 May 2008 'Why Qatar is emerging as a Middle East peacemaker'
• - The National, 1 May 2008 'Sunni or Shia, we are all Muslim and must stand up to Al-Qa'eda'
• - Oryx Magazine, May Edition, 'Forward Thinking: Interview with Hind Khoury'
• - Oryx Magazine, April Edition, 'The Publicist: Interview with Ed Husain'
• - The Observer, 9 March 2008, 'It's Arabs who are showing us how to tackle extremism'