Annual Report 2017-18

Our Annual Report 2017-2018 details our activities across our programmes in that period. It contains analysis from our Director, Oliver McTernan, and Sir Jeremy Greenstock. Below is a message from our Chairman, William Sieghart CBE:

It has been another challenging year, with a sense of deepening crisis in large parts of the Middle East. Conflicts, with their tragic humanitarian consequences, continue to rage in Libya, Syria and Yemen. Regional tensions are mounting and threaten to unleash further violence unless checked. Meanwhile there are still few public signs of any meaningful progress towards a durable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In this difficult context, the demand for Forward Thinking’s services as mediators and facilitators remains exceptionally high. We continue to work on the principle that only through maintaining confidential spaces for dialogue is it possible to resolve challenges and build the conditions for a peaceful, prosperous and secure Middle East.

In this spirit, the past twelve months of activity have been highly significant for Forward Thinking. In the Middle East, in spite of all the current challenges, we have successfully established an avenue for Israelis and Palestinians political figures to directly meet and exchange honest reflections on how to begin moving beyond the current impasse. In the Helsinki Policy Forum, we have -maintained a channel for key figures from Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to exchange ideas on where co-operation might be possible. While in the UK, our work with the office of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation has allowed crucial insights on how Britain’s response to terrorism impacts diverse communities to be shared with policymakers and helped spark new debates.

On behalf of all the trustees I’d like to thank our incredibly committed and hard working team for all their energies and efforts.