This year’s edition of the Lisbon Forum gathered 190 representatives from 52 different countries for a dialogue and mobilisation to building inclusive societies, on 1-2 June 2017 in Lisbon. At the core of discussions were the situation of migrants and threats to multiculturalism.
Representatives of governments, parliaments, local and regional authorities and civil society from Europe and the Southern Mediterranean were called upon for an active partnership in protecting migrant-refugee rights and countering populism. The need for a reinforced North-South dialogue over an effective management of migration comes at times when Europe and other parts of the world witness a growing tide of populist movements that feed on the fear of economic insecurity, anti-migrant sentiments and Islamophobia to push a nationalist agenda and the “politics of exclusion”.
The four panels of the Forum “Managing migration”, “Avoiding populism”, “Building inclusive societies” “Reinforcing the North South dialogue” were moderated by distinguished professors of international relations, legal researchers, EU and UN high representatives and the Laureate of the North-South Prize 2016, Ms Mbarka Brahmi, who is a member of the Tunisian Parliament.