The Qatar Debate Center concluded the first edition of the Debaters for Change roundtables dialogue series for the debate community, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Future hosted by the UN in New York City.
In the presence of HE Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater, the panelists discussed the outcomes of the summit and the Charter for the Future, which covered a wide range of issues including global security, sustainable development, climate change, digital cooperation, human rights, gender, youth and future generations, and transforming global governance.
According to a statement issued by the Qatar Debate Center, these dialogues are interactive platforms that provide an elite group of debaters, students and graduates with the opportunity to express their opinions and interact with their peers from different cultures. They are also a pivotal step towards enhancing the status of debates as an educational and cultural tool.
These dialogues are an extension of a
series of international initiatives launched by QatarDebate Center, with the aim of strengthening its partnerships with institutions and enabling young people to present their ideas, analyze contemporary issues, and expand the scope of their influence in civilized and open-to-discussion ways.
Commenting on the occasion, QatarDebate Programs Director Abdulrahman Al Subaie said that constructive dialogue is one of the basic keys to building more aware societies capable of dealing with global challenges, and this event comes within the framework of the efforts to expand the scope of the influence of the debate culture globally.
He emphasized that organizing events supports current participants and aims to cultivate a new generation for positive change. Qatar Debates focuses on youth empowerment and dialogue to build a better future through international initiatives and academic partnerships.
In the same context, New York University hosted the fifth edition of the U.S. Universities Debating Championship, which
began on Sept. 27 and lasted for 3 days, with the participation of more than 35 teams representing numerous American universities.
In the presence of a number of university officials and representatives of the Qatar Debate Center, the American championship concluded with the Indiana University team winning first place in the final round against its counterpart “Los Angeles” from the University of California, which came in second, as the two teams competed for the championship title in the issue of “Rapid progress in artificial intelligence and does it increase inequality”.
The debater Aseel Al Sharawneh came in as the best speaker in the championship, and in the Arabic language category for non-native speakers, the best speaker was Alex Bells.
Before the championship, the trainer Saad Al Assad from the Qatar Debate Center presented an in-depth training workshop in competitive debates with the aim of ensuring the readiness of the debaters and judges for the championship on arbitration methods and training t
eams and new and old debaters, which included different age groups. The preparation for the championship was accompanied by friendly debates to enhance the skills of the participating judges and debaters.
The first edition of the U.S. Universities Arabic Debating Championship was held at Harvard University in 2019, the second edition at the University of Chicago in 2021, the third at Stanford University in 2022, and the fourth edition at the University of Utah in 2023.
Source: Qatar News Agency