New diplomacy with focus on the Middle East and North Africa

Manila 2011

• Stresses that the Middle East and North Africa is a region highly diverse in political and economical terms, with countries ranging from modern to traditional, from prosperous to poor, and from democratic to harshly authoritarian;

• Notes however that although the degrees of authoritarianism or liberalism vary, all these countries still suffer from substantial democratic deficits where opposition is weak or altogether banned, where the judiciary and legislative branches of government are not independent and where checks and balances on the executive are more often than not missing, where women are not in all countries part of the electorate and where the executive is not always elected in a truly democratic process;

• Underlines the great potential or great challenge that the demographic unbalance of a disproportionally large youth population provides;

• Notes that among the most difficult challenges for the region are the provision of equal access to qualitative social services; high unemployment rates, primarily among young citizens, contributing to financial insecurity and social instability; and high levels of corruption;

• Stresses the fundamental importance of free trade and free access to markets, notably the European single market, for the economic development of region;

• Expresses concern over the low ratio in which women are involved and included in both the political sphere and the work force

• Regrets that the post 9/11-discourse with regard to the region has been focused mainly on security policy at the expense of the democracy building agenda and on occasion also at the expense of respect for human rights;

• Regrets that the international community reacted too softly and too slowly to the incumbent regimes throughout the Arab democratic uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, recalls that Europe’s links with these regimes were often unprincipled in the past and stresses that it is time to address the concerns of the democratic governments of the future, stresses that people’s aspirations for greater freedom, democracy, self-determination, rule of law and human dignity always have to supported;

• Strongly disagrees with the myth that Islamic societies are incompatible with democratic government and underlines that the wish for democracy, human rights and human dignity is globally shared by all mankind and to be denied no one on the pretext of religious, cultural or traditionalist pretexts;

• Supports the formation of political parties, development of an independent media sector and the rebuilding of an open civil society independent of the executive and of a fair and independent judicial system in then Middle east and North Africa;

• Stresses the importance of independent media and of new information channels via the internet; calls for increased support within international development cooperation for ICT solutions and technology to be spread and used with the aim of providing independent, open and unbiased information to enable men and women to better make free choices in their political reality;

• Welcomes that the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1973 (2011) concerning Libya creates a historical precedent in the fight against impunity by referring the prosecution of crimes against humanity committed by Gaddafi and members of his regime to the International Criminal Court in the Hague;

• Calls on the international community to step up its support for democratic processes in the countries that are on the path towards political transition in the region, both at a political and economic level, urges the EU to develop a comprehensive action plan for support and investment in North Africa as a concrete way to bolster support for the democracy movements;

• Calls on a review of the EU neighbourhood policy to prioritise criteria relating to the independence of the judiciary system, respect for fundamental freedoms, pluralism and freedom of the press and the fight against corruption;

• Stresses that the Union for the Mediterranean provides an excellent platform for the democratic development in and cooperation with the Arab neighbouring countries;

• Expresses the unfaltering support of the Liberals International for the democratic movements and actors in the region who strive for the rights and dignity of all Arab world men and women at this crucial point in time.