We, the participants in the Regional Civil Society Seminar held in Beirut, Lebanon on November 28-29, 2025,
In light of the continued erosion of the international political order, the dominance of authoritarian regimes, and the obstruction of justice for peoples, particularly in the Mediterranean region,
Reaffirming the conclusions of our previous meetings in Casablanca in February 2024 and in Istanbul in February 2025,
Affirm the following:
1. We note that the genocide in Palestine has not ended yet, but is an ongoing process that is accompanied by the expansion of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian territories, which requires confronting it by all legitimate means to ensure justice and accountability and to restore confidence in an international system built on the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, especially those related to prohibition the acquisition of territory by force and the right of peoples to self-determination.
2. We affirm that genocide is a collective crime, as it would not have been possible without the military and commercial support of states on both sides of the Mediterranean. Therefore, we call upon all states to review their relations with the Israeli occupation state and cease supplying it with weapons. We remind the European Union and its member states of the obligation to adhere to the rulings of the European Court of Justice, which have enshrined the obligation to respect the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and we urge them to suspend the association agreement with Israel, particularly regarding economic cooperation, which does not require the unanimous consent of member states.
3. We condemn the US sanctions against the International Criminal Court, its judges, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, as well as against the Palestinian human rights organizations Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, for their efforts to achieve justice for Palestinians. We affirm our right to stand in solidarity with them and to cooperate with them, and we call on the European Union and its member states to take the necessary measures to activate the EU Blocking Statute to limit the effects of these sanctions and to protect the independence of the Court, enabling it to carry out its duties and implement its decisions without obstruction or threat.
4. We note the continued restrictions on public freedoms in several countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, the targeting of human rights organizations, human rights defenders, judges, lawyers, the independent press, and peaceful demonstrations, as well as the increasing practices of digital and transnational repression. We emphasize the need to protect the human rights movement in the region and its independence to counter the decline in democratic values and to develop effective mechanisms for solidarity among its actors. We also urge our civil society organizations partners to strengthen coordination with political parties, labor unions, and other social forces, and to seek alternative sources of funding to foreign sources.
5. We welcome the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on states’ obligations in respect to climate change, and we call on states on both sides of the Mediterranean to implement the legal obligations declared therein, as climate change is not merely a technical issue but a matter of rights and democracy that directly affects people’s right to life and dignity. We also call on the environmental rights movement to draw upon this opinion in its advocacy and litigation efforts in environmental and climate cases.
6. We note the adoption of the Pact for the Mediterranean and the European Union’s Civil Society Strategy, and we reiterate our position rejecting a merely formal dialogue with the European Union institutions, which we call upon to consider human rights civil society as a fundamental and genuine partner in determining the future of the Mediterranean region and in formulating policies and implementation plans that reflect on people’s rights, especially with regard to their sovereignty over their natural resources, as well as to place human rights issues at the heart of economic and security cooperation policies instead of dealing with them as peripheral matters.