Brussels, 18 November 2015
EuroMed Rights deeply regrets that the Communication on the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy, issued today by the European Union, is a step back on previous policies to meet the challenge of putting respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as the promotion of democratic reforms, at the heart of its Neighbourhood Policy.
Michel Tubiana, EuroMed Rights President declares: “Despite the declaration of Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, that the only way to have security is to have strong Human Rights, the EU and its Member states have missed an opportunity to clearly flag that the promotion of human rights and protection of independent civil society is an overarching goal to ensure good governance and rule of law.”
EuroMed Rights calls on the EU and its Member States to scale up their support to independent civil society organisations in the Southern Mediterranean countries as they play a pivotal role in peace- and institution-building. But in the present Communication, although named as an EU interlocutor, civil society’s contribution to EU fields of interest is marginalised.
Since the space for human rights defenders is constantly shrinking in the region, the EU should duly protect the courage of those agents of social change and make sure they benefit from its political and practical support, namely by systematically involving them in EU dialogues and partnerships with third countries.
EuroMed Rights regrets that the EU will monitor on fundamental freedoms, gender equality and other human rights issues only in a regional report rather than in country-specific ones that may not be made public. EuroMed Rights stresses that, under the key principles of transparency and civil society empowerment, the EU should keep these reports public.
At a time when the EU and its Southern Neighbourhood are facing the most serious humanitarian crisis in the region since World War II, with hundreds of thousands refugees on the move, and unprecedented terrorist attacks, EU’s radar points dramatically towards short-term securitisation measures and the control of migration flows.
“If the right to security is a fundamental right for people on both shores of the Mediterranean, the stability-based approach to the ENP must not lead to the financing and implementation of activities that may lead to further violations of citizens’ and migrants ‘ rights”, warns Michel Tubiana.
It is high time the EU develops a human rights strategy for the entire region and brings a new vision to the ENP that inspires citizens on both sides of the Mediterranean for the next decade. The marginalisation of human rights in the new ENP not only contradicts European fundamental values, it is likely to lead the EU to repeat past mistakes in the region at the expense, even, of its own interests.