The Arab uprisings that rolled through the Southern Mediterranean region almost ten years ago sparked a historical process. In a clear break with the monopoly on political expression that kings, presidents and security apparatuses had held for decades, popular movements, unions, parties, NGOs and other civil actors swelled across the region, inspiring millions to participate in social and political discussions and decision-making. Civil society organisations like EuroMed Rights responded by increasing their focus on national politics. And rightly so: even if autocratic regimes managed to push back and block initiatives that popped up after 2011, the vitalisation of these political arenas remains an incredibly important vector for human rights and democracy promotion in the region.
However, another trend in power politics emerged from the 2011 uprisings: the rising influence of regional powers on domestic politics. This is, of course, nothing new: in countries like Lebanon or Palestine, regional powers and global superpowers have for decades been fixpoints for political decision-making. Yet, since 2011, the phenomenon has spread and grown stronger.
Egypt is an illustrative case. Before 2011, Hosni Mubarak made sure Egypt kept a role as a foreign policy actor in the MENA region. After the uprisings, Egypt became itself a battleground for competing regional powers, such as Qatar who supported the first and only year in power of Mohammed Morsi. In contrast, the government that grew out of the military coup orchestrated by then defense minister Abdelfattah al-Sisi in July 2013, has been propped by Qatar’s archrivals: the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
If autocratic leaders of regional powers do not understand why they should respect human rights at home, they have even less inclination to do so when engaging outside their borders.
A similar – albeit far more violent – history can be told about Syria. Prior to the uprisings against Bashar al-Assad, Syria was a key player in Lebanon and Iraq. After 2011 it gradually turned into a battleground for regional great powers such as Iran, Turkey, several Gulf states plus global powers like the US and Russia.
Recent Libyan history carries some of the same traits: prior to Gadhafi’s fall in 2011 Libya was a major actor in Africa. Anyone who has ever travelled in the Sahel countries has noticed the numerous public squares, boulevards, and monuments paying tribute to the Libyan leadership. After 2011, Libya ceased to exercise this role, and while armed groups carry the weight on the ground, Middle Eastern and European powers like France, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE have grown increasingly influential.
This trend merits our attention as a network that promotes human rights and democracy. Generally speaking, it is no good news. None of the above cases have seen an increase in human rights and democracy as a consequence of the rising regional powers meddling. On the contrary. If autocratic leaders of regional powers do not understand why they should respect human rights at home, they have even less inclination to do so when engaging outside their borders. European great powers are no strangers to this logic either. But the EU should, as a self-proclaimed global human rights promoter, play a key role in restraining this trend by using its regional economic power as leverage. The same goes for a number of European countries.
The human rights community is not without tools to respond. Alongside our work with keeping national governments accountable, with exposing their transgressions, and with calling for responses from relevant international organisations, we must keep a watchful eye on the regional powers who support, pressure or encourage these gouvernments to violate human rights from the outside.
Rasmus Alenius Boserup
EuroMed Rights Executive Director