In a background paper marking five years of the Euro-Mediterranean common security project, Human Rights Watch criticized continuing government attacks against human rights defenders in the region. The group urged the foreign ministers meeting at the Marseilles summit today to make an "unambiguous commitment" to upholding freedom of expression and association, and to fulfill the commitment of the process begun in Barcelona in 1995 to make human rights and democratic freedoms an "essential element" of Euro-Mediterranean relations.
The challenge is to the governments like Tunisia, Egypt and Syria that commit these violations, but also to the governments that allow abuses to occur without consequence. To date, European governments have invested greater efforts into combating migration and denying asylum protection than to addressing the human rights abuses that contribute to the outflow of migrants and asylum seekers."
Lotte Leicht
Director of Human Rights Watch's Brussels office
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The challenge is to the governments like Tunisia, Egypt and Syria that commit these violations, but also to the governments that allow abuses to occur without consequence," said Lotte Leicht, director of Human Rights Watch's Brussels office. "To date, European governments have invested greater efforts into combating migration and denying asylum protection than to addressing the human rights abuses that contribute to the outflow of migrants and asylum seekers."
Human Rights Watch urged the Euro-Mediterranean partner countries to make sure that government policies regarding freedom of expression and freedom of association are on the agenda of all future Association Council and relevant working group meetings. The international monitoring group also urged that high E.U. officials meet with rights defenders in partner countries and include human rights developments in briefings for the press as well as member states.
The background paper was released today as part of a
prepared by eight international human rights organizations for the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting in Marseilles.
