Brussels, 29/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), whose executive committee met in Cairo on 24-26 June 2011, has assessed the situation in the region and stated that it deeply disapproves of the migration policies adopted by the European Council on 24 June 2011. It is urgent that the European Union and its Southern Mediterranean neighbours promote, without preconditions, genuine mobility and freedom of movement of citizens from both sides of the Mediterranean, the Network says in its statement, adding that this would encourage the development of the region and the dignity of citizens.
Of the situation on the ground, the EMHRN looks positively on developments in Egypt though highlighting the scale of the challenges facing the country. It expresses concern, however, at the security situation - thousands of trials before military courts with no guarantees of fair trial, concern at the failure to bring forward measures to address the decades of impunity enjoyed by members of the police force who have often been guilty of serious human rights violations, the failure to lift the state of emergency and the maintenance of special courts. The EMHRN also expressed concern at the lack of transparency of the decisions taken by the transitional Egyptian government and the Armed Forces Senior Council. It said it was worried, too, to see that the dates of the parliamentary and presidential elections had not yet been made public.
The EMHRN executive committee condemned the continuing killings in Libya. It expressed its solidarity with human rights supporters in Syria and called on Syrian authorities to allow the High Commission for Human Rights mission access to their country. The executive committee noted positives in the constitutional reforms proposed in Morocco but regretted that the draft constitutional reform did not guarantee full separation of powers and, consequently, the rule of law. It regretted, too, that little time had been granted for democratic debate on the proposed reforms before the 1st July referendum.
The EMHRN executive committee condemned the Israeli government's policy of continued, aggressive and illegal settlement, which constitutes a major obstacle to peace and threatens the viability of the two-state solution. Establishment of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders and the formation of a government democratically elected by the Palestinian people must, it said, be given the support of the international community, including the European Union. (F.B./transl.rt)