Alicante, 10.06.2022
International experts on Human Rights, sustainable development, food and citizenship in the Mediterranean gathering this weekend in Casa Mediterraneo (Alicante)
Experts from several countries bordering the Mediterranean have met this weekend in Alicante to study the situation of citizens, the energy and food crisis, human rights and environmental responsibility in the Mediterranean. Their meeting took place within the framework of the Consultative Council of the Assembly Foundation of Citizens of the Mediterranean (FACM), with a presence in 19 countries of the Mediterranean basin.
In its annual meeting that has been held at the headquarters of Casa Mediterráneo in Alicante, within the framework of a collaboration agreement, the FACM has addressed the state of the situation in the Mediterranean countries, with special emphasis on the issue of security, and the energy and food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. The attendees come from countries such as Algeria, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy or Spain among others.
The General Director of Casa Mediterráneo, Andrés Perelló, welcomed the participants, emphasizing the importance and interest in being able to listen to the voices of citizens “concerned about the decline of Democracy and Human Rights in the region from their fields of action local and regional that meets in this institutional meeting. It is civil society working for the gains in Rights that are at risk of being lost”, he indicated. In the opening session, the president of the FACM, the former European deputy, Vicent Garcés, stressed that “the intervention of external actors, throughout the Mediterranean, is not without consequences. Whether it is direct and violent interventions such as in Libya or Syria, or the persistent intervention in Palestine, breaking into a warlike conflict on the European continent, provoked by Russia, whose course is unpredictable but whose consequences are fatal”. For the FACM, “the general climate of this meeting is one of concern for the future that has nothing to do with those horizons of peace and solidarity of a few years ago,” he remarked.
Throughout the day, issues such as the crisis between Spain and Algeria were addressed, in the hands of the specialist, Fatma Boufenik, analyst of institutional structures, gender and economic and social development at the Mohamed Ben Ahmed Oran 2 University, as well as the situation of Moroccan women, from the perspective of the analyst Touria Eloumri. The food crisis to which the Mediterranean basin is headed as a result of the war in Ukraine had the keys of Maurizio Mariani, director of Eating City, member of the “Groupe de Bruges” and the Lebanese-based food specialist, Veronica Pecorella . The regional consequences of the war in Ukraine in chronic conflicts such as that in Syria or Libya have been analyzed by experts such as the Franco-Syrian political scientist Salam Kawakibi, director of the Arab Center for Research and Political Studies CAREP Paris, and the analyst specializing in Libya , Barah Mikail, Chief Strategy Officer. The role of Turkey in the current crisis at the regional level has also been addressed, through the contributions of the professor at Haliç University in Istanbul, Aylin Ünver Noi, a member of the Transatlantic Leadership Network.
The gear of the countries of the Western Balkans, specifically, the threat of a new conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the destabilization of the EU have had the analysis of the president for the International Center for Peace in Sarajevo, Ibrahim Spahic. The situation in Palestine has been reflected by Hassan Balawi, a diplomat and member of the Palestinian mission in Brussels. The event was attended by the philosopher Maria Donzzelli, from La Orientale University in Naples, the Tunisian human rights activist, Farah Hached, Ahmed Driss, president of the Center of Mediterranean and International Studies of Tunisia, the feminist trade unionist, Ofelia Vila and the scientist specializing in natural sciences of the Mediterranean and former director of the Museum of Natural Sciences of Valencia, Margarita Belinchón.
In this meeting, the Consultative Council of the FACM has insisted on a decalogue of recommendations to the Euro-Mediterranean institutions from the perspective of Mediterranean citizens and in favor of taking urgent measures in the face of famine, the energy and resource crisis that will be seen doomed millions of human beings, especially in the Mediterranean basin.
The ACM Foundation works actively to promote the democratic values of freedom, peace and respect for cultural diversity and environmental responsibility within the framework of a community of Mediterranean peoples.
In 2008 it began its journey as the Assembly of Citizens of the Mediterranean and in 2016 it was established as the ACM Foundation, establishing its headquarters in Valencia. Its fundamental objective is to bring the word and common citizen action of the Mediterranean peoples through dialogue, reflection and proposals within the framework of the Mediterranean peoples. The FACM promotes citizen diplomacy.