News
Mediterranean Programme - [10/01/2008]
Human rights in the Mediterranean: value or interest?
On 25 September, the CIDOB Foundation held a debate workshop to discuss Spain's policy in the area of promoting human rights in the Mediterranean. The workshop was structured around the presentation of a research study by Laura Feliu, Lecturer in International Relations at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and which tackled both theoretical aspects and the analysis of specific cases over the period 1996-2007.
In her presentation, Laura Feliu argues for an analytical model to explain why, in some cases, policies for promoting human rights can have greater or lesser impact. As Feliu explained, this is a paradigmatic area that concerns the paradox of foreign policy given that "the greater capacity for pressure that a State has over the government of a third country, the more interests tend to be at stake and, as a consequence, the more dangerous it can be to exert such pressure”. The Mediterranean is a priority area for Spanish interests, and is an area in which violations of fundamental freedoms are the order of the day. Therefore, it is a case that is particularly important for understanding Spain's policy with respect to the promotion of human rights.
During her presentation, Feliu placed particular emphasis on the actors that are capable of placing pressure on governments to encourage them to pay greater attention to this problem, by highlighting the weakness of the associative network in Spain, apart from a few exceptions (Sahara and Palestine). Feliu's presentation was discussed, firstly, by David Bondia, Director of the Institute of Human Rights of Catalonia. Among other points, Bondia stressed that we do not only need an analytical model, but also a model for action in foreign policy, and he highlighted the need for a law to control foreign policy, as well as the need to increase parliamentary and citizen control over same. The second commentator was Elvira Sánchez, Lecturer in International Relations at the Barcelona Institute for International Studies. Sánchez discussed the implications for human rights promotion policy in the case of relations of unequal interdependence, and the relationship between values and interests when it comes to formulating foreign policy.
Subsequently, this issue was widely debated by other participants in the debate workshop. While some analysts claimed that progress would only be achieved when human rights are viewed as interests, others argued that we should be championing a foreign policy that prioritises specific values over and above interests. In the debate in which they participated, Joan Vintró, of the University of Barcelona, Joan Roura, of Televisió de Catalunya and Helena Oliván, of the Office for the Promotion of Peace and Human Rights of the Generalitat of Catalonia, among others, also questioned the level of preparation of Spanish diplomacy, the role of the economic actors and Spain’s true capacity to have an influence on the multilateral framework.
