“The Middle East conflict has been a key driver for various forms of intercommunity hatred, dehumanisation of the ‘other’ and radicalisation for many decades. The ongoing escalation since 7th October 2023 has brought the polarisation to unprecedented levels.
It is time for civil society across the Euro-Mediterranean region to come together for a constructive, fact-based, and inclusive discussion on how to counter this dangerous trend, which undermines social cohesion, and intergroup relations and thwarts regional peace efforts.”
For this reason, On October 26 and 27, 2024, IEMed and the EEAS have convened the EuroMed Civil Society Conference “Reclaiming our shared humanity – Promoting mutual understanding and countering polarisation in the Euro-Mediterranean region”. ALDA was invited to share our experiences in the panel “From Polarisation to ‘Re-humanisation’, Deradicalisation and Peacebuilding: Enabling Women’s Agency”.
In this context, Giulia Sostero – Coordinator of the Middle East & Africa Department, could present the two EU-funded projects PARFAIT – PARticipation des Femmes pour l’Avancement et l’Innovation de la Tunisie (Participation of Women for the Advancement and Innovation of Tunisia) and WE ACT – Women Empowerment and ACTion in politics and media. These two projects, implemented respectively in Tunisia from 2017 to 2020 and in Turkey from January 2023 and ongoing, both aim at women empowerment in politics and public life at the local level, and had a similar structure of activities, involving local partners in capacity building activities, accompanying women candidates to the municipal elections in both countries, and managing a sub-granting scheme benefitting grassroot women NGOs.
Especially through the sub-granted projects, these two projects present many examples on how women can be further empowered as actors of policy-making and community building, therefore contributing to peacebuilding. Both projects also helped us draw some takeaways that feel more necessary than ever to be reminded in an extremely conflictual context: an unequal society cannot be peaceful, and no peacebuilding effort can be successful and legitimate without the meaningful involvement of half of the society it seeks to target. In both countries, we could also see great examples of solidarity as the main value driving collaboration, and overcoming political differences among women candidates.
The Euro-Med Civil Society Conference has represented a great space for reflection and dialogue on the involvement of youth and the role of media in the increasing polarisation of Euro-Mediterranean societies. Institutional speakers, such as Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, as well as HRH Princess Rym Ali, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, have taken the stage to share their deep engagement in fighting against the worrying inhumanity which is permeating political choices and reactions to the conflict. Indeed, this commitment by institutions is vital for peace to be sustainable, along with the recognition of the key role of civil society organisations both on the ground and at the international level.
The main speeches and outcomes of the conference are available at this link
The event culminated with the formulation of the Barcelona Declaration on Reclaiming our Shared Humanity, a collective engagement to hold on to the values that keep us together. As ALDA, we have also collectively formulated and published a Statement on the ongoing conflict in Palestine and Lebanon: ALDA condemns the ongoing human rights violations in Palestine and Lebanon, and calls for an immediate ceasefire. As ALDA, we advocate for a long-term solution of the conflict based on peaceful coexistence, supported by international institutions, that will allow all Palestinians and Israelis, as well as Lebanese people, to live in dignity.
