Advocacy Campaign: Building a Common Mediterranean Destiny

Dialogue with Civil Society for Rights and Equality in the ENI Southern Neighbourhood

To consolidate a common north-south vision of Mediterranean identity with the aim of formulating a road map toward a common Mediterranean destiny that involves CSO's, citizens and decision-makers, to ensure the Region plays an active role by bringing shared issues to the regional and institutional agenda and to cultivate a united, peaceful, socio-politically and economically just relationship among Mediterranean peoples and beyond.

The New Agenda for the Mediterranean (approved by the Council of the EU on 19th April 2021) coincides to a large extent with the five priority areas of action laid out by Union for Mediterranean (UfM) member states at the 5th UfM Regional Forum where it has also decided to dedicate the 28th of November as for the Day of the Mediterranean, launched by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs with a view to strengthening ties, promoting intercultural exchanges and embracing Euro-Mediterranean diversity.

Additionally, the pandemic has illustrated how disparate our ability is to meet health care needs, continue educating our youth, protect our most fragile citizens and economically assist those who are suffering the most as a result of the various policies in place to stop the virus' spread. Nonetheless, it has also underlined the common nature of the challenges, citizens and societies across the globe have been facing and shown us how interconnected we are: like climate change, viruses don't stop at the border. Moreover, as has been the case for centuries, culture has known no boundaries and, as a result, our Mediterranean is still the crossroads of humanity today.

In brief, the fulfillment of the Mediterranean "common destiny" is hindered by many obstacles and the importance given to this notion in building a prosperous and stable region tends to be excluded and/or minimized from the political regional agenda.

As a result, this factor has become the backdrop of the proposed advocacy campaign being conducted by partners from four countries: Italy, France, Lebanon and Palestine (Gaza); with activities involving at least five additional countries - Croatia, Libya, Morocco, Netherlands and Slovenia. In brief, the four partners involved will rely upon their large networks, consisting of many CSOs, NGOs, activists and journalists on both Mediterranean shores. Attention will be paid to engage the target audience localized on both Mediterranean shores, particularly the Southern one.
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