Archive / Other publications
The EU strategy for Central Asia: promoting democracy and human rights
07/12/2007 By Publicaciones FRIDE
On 19 November 2007 FRIDE organised a seminar entitled the EU Strategy for Central Asia: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights. The event featured speakers from the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, key international organisations dealing with Central Asia as well as NGO representatives from the region.
The seminar was organised with the generous support of the Human Rights Department of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation while FRIDE liaised closely with the Open Society Institute (OSI) in New York and Brussels.
The European Union (EU) is a latecomer to Central Asia. The war on terrorism and the importance of energy security have increased the profile of Central Asia in Brussels. The five former Soviet republics are governed by authoritarian regimes (except Kyrgyzstan that is doing better but has weak state institutions). Together they present a complex challenge for the EU in areas such as energy interests, security concerns, human rights and democratisation in a region that is also subject to the geopolitical interests of Russia, China and the US.
The rationale behind the FRIDE event was to assess the EU position after a Strategy for Central Asia was published this summer under the German EU Presidency. Moreover, the seminar aimed to provide policy recommendations for increased cooperation and EU assistance to Central Asia.
Lastly, the OSCE’s role in Central Asia was debated since all the Central Asian states are members of the organisation and it has been involved in the region for a longer time through its field missions. There are clear opportunities to coordinate OSCE and EU efforts, especially in the field of democratisation and human rights.
Download the full version of this publication, available in English (74 kB)
To read or listen to the comments of our experts in the media about this and other topics, please visit our Press section.
Keywords
Azerbaijan Belarus Central Asia and Russia Democracy Democracy promotion EU Human rights Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan UzbekistanRelated publications
Bio author: Publicaciones FRIDE
'Publicaciones FRIDE' is the byline used whenever a publication doesn't have a specific author.
