ROSE-ROTH/ GSM / ESCTER

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NATO Parl iamentary Assembly

91st ROSE-ROTH SEMINAR

MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST SPECIAL GROUP

SUB-COMMITTEE ON TRANSATLANTIC ECONOMIC RELATIONS

SEMINAR REPORT

RABAT, MOROCCO

20 – 22 APRIL 2016

www.nato-pa.int June 2016

This Seminar Report is presented for information only and does not necessarily represent the official view of the Assembly. This report was prepared by Paul Cook, Director of the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

I. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1

II. PERSPECTIVES ON THE MIGRATION CHALLENGE............................................................2

III. MOROCCO: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRIORITIES..........................................................3

IV. THE FIGHT AGAINST EXTREMISM........................................................................................5

V. SECURITY SECTOR REFORM................................................................................................6

VI. THE LIBYAN CHALLENGE AND SECURITY IN THE SAHEL.................................................7

VII. HUMAN SECURITY IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT...........................................................8

VIII. THE CHALLENGE OF CORRUPTION.....................................................................................9

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I. INTRODUCTION

1. From 20 to 22 April 2016, parliamentarians from NATO, Associate, Mediterranean Associate, Observer and guest countries gathered in Rabat for a joint Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group and Rose-Roth Seminar. The meeting was generously hosted by the Moroccan parliament. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly and its members greatly appreciated the efforts made by Morocco’s two chambers of parliament and their speakers, the Moroccan delegation to the NATO PA and the staff of the two Chambers to make this event such a great success.

2. The two speakers of the Moroccan parliament opened the meetings. Rachid Talbi El-Alami, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, suggested that the seminar was taking place at a moment of great tension both in the MENA region and in Europe. He noted that many of the predictions about the international order that were made in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall have not transpired. He suggested that there were several enduring problems that continue to undermine regional and global security, including the failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the ongoing refugee crisis. He suggested that terrorism today ranks among the greatest threats to regional and global security.

3. Daesh has managed to escalate this threat through its control of territory and its capacity to generate income. The international community now needs to come up with a multifaceted strategy to counter its influence and weaken its presence. This is not simply a military matter but also demands improvements in education and training in order to bolster the capacity of communities and regions to counter its encroachment. Repressive measures will only expand the influence of Daesh. In this sense, parliamentarians have an important role to play. Morocco has made development a key priority and has opened up its society which has proved critical to its capacity to fend off the terrorist threat.

4. Hakim Benchamach, the speaker of the House of Councillors, noted that Morocco has become a key partner for Europe and North America in the fight against terrorism and has employed a de-radicalisation strategy to reinforce Moroccan civil society. The goal has been to strengthen peaceful religious values and encourage broad tolerance. This is all part of the Moroccan model of anti-terrorism and the government is prepared to share what it has learned with NATO and partner countries. At the same time, it is important to ask why terrorism has surged and become such a serious challenge in so many countries. Mr Benchamach also sees sustainable economic development and greater levels of human security as critical to countering the growth of terrorism. Unemployed young people are at risk and the prospect of employment and a decent living standard will reduce this risk.

5. Gilbert Le Bris, the Chairman of the GSM, thanked the Moroccan parliament and the speakers of the two chambers for hosting the Seminar, and the Swiss government for its continued support of Rose-Roth Seminars. He mentioned the long list of countries that have recently suffered serious terrorist attacks. He noted that one way to begin to fight back was to encourage democratic dialogue and cross-border exchanges. Massimo Baggi, the Swiss Ambassador to Morocco, suggested that Morocco’s partnership with NATO in the framework of the Mediterranean Dialogue has been a critical security link in the region. He discussed Swiss efforts to support dialogue in the region as well as its important role in countering the financing of terrorism.

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II. PERSPECTIVES ON THE MIGRATION CHALLENGE

6. Laura Thompson, the Deputy Director General of the International Organization on Migration, gave the keynote address for the seminar. She stressed that while the security dimension of the migration crisis is important, it is not the most compelling issue related to the mass movement of people. This is above all a humanitarian crisis. She added that although hundreds of thousands of refugees have arrived in Europe, many through Greece and Italy, this is not simply a European problem. Similar movements are taking place elsewhere in the world and the host countries are far poorer than Europe. In all cases, those fleeing the depredations of war have a right to protection and the international community has an obligation under international law to provide this protection. She noted that what is taking place in the Mediterranean today is a mixed migration phenomenon, with some economic migrants mixed into the great mass of refugees fleeing war and violence. That said, 90% of those arriving in Greece are victims of war. These refugees are fleeing conflict from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq among other places. As a result of the war, 11.5 million Syrians have been displaced within that country and 4.8 million of these have left the country. Many are in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan as well as Iraq and Egypt. Refugees now account for one quarter of Lebanon’s population and Jordan is also much burdened.

7. Europe’s burden is relatively insignificant compared to that of Syria’s neighbours. Europe has a combined population of 550 million and so the arrival of one or two million refugees into Europe can certainly be managed. However, the crisis has revealed weaknesses in the screening and asylum systems in Europe. These need to be strengthened in order to reassure European publics that their governments have the capacity to handle these flows in a safe, regulated and effective manner. Ambassador Thompson suggested that parliamentarians have a critical role to play in this regard. As long as there is serious instability in the Middle East, it is likely that there will be a flow of refugees to Europe and it is now important to establish how this will be managed. She cited the policy of Canada as a very successful model. Its strong capacity to control the influx of refugees has allowed it to bring in many more than originally anticipated. Europe also needs to show an even greater level of solidarity with countries such as Greece which has been overwhelmed by an influx of refugees at a moment when its economy has been seriously weakened by a financial crisis.

8. Europe also needs to alter its labour markets to accommodate this influx of people. It is currently very difficult to integrate these refugees into many European markets, but failing to do so only adds to the burdens both on the host societies and on the refugees themselves. It also leads to the creation of illegal labour markets, which undercut the legal market and lead to exploitation. Europe, she said, needs a safe and regularised labour-importing strategy to better accommodate itself to the new reality. This could help transform the refugee crisis into a genuine and unparalleled opportunity for greater integration and more effective labour markets. Ms Thompson also stressed the need for even deeper cooperation on migration issues between Europe and the countries of the region. More work is needed to properly identify those arriving in Europe, and here government-to-government cooperation is essential.

9. In a later address Mr Cavalieri suggested that migration flows are highly complex and people are driven to migrate for a broad range of reasons. Syria is a particularly important source of migrants today because of the very tragic conflict in that country. Economically inspired migration in the region is currently less important than that driven by conflict.

10. At the time of the seminar, Europe had experienced a drop in migratory flows from Turkey as many of the routes had been sealed, while movement across the Central Mediterranean was on the rise. Crossing the Mediterranean is highly risky and it is probable that thousands have died in transit either across the Mediterranean or across dry deserts. Many of those arriving in Europe now are also from the Sahel and Maghreb. At the same time there has been an upsurge of

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economic migrants into Morocco, many from countries where wealth is very poorly distributed. Morocco has made an important burden-sharing contribution and has made a great effort to regularise the status of those refugees who have arrived in the country.

11. The scale of these movements is virtually unprecedented in the region and the displacement of people is expected to be a long-lasting problem. The burden on the countries around Lebanon is particularly grave and Lebanon and Jordan have reached saturation point. UNHCR has worked to help meet the basic needs of those refugees in countries around Syria but confronts budgetary constraints that impinge on its capacity to do so. Mr Cavalieri indicated as well that Europe certainly has the capacity and the means to accept more refugees and that it needs to work together to find solutions. Current disagreements among EU members have hindered progress on this front.

12. Ahmed Skim, the Director of Migration Affairs in the Ministry of Moroccans Living Abroad described a range of programmes Morocco has adopted to streamline migrant and refugee processing and facilitate their integration into Moroccan society. It has premised its approach on the notion of shared responsibility with key roles to be played by parliament, civil society, the business community and international organisations. It has also sought to strengthen south-south and regional cooperation to build an international unity of purpose and shared policies.

13. Those refugees and migrants that arrive in Morocco are thoroughly screened but once their status has been regularised, every effort is made to extend to them the rights and privileges that all Moroccans enjoy. The government has sought to facilitate an inter-ministerial dialogue on these issues. The state has printed guide books to help newly arrived migrants navigate the support systems that Morocco has put in place to facilitate their integration. Efforts are also undertaken to assess the skills of these migrants and to prepare them for integration into the workforce.

III. MOROCCO: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRIORITIES

14. Mbarka Bouaida, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation outlined several key priorities for the Moroccan Government. He suggested that the top priority for the country is security. It also sees cultivating an effective south-south dialogue as critical. Morocco pulled out of the African Union but is now working to deepen its ties with many African regions including the Sahel. It has been a key investor in the region and is particularly focused on the banking, social support, telephone and communication sectors. Morocco is also consolidating its role in regional organisations while strengthening the country’s democratic culture. Morocco has been a regional leader in seeking solutions to the Libyan crisis, and supports the national unity government. Morocco remains very active in the Arab world more generally and has engaged on the Palestinian issue, and the conflict in Yemen, and worked to find solutions for both. It has become a strategic partner of the GCC.

15. Morocco has a very close and healthy partnership with the EU and signed a strategic partnership agreement with that organisation in 1996. The European Court of Justice, however, has cancelled the fishing and farming agreement, although this is now under appeal. Morocco is working to find a solution to this problem but cooperation has been suspended until the matter is resolved. Morocco is also seeking to open up to Latin America, Asia and North America. It has close and historic ties with the United States and hopes to deepen bilateral cooperation with a number of countries.

16. Abdelaziz El Omari, Minister in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society, opened by noting that the uprisings throughout the MENA region in 2009 made the imperative to reform all the more apparent. Morocco has sought to do this, beginning with the adoption of a

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new constitution in 2011. The justice system has been restructured and elections last year accorded local and regional authorities more powers than they previously had. Efforts have also been made to modernise the social support system to put it on a more sustainable path. The pension system has been restructured as it was slated to run out of funding in 2020. Morocco could not wait for this to transpire to begin the reforms but these have been politically difficult. The government is also working to strengthen human rights, prevent discriminatory practices and foster an environment conducive to the exercise of journalistic freedoms. On the economic front, Morocco has managed to reduce the public deficit and this, combined with a range of other reforms has helped the country increase its international competitiveness. Morocco has faced a significant increase in immigration in recent years and has taken a number of measures to legalise their status and integrate these people into the national economy. It has opened registration offices across the country.

17. Joseph Bahout, a Visiting Scholar from the Middle East Programme of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, opened his remarks by suggesting that the crisis in the Middle East should be examined at the local, regional and international levels. Any frank assessment of the MENA region leads to the conclusion that it is profoundly broken and paying the price of 50 years of deep dysfunction and poor governance. The international community now appears obsessed with Daesh, but Daesh is a symptom of the region’s illness and not its cause, and it mirrors a series of distortions. The social contract between state and society is broken and the region suffers from a serious paucity of good governance. The rule of law is weak, government accountability is virtually non-existent, corruption is pervasive and black markets abound. The parties are fake and obfuscate the fact that there is no political pluralism. Throughout the region, authoritarian governments marginalised a broad array of political forces and tendencies that expressed legitimate public aspirations and this has led to radicalisation. Today there is a place for political Islam in the region, even if Jihadist violence is unacceptable. But violence and terrorism are at least partly a function of exclusion. Many in the West discount these problems and suggest that democracy in this region simply will not work. But this kind of fatalism lies at the root of the problem.

18. State fragmentation represents a growing problem throughout the region, and this partly reflects the failure to build pluralist governance structures. This failure has only exacerbated the sectarian divide, fostered regional disputes and has been an element in regional violence and conflict. Decentralisation and federalisation may be the only way to address these problems.

19. Some blame the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for the region’s woes. This is partly a distraction but there is also an element of truth to this linkage. That conflict nourishes the narrative of radicalisation and, for example, inspires foreign fighters to flock to Syria to join Daesh. The most extreme movements in the region continue to exploit this narrative for propaganda purposes, and do so because this works. At the same time, this obsession with an old conflict distracts attention from new and even more profound conflicts that are now ripping the region apart. Mounting Sunni-Shia tensions throughout the region are more strategically consequential and potentially devastating. This conflict is playing out in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and the Gulf. This promises to be highly destabilising and augurs for a very dangerous decade to come.

20. The old architecture of stability is now at risk. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt were the pillars of the old order but all three confront serious challenges that make it more difficult for them to play this role. Egypt is highly unstable and Saudi Arabia confronts serious internal challenges and must cope with a changing Iran. New players like Qatar are seeking an expanded role while trans-national actors like Hezbollah have become important strategic players. This suggests that the old architecture is no longer valid but nothing has replaced it to stabilise the region. As a result, the regional system, for what it’s worth, is poorly structured to cope with a myriad of mounting structural problems.

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21. The international system writ large is also a factor in the region’s mounting instability. The United States appears to be retreating from the region. President Obama’s interview in The Atlantic suggested that he no longer sees the United States as a superpower saddled with unique obligations to maintain global peace. It is rather one of several powers which need to be engaged but alone is not in a position to shape outcomes. The implication is that the United States is retrenching and willing to cede some playing fields to other actors. At the same time, an ever more aggressive Russia is seeking to fill the vacuum or at least regain some of the space it lost at the end of the Cold War. This is hardly a formula for achieving regional stability. President Putin has every interest in weakening the European project and trans-Atlantic solidarity and he is doubtless aware that the refugee crisis is having this effect. This migration crisis is poisoning solidarity among allies and providing fodder for extremist parties opposed to the European project, some of which have established links to Russia.

22. Europe is also in the midst of serious change and the refugee crisis is partly driving this change. Indeed, that crisis has exposed serious weaknesses in Europe’s architecture and this could yet precipitate a serious institutional crisis on the continent. It is perhaps a sign of the times that Washington seems utterly indifferent to what is transpiring in Europe even though these changes could well undermine the Atlantic Alliance. But instead of moving toward solutions to these challenges, the international system seems to be moving towards a deeper accumulation of problems. The coming decade could be a very bloody one as a result.

23. Nicola de Santis, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Section at NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division, opened his remarks by pointing to the admirable fashion in which Morocco has maintained stability in a period of grave regional uncertainty. It has, he added, become a vital partner for NATO in the region. He then discussed the role that NATO has sought to play in building regional security, although he noted that its capacity to shape events in the region was limited. NATO had intervened in the Libyan conflict at the request of the GCC and other countries in the region but there was little interest in the international community to see this project through and the situation in Libya remains deeply unstable and worrying as a result. NATO cannot provide the broad support to stabilise a country in the wake of a serious conflict and this is where a range of other international and local actors must act.

24. NATO is prepared to contribute to regional stability, but the region’s stability is ultimately not NATO’s responsibility. The countries of the region are critical to building stability. It is also important to recognise that the countries of the region have assisted NATO in Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina share an interest in regional stability with NATO member governments. NATO recognises that this partnership can only work if the region’s defense and security systems are accountable and transparent and it has worked with its regional partners to reinforce these systems.

IV. THE FIGHT AGAINST EXTREMISM

25. Francois Burgat, the Research Director at CNRS (French National Scientific Research Centre) suggested that in the discussions about stabilising the region and coping with the terrorist challenge, there has been too much focus on the notion of reinforcing moderate Islam. Terrorism is the product of profound dysfunction at the global and national levels. Ignoring this by focusing the narrative on the nature of Islam and the way groups interpret it is a distraction.

26. Mr Burgat suggested that the signs of failure abound. After years of engagement in Afghanistan, that country remains mired in serious instability and the Taliban remains as powerful as ever. Counter-terrorism in that country appears to have failed because it has addressed the wrong set of issues. Throughout the Middle East, radicals, who were once operating on the far edge of society, are now very much at the centre in countries like Iraq, Syria, Mali and Yemen.

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The problem is that many citizens in those countries see the extremists as no worse than the ruling authorities. This has to be recognised before solutions can even be imagined. Focusing on the religious dimension of this problem is more a distraction than a help. Religions can produce contemplative monks or warrior monks, Sufi or Salafists. The key question is, why, and Mr Burgat indicated the answer lies in politics and governance. Propping up moderate clerics will not solve these more fundamental problems. Fake elites have no resonance in their societies and they can distract attention from the more serious problems in many of these societies. Another problem has been the fear the international community has of local cultures in the region. There has been a tendency to see Islamic culture as fundamentality antithetical to modernity.

27. Khalid Saqi, Director of the Mohammed VI Institute for Koranic Lectures and Studies, suggested that Islam in Morocco has shown itself to be flexible and tolerant. Moroccan culture is rooted in respect for the Koran but gives ample space to the realities of the world and the need for rational thought. The Moroccan Kingdom has played an important role in this respect and has long held to the notion that the King is the Commander of the Faithful. This role persisted even during the years of French occupation and is a continuity that defines the Moroccan nation.

28. The State has thus been able to structure the faith in ways that some other countries have not. The Higher Council of Ulemas is the only body that can issue Fatwas and the King is directly involved in this process. Individuals do not issue Fatwas and the process is highly structured, stable, and an important element of the constitutional monarchy. The State plays an important role in supporting Koranic institutions that train imams and theologians. It is also working with a range of African countries on Islamic training and there is a great deal of interest in the work Morocco is doing on this front.

V. SECURITY SECTOR REFORM

29. Robert Perito, Director of the Perito Group, opened his remarks by suggesting that police reform was a key theme of the Arab uprisings, but that reform in the police sector had not advanced as far as it should have throughout the region. In fact, police forces essentially stopped working during those protests or they became highly cautious. In many cases, criminals took over the streets as police initially refrained from using force. This led to a backlash which actually hindered police reform. Some NGOs pushing social change actually opted to support order over police and security sector reform. It is never easy to reform the security sector while providing security and this has proved to be the case in much of the MENA region. Authoritarian regimes in the region had built interlocking security agencies as well as networks of informers. Much of this structure has remained in place and, in turn, has hindered reform. Of course, the challenge has differed across countries. In Libya, for example, security institutions have simply collapsed and militia groups filled the gap. Everything in that country must now be built up from scratch.

30. Security sector reform is impossible if civil society is not directly engaged in the conversation. It is a process and takes time to conceive of and implement essential changes. It is also a process that theoretically involves whole government discussions because the security sector lies at the very core of the state and parliaments must be engaged. Such discussions risk becoming too all-encompassing. It might be useful therefore, to begin with border police reform. Borders throughout the region are porous and control is often corrupt. This has become a genuine security challenge and change in this single area could have positive spillover effects.

31. It is also essential to conceive of the police as protectors of the community rather than explicitly as anti-terrorist forces. Police need to reassure the community that they understand the community’s needs. This is the way to foster dialogue with society and that dialogue is essential to building stability, social trust and, in some instances, to generate information for countering extremist groups. That information will not flow to the authorities if there is no trust in the police.

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32. Arnold Luethold, Assistant Director and Head of the Operations in the MENA Region, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), noted that one of the problems of reform since the outbreak of protests in 2009 has been the level of political upheaval. Tunisia has had six prime ministers and eight Ministers of Interior over the past seven years and genuine reform is very difficult in the midst of such turmoil. Reforms of the security and justice sectors are among the most consequential and daunting, but it is difficult to execute these reforms when governments suffer a legitimacy deficit and are not seen to be delivering essential public services. By comparison, Western governments suffer far lower public legitimacy deficits and this makes it easier to deliver change. The challenge is far more daunting in the MENA region. Building legitimacy is essential.

33. There are signs that important security sector reforms are underway in some countries in the region. Morocco, for example, is moving in the right direction and deserves strong international support. The need for reform is urgent as the population of the MENA region is slated to rise substantially over the next several decades at a time when economic resources appear to be dwindling. This is extremely worrying and stability will hinge on broad reform that invests the region’s governments with the kind of self-sustaining legitimacy that many do not currently possess.

34. Obviously parliaments have a key role to play in this regard. But parliaments need support and expertise to carry out this function. Proper staffing and information is critical in order for parliaments to properly control both police and other security forces as there is a long history of deference to the military. That deference needs to be overcome. Parliaments must also listen closely to the views of civil society on these matters.

VI. THE LIBYAN CHALLENGE AND SECURITY IN THE SAHEL

35. Abdellatif Erroja, Director for the Greater Maghreb and Region and Union of the Arab Maghreb Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, suggested that Morocco has played a pivotal role in the Sahel and the Maghreb and sees these as regions of central strategic importance. Its goal is to foster a climate conducive to promoting peace and security in the region. It bases its approach on the notions of mutual respect, good neighbourly relations, non-involvement in the domestic affairs of the region’s countries, and the use of international treaties as a foundation for conflict resolution. It is a particularly credible partner as it shares religious and cultural links that facilitate dialogue. 36. Libya now poses a threat to the entire region and Morocco has worked to facilitate conflict resolution efforts. Libya has asked Morocco to host the new rounds of consultations among the stakeholders in that country. It has also moderated peace talks in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa has emerged as a key foreign policy priority for the kingdom. Part of this dialogue is religious and Morocco has trained over 500 imams in the Sahel both as an expression of religious solidarity and to build an enduring peace in the region by countering extremist interpretations of the Koran. Morocco is now the leading investor in the region and believes that its investments will contribute to the Sahel’s economic and social development. It is also seeking to counter illegal economic activity in the region and is working with an array of partners for this end. This effort is essential to building a more integrated, outwardly focused and secure region.

37. The encroachment of Daesh in Libya and the Sahel, however, poses a genuine threat to this effort, according to Andrea Manciulli who presented the first iteration of the 2016 Report of the Mediteranean and Middle East Special Group. It differs profoundly from Al Qaeda which was elitist and had no aspirations to build a state in the near term. Daesh is committed to doing so and it has managed to attract thousands of adherents from outside the region to support this effort.

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Many of the foreign fighters are actually very ignorant of religious matters and simply accept the Daesh narrative in an unquestioning fashion. That narrative is propagated in a very sophisticated fashion and it has managed to win the hearts and minds of many alienated young people seeking purpose and vocation. This is an asymmetrical media war that cannot simply be countered by military means. The international community needs to support the Arab world’s efforts to cope with this threat. Daesh is flourishing in ungoverned spaces and has effectively captured parts of Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Yemen where state authority is remote or non-existent. So the challenge is geographic as well as social. It is important to recognise that an empty space can also be a marginalised urban suburb where young people in particular feel socially, economically and politically excluded.

38. There are also important differences. Whereas Daesh in Iraq is largely a local phenomenon and thus controlled by Iraqis, in Libya foreign fighters are running the show. Many of those now operating in Libya were recruited through extremely violent videos shown over the internet. Still the aspirations for a caliphate are real and Daesh has deployed savagery and extreme violence as a means to control territory. It judges its own success on the land it conquers and controls. 39. There are local extremist groups operating in Libya as well, of which Ansar al Sharia is the most noted. This was the group that attacked the US Consulate in Benghazi. The grave challenge posed by Daesh is that it does not require a great many fighters to have profound social and political impacts. This was the case in Tunisia as well as in Paris and Brussels.

40. So far Daesh in Libya has not managed to gain access to the oil and gas fields but this could change and should be a source of concern. There is tribal resistance to this scenario in Libya but the situation needs to be watched closely and Libya requires support both from the region and from the international community more generally. It is essential that tribalism and Daesh have no opportunity to fuse. Tribal traditions should be understood as a potential source of strength in Libya and not simply a hindrance to national unity and the construction of a viable state. Failure to understand this risks the catastrophic radicalisation of Libyan tribal communities.

41. Daesh is a multi-headed hydra and it needs to be countered culturally and socially as well as through military means. It has thrived where there are serious problems of justice and access to a decent life. It can be countered both in Syria and in Libya but it is unlikely to vanish. The struggle will be long-term and it must be carried out in a variegated fashion. Daesh is not only a group appropriating the forms of statehood in several countries, it is also about lone wolves and sleeper cells in Europe. This points to the complexity of the problem.

VII. HUMAN SECURITY IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

42. Mohamed Abdelraouf, the Sustainability Programme Manager at the Gulf Research Centre, noted that the MENA region confronts two broad categories of environmental challenges. There are traditional challenges such as desertification, water scarcity, and oil-industry-related pollution. But there are also burgeoning challenges in the form of climate change, population growth and urbanisation. For centuries people of the region managed to achieve a kind of harmony with the often harsh climate in which they lived. They did so by employing traditional knowledge and techniques including irrigation and traditional water management systems. These techniques were intelligent, sustainable and they worked. Homes were built to keep the heat out and provide adequate ventilation but this architecture has been subsumed by modern building techniques which lead to far more energy intensive and less environmentally-sustainable housing. Cities in the region have grown terribly congested, air and water pollution have become serious problems, and transport systems are further burdening the region’s environment. Waste management in the region’s chaotic and very large cities has become a major problem and a source of both grievance and political mobilisation. There have been massive environmental

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demonstrations both in Lebanon and Iraq in recent years and the public is terribly frustrated with government capacity to manage these problems.

43. The MENA region is also very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Millions live along the coastline and rising seas could eventually pose very serious challenges to these coastal regions. Thirty five per cent of the region’s coral reefs have been destroyed. The amount of available usable water per person has fallen precipitously and water supplies are at serious risk. The quality of water is also eroding.

44. Clearly climate change is already affecting the region in myriad ways and one cannot discount the idea that it has played a part in regional instability. Droughts in 2006 and 2011 may well have driven the social tensions that led to political turmoil. In a country like Egypt, environmental issues have been a catalyst for political activism. Moreover these are the kinds of issues that evade the sectarian divide and have the potential to unite citizens and become a focus for civil society activism. The problem, of course, is that civil society remains relatively underdeveloped in much of the region. There is also ample space here for international cooperation and support. This makes sense at many levels, not least of which is that the international community has a direct stake in the region’s environment.

VIII. THE CHALLENGE OF CORRUPTION

45. Abdelali El Berria, General Inspector ad interim, the Ministry of Economics and Finance, spoke on the Corruption-Security Nexus. He suggested that corruption represents a critical challenge to regional security and combating it is a key priority for the reform effort underway in Morocco. He mentioned various forms of corruption as defined by the United Nations, including the abuse of power, the abuse of communal property, illegal self-enrichment and the laundering of criminally-procured assets. Corruption not only weakens public services, it is a drain on public resources and generates social tension and frustration with the state. It also undermines meritocratic practices. Morocco ratified the UN Convention against corruption in 2003 and has sought to align its national legislative framework with its principles. The goal from the onset has been to strengthen governance. Morocco also played a leading role in the Marrakesh Declaration on Prevention of Corruption (2011) on the fight against corruption. Morocco is also working with the OECD, the EU and the Council of Europe on matters pertaining to corruption.

46. Morocco also recognises that the fight against corruption is tightly linked to the fight against terrorist finance. Weak governance and corruption constitute, in themselves, security threats and corrupt practices can lead to the flow of financial assets to terrorist groups. It can also facilitate drug, weapons and human trafficking, all of which are central financial activities for terrorist groups.

47. Rachid Filali Meknassi, Member of the Board of Transparency Maroc, also spoke about the links between terrorism and governance. He suggested however that terrorism does not create war but rather is the product of war. He noted that the war in Iraq marks a turning point in regional stability, which has declined precipitously since that war started in 2003. He pointed out that terrorism is proliferating in regions in which there is no democratic governance. He suggested that there were many countries in the region that fail to distinguish between what is public and what is private. Millions are paying the price for this as corruption has become a key source of poverty and under-development in the region. The MENA region is plagued by a highly unequal distribution of wealth and corruption is exacerbating this serious economic, social and political problem. Military spending outpaces spending on health and education in a number of the most corrupt countries and security measures are restricting human freedoms. This is only expanding the gap between leaders and the public. Again, this is creating a fecund environment for extremism and the region’s development model is losing credibility.

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48. Rachid Talbi El-Alami, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Hakim Benchamach, the Speaker of the House of Councillors, concluded the seminar by summarising several of the key themes that emerged during the discussions. Among these were the contributions to regional security that Morocco is undertaking to cope both with the refugee and terrorist problems. Morocco is reaching out to work more closely with its immediate neighbours, the countries in the Gulf and NATO member governments to find multinational solutions to what are in effect multinational challenges. Europe, the MENA region and North America should consider deradicalisation efforts as a critical component of their national security postures. At the same time, democratic values should never be compromised in the fight against terrorism. To make such compromises is to concede a moral victory to the terrorist themselves. Economic and social development should also be included in any effort to build greater security. Finally the Speakers generously thanked all of those who had worked to organise the meeting.

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