LOC21:02
18:02 GMT
BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (KUNA) -- President of the European Commission Jose Manuel
Barroso met here Wednesday the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay to discuss the current events in North Africa.
"We cannot afford to be passive spectators of events which are historic in
many aspects. Ultimately this is about people's deep quest for freedom,
justice, dignity, social and economic opportunities, and democracy, " said
Barroso in press statements after the meeting
He said the EU's executive body is bringing together a support package to
assist the transition to democracy, human rights and judicial reforms,
education and job creation in North Africa.
"We can also do it in supporting the actions of the office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations. Today we had a very
important discussion on these matters how we can support people, namely
directly the civil societies," he said.
Barroso noted that some people expressed in the past moral prejudice about
Arab culture, saying "do Arabs really care about democracy".
"I think young people of those countries are showing that they do not want
dictatorships. So the message we have to send to those countries and to the
young people is that we are with them in their fight for human dignity, human
rights and democracy," he said.
Regarding Libya, Barroso said: "It is intolerable to see the army using
force against civilians as we have been seeing during the last days. I think
we have to demand from the Libyan authorities very clearly that they stop
violence, tell them that repression is not the solution and that we will
support the aspirations of the Libyan people." (end)
nk.gb
KUNA 232102 Feb 11NNNN