ly a week after assuming the presidency of Liberal International, Hans van Baalen MEP is leading a high level delegation to several Central American states. Other members of the delegation include Juli Minoves, Deputy President, Josep Soler, Bureau Member and Emil Kirjas, Secretary General.

The first stop of the tour is Nicaragua, a state where democracy is under threat by the unconstitutional and totalitarian attitudes of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega.

Van Baalen urged all Nicaraguan liberals to unite, not to work with Daniel Ortega and to put forward one candidate for the 2011 Presidential elections. Liberal International will support the liberal leader who is chosen as the Presidential candidate through a free and fair process.

‘Liberals have to defend the Nicaraguan Constitution which Ortega violates. Liberal International will return on the invitation of all the liberal leaders present today, in order to advise and assist them in realising further cooperation and unity’, said President Van Baalen.

Mr. Van Baalen met with the liberal leaders of Nicaragua at the InterContinental hotel in Managua. The meeting was arranged though the invitation of Eduardo Montealegre, and participants included: Indalecio Rodríguez, President of Partido Liberal Independiente; Alejandro Mejía, President of Alianza Liberal Nicaraüense and Arnoldo Alemán, former President of the Republic from Partido Liberal Constitucionalista. Liberal International was also represented by Bureau Member Josep Soler and Secretary General Emil Kirjas. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty was represented by Ulrich Wacker, Regional Director for Latin America and Christian Lüth, Director for Central America.

Liberal International

The core theme of the 56th Liberal International Congress in Cairo is education and its relationship to democracy, which has enabled participants from around the world to cover a wide range of issues from communications technology to religion. This is the first time that the Congress has  been held in Egypt, which is a tribute to our hosts, the Democratic Front Party (DFP), which was only formally launched two years ago. When I first discussed the possibility of a new, genuinely liberal, modern party in Egypt with Dr Osama Al Ghazali Harb a few years ago, it was far from certain that it would be allowed to exist (new parties need permission from a commission which is effectively run by the ruling party of President Hosni Mubarak, the National Democratic Party or NDP). Moreover, at the time another small liberal party, El Ghad, had been seriously undermined by the fact that its leader and former presidential candidate, Ayman Nour, was in prison. Perhaps partly because of pressure from Washington, however, the Egyptian government has allowed a certain amount of democratic openness, though within definite strict limits. And the harrassment of some opposition groups continues.

Anyway, the DFP was set up and has managed to attract some high profile members and supporters. Despite an attempt by somebody with a hidden agenda wrongfully to smear the Democratic Front as anti-semitic on the eve of the Congress, the party was welcomed into full membership of Liberal International yesterday. El Ghad (already a member) is also represented here. Ayman Nour, who was released from prison earlier this year, put in an appearance yesterday, though he could not say anything, as he is forbidden by the terms of his release from participating in the political process. Of course, many of the concepts of political liberalism (especially social liberalism) are unknown to the mass of the Egyptian population. But as the country develops and the political landscape changes in the post-Mubarak era (not even he is immortal), it will be fascionating to monitor what evolves.

Link (in Arabic): www.democraticfront.org

I spent most of yesterday in the Library in Alexandria in the company of other members of the Liberal International Executive, as a prelude to the LI Congress now going on in Cairo. The Director, Dr Ismail Seralgeldin — who was Vice-President of the World Bank before taking up the post — gave an impressive presentation on how he sees the Bibliotheca Alexandrina both as a repository for knowledge and as a tool in helping build civil society from the bottom up. The Library stands almost exactly on the site of its famous predecessor of Classical times which, it is now believed, was burnt down by Christian zealots. The Library was reborn after what Dr Seralgeldin described wrily as a ’short hiatus of 1,600 years’ and has already taken on a global signifiance, as well as serving the needs of local people, many hundreds of whom were milling round the library buildings, which house various museums (including one dedicated to the assassinated President Anwar Sadat), a planetarium and other facilities.

The building, which presents an enormous slanting wall of glass towards the sea, has won many architectural awards, though personally I find its external aspect hideous. Inside, however, is a different matter, with a huge but atmospheric reading room, a ’super-computer’ and all sorts of things to gawp at. As an environment, it provided the perfect backdrop to a Congress which is looking particularly at the issue of Education in the 21st century, though as ever a significant part of the early Congress proceedings has involved the admission of various parties from around the world as either full or observer members, including our hosts, the Democratic Front Party (wrongly criticised in a Wall Street Journal article earlier this week), which only two years after its creation has managed to organise this landmark event.

I was at the German Embassy in London this evening for an election night (or maybe one should more accurately say ‘election afternoon’) party; with typical Teutonic efficiency, the basic results were out in a matter of minutes after polls closed at 5pm London time. There had earlier been a sweepstake among guests about what the result would be; in my own prediction, I got the Conservative  Christian Democrat (CDU) and Liberal (FDP) tallies pretty close, but like most people I under-estimated the scale of the Socialist Social Democrats’ (SPD) collapse. The ‘grand coalition’ of CDU-SPD that has run Europe’s largest ecoomy for the past four years will cease and in its place a much more traditional Conservative-Liberal (CDU/CSU-FDP) formation will take over.

Frau Merkel had every reason to be beaming on the instantaneous TV election analysis programme German leaders are obliged to take part in. But this was also very much Guido Westerwelle and the Liberals’ day. Only a few years ago, the FDP seemed to be on its last legs and it was not represented in the European Parliament for a while, as it failed to scale the five-per cent German election threshold. But its support has surged over the past 12 months and the party registered nearly 15 per cent today. Even though the FDP is well to the right of the British Liberal Democrats on economic matters (British newspaper journalists almost invariably refer to it as the ‘pro-business’ party), this is a good result for the European and global Liberal families, the ELDR and the Liberal International (LI), as well as yet another headache for Gordon Brown and the Socialist (‘Sad’) group to which the Labour Party belongs in Europe.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese champion of democracy and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is now on trial and faces up to 5 years in prison on charges by Myanmar’s military junta that she violated the terms of her house arrest after an uninvited American man swam to her lakeside house in May.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party is the National League for Democracy (NLD).  The NLD’s overseas branch, the National League for Democracy – Liberated Areas (NLD-LA) and the Democratic Progressive Party are both members of the Liberal International, an international federation of liberal democratic parties.  

The NLD won a landside victory in the 1990 parliamentary elections, but the military junta refused to recognize the results and instead reacted with force, jailing and killing dissidents. Aung San Suu Kyi has been severely monitored for the past 19 years by the junta and has been under house arrest for 13 of these years. Her house arrest was due to expire on 27 May 2009, but the military junta extended her term for another year.

Throughout our decades of democratic development, Taiwan received support and assistance from the international community.  If Taiwan wants to be a member of the international community, we must play a more active role as world citizens promoting universal human rights and democratic values, synchronizing our efforts in solidarity with the international community to help Myanmar and other countries lagging in democratic development.

The DPP, a political party whose key ideals and values are democracy, freedom and human rights, passed this resolution on Burma at its Central Standing Committee meeting of 20th May in Taipei.

1. We urge the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma. We demand that Burma’s government provide for Aung San Suu Kyi’s urgent medical needs and allow her to receive immediate medical care from doctors.

2. We urge the Burmese government to push democratic reforms in Burma and respect people’s desire for democracy and freedom. The 2010 parliamentary elections should be held with freedom, fairness and transparency.

3. We demand that the Ma Ying-jeou administration keep its promise of making human rights a priority and make every effort to promote the universal values of democracy and freedom. Taiwan should play a role as the vanguard of Asian democracy and stand in solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and the people who desire and advocate for democracy in Burma.

4. We urge the Taiwan government to address the issue of human rights violations in Burma and join the international appeal for support for the democracy movement in Burma. We urge our government to impose necessary sanctions against Burma until such time as the military regime improves its human rights record and works on democratic reforms.

5. We condemn China’s support for the Burmese military regime, support which results in negative consequences for democracy and stability in the East Asia region. Beijing’s act of consolidating its power and hegemony over the region, while disregarding universal values, contradicts its claim of  a ‘peaceful rise.’  We urge all countries engaging with China, including the Taiwan government, to recognize this.

Or so says Richard Perle. He “declined to identify what was a neo-conservative philosophy, or worldview”. Here’s the WaPo article Lobe refers to “Prince of Darkness Denies Own Existence”.

This interview with Jim Lobe starts out giving some nice examples and insights on various political movements concerning US policy. Specifically, liberal internationalism, neo-conservatism, realism, intervention, and unilateralism and how these lines are divided, (especially concerning the middle east and Israel).

Scott Horton asks about Dennis Ross,  his background and significance, etc.

From antiwar.com:

Jim Lobe, Washington Bureau Chief for Inter Press Service, discusses the balance of power between different foreign policy factions, the work record of Dennis Ross from Oslo Accord negotiator to WINEP associate, the centrality of uranium refining in U.S./Iran relations, the resurgence of the Arab League and the National Intelligence Council appointment saga of Chas Freeman.

MP3 here. (62:41)

Jim Lobe is best known for his coverage of U.S. foreign policy, particularly the neo-conservative influence in the Bush administration. The Washington Bureau Chief of the international news agency Inter Press Service (IPS), Lobe has also written for Foreign Policy In Focus, Alternet, Tompaine.com, and was featured in BBC and ABC television documentaries about motivations for the US invasion of Iraq. His articles appear regularly on Antiwar.com.

   Simon Hughes, MP, presented a framed photograph of the late Lord Russell-Johnston to Rev Paul Hunt, Chairman of the National Liberal Club, this evening, on behalf of Liberal International British Group (LIBG). The portrait will hang near the offices of Liberal International, which are on the ground floor of the NLC building. The original wake and reminiscences planned by LIBG for 2 February in memory of Russell were thwarted by snow. A replacement commemorative event will be scheduled for June, after the European elections, but in the meantime it would have been a shame to deprive Russell of his due place among the gallerty of Liberal greats for another three months. He was a magnificent internationalist, a magnificent European and above all, a magnificent Liberal, who served in the Westminister parliament for many over 30 years as MP for Inverness, before finding his true vocation as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. He is much missed and fondly remembered.

Links: www.libg.org.uk and www.nlc.org.uk

   The imprisoned Egyptian Liberal politician Ayman Nour was unexpectedly released yesterday, in a move that has been welcomed in Brussels and Washington. The 44-year-old Mr Nour is the leader of the Ghad Party (with which I have had contact in Cairo, through my work with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and Liberal International). A lawyer by profession, he ran against the incumbent President Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 presidential elections, coming a distant second.  He was subsequently charged with fraud and sentenced to five years in jail, but he insists that the prosecution was politically motivated and designed to punish him for standing against President Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981.

The official reason for Ayman Nour’s release was ‘on health grounds’, though many commentators believe that the Mubarak administration wishes to ingratiate itself with the Obama administration in Washington, which is likely to take a tougher line than its predecessor’s on human rights abuses and democratic constraints in Egypt, which receives huge amounts of US aid annually. Mr Nour says he intends again to take over the helm of his party — which has been in a state of demoralised shock since his imprisonment — though he is technically barred from standing for public office because of his conviction, unless he receives a presidential pardon.

Commenting on Mr Nour’s release, Graham Watson, MEP, leader of the Liberal (ALDE) Group in the European Parliament, said, ‘I applaud Ayman Nour’s brave decision to return to political life. We all know that this courageous move comes at high risk to his own security and we stand with him, shoulder to shoulder.’ Those who think that this marks a return to democratic norms in Egypt should not celebrate too soon, however. As Amr El-Choukabi, of the Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo told Reuters, ‘All indicators show that [Egypt] is poised for more restrictions until the government wins the next legisltive elections by an overwhelming majority and the candidate of the NDP [Mubarak's party] wins the presidential elections in 2011.’

Link: www.freeaymannour.org

       It must be 30 years since I was last in Strasbourg, though if I get elected to the European Parliament in June, I’ll be coming here pretty often. The city has the ‘best of both worlds’, in terms of its glorious Germanic half-timbered architecture and its scrumptious French food; the delicatessens are to die for. I’ve always found the Cathedral rather sinister, but Strasbourg is an immensely civilised place in which to live and work. It has acquired some very sleek trams with panoramic windows since my last visit. 

Tomorrow, I will be attending the Executive of the Liberal International (postponed from Bangkok last month, when Thailand was at the height of its troubles) and an associated conference, at which Liberal members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly will be well represented. Strasbourg is an ideal location for the Council of Europe, given the city’s fluctuating history between Germany and France. But for all its many charms (chilly at this time of the year), I think the French are wrong to insist that it should remain the main venue of the European Parliament. That situation, alas, is enshrined in the EU treaties, which means it cannot be altered without unanimous agreement by EU member states. That is something France is unlikely to agree to in the short term, despite the scandalous waste of money spent shuttling people and material between Brussels and Strasbourg and the latter’s relative inaccessibility. But that won’t stop me and countless others campaigning for a single seat for the European Parliament, in Brussels. People who agree should consider signing the online petition accessible through the link below.

Link: http://www.oneseat.eu/

  Yesterday I was one of the guest speakers at a Liberal International/Friedrich Naumann Stiftung conference in Bangkok on ‘Safeguarding Democracy: the case of Thailand and its regional/global impacts’. But the star turn in the morning was Abhisit Vejjajiva, the British-born and Oxford-educated leader of the Democrat Party of Thailand, who will almost certainly become the country’s new Prime Minister tomorrow, providing there is no last-minute hitch in forging a coalition between the Democrats (who are LI observer members and mainly strong in Bangkok and the south of the country) and various other groups. Abhisit (who reportedly made some of the lady Western journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand swoon recently) is seen as the best hope of ushering in a new era of politics in this South East Asian nation, which has known too many cases of ‘brown envelope’ politics — shameless venality and corruption.

In Abhisit’s favour is the fact that the PAD ‘yellow shirt’ pro-democracy demonstrators who paralysed parts of the city earlier this year and closed down the two main airports, is putting a lot of trust in him and his colleagues to clean up the situation. However, it was clear from meetings with PAD leaders that my colleagues and I had this morning that the new government will be monitored just as closely as was the discredited regime of ousted PM Thaksin (who is still trying to enthuse his ‘red shirt’ supporters from his exile in the UAE) and his short-lived successors, so Abhisit will have to make sure that he delivers real change quickly! 

Links: www.abhisit.org and www.liberal-international.org

It would probably surprise most Liberal Democrat members and supporters in the UK to learn that the party is the largest Liberal party in Europe, in terms of the percentage vote received in national elections. Because of the first-past-the post electoral system in Britain, however, the party’s strength in the Westminster parliament is only half what it should be and it hasn’t been in government since the War. By comparison, most of the contintental Liberal Parties are quite small, but often have considerable influence. Indeed, six European Prime Ministers are Liberals (from Andorra, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Romania). Other Ministers are legion.

It is all the stranger, therefore, that while several present or former Prime Ministers and numerous Ministers from continental Liberal parties have been present at the ELDR Congress in Stockholm, as well as a couple of European Commissioners, during the past two days, the large British contingent is light on parliamentary eåpresentation. Simon Hughes, MP, the Party President, is here for the day today, and he should be congratulated for the seriousness with which he personally has taken the Liberal Democrats’ international links, including with Liberal International. But there is no other Westminster MP here, and only two out of the eleven British members of the European Parliament (Andrew Duff and Sharon Bowles, though Graham Watson, the Leader of the ALDE Liberal group in the European Parliament did send a video message). This is all the more shocking given that this Congress is fashioning the manifesto for the 2009 Euro-elections. The unfortunate message going out to sister patries here is that despite their Euro-credentials, the LibDems don’t take Europe seriously and consider relations with ‘foreigners’ of secondary importance.

  After I finished giving classes at SOAS this afternoon, I wandered down to King’s College to attend a lecture in Spanish on ‘History and Literature in Latin America’ by the Peruvian novelist and former politician Mario Vargas Llosa. A very sprightly 72-year-old, who looks more like a retired banker than a literary lion, Vargas Llosa is a Fellow of King’s College and used to be on the teaching staff of the Spanish and Spanish American department there, which doubtless contributed to the fact that all the seats in the college’s Great Hall were taken, and a couple of hundred extra people were sitting on the floor or standing. His lecture was a real tour d’horizon of the relationship between European colonialism, indigenous cultures, political radicalisation and the creation of a distinct Latin American take on the world.

I first became aware of him when I read with excitement and enjoyment his novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter , but later our paths crossed in political circles when he stood as a liberal — or perhaps one should say neo-liberal — candidate for the presidency in Peru in 1990. Originally a leftist, who supported Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba, he drifted ever rightwards, way past me and most members of the Liberal International. Perhaps it is as well that he didn’t get elected, as he has subsequently continued to contribute to literary life in a way that will certainly go down in history.  

Link: www.mvargasllosa.com

Oil has dominated the geopolitical agenda for the past three decades, not least since George W Bush and Dick Cheney have been in charge in Washington. But water could be the new oil, according to Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesman and MP for Kingston and Surbiton. He was the keynote speaker at the annual general meeting of the Liberal International British Group (LIBG) at the House of Commons this evening, presided over by Malcolm Bruce MP (Chairman of the all-party Select Committee on International Development). Ed underlined how important the issue of water is in relation to peace and security, not only in the Middle East, but in so many regions of the world. The party president, Simon Hughes MP, also put in an appearance at the AGM and underlined his support for LIBG and its internationalist work. Amongst the distinguished gathering was Emil Kirjas, (Macedonian) Secretary General of Liberal International, and the Canadian Liberal MP, Marco Silva.

At the subsequent dinner, at the National Liberal Club, we were able to thank David Griffiths, who has for many years served as either Chairman or Secretary of the group, as well as the outgoing Treasurer Ahmad Mallick. There is likely to be a generational change within LIBG over the next year or so, which is essential for the smooth functioning of any healthy organisation. In the meantime, LIBG will be hosting what promises to be one of the liveliest fringe meetings at the Bournemouth LibDem autumn conference, on the theme ‘Middle East: Is a Two-State Solution Still Viable?’, with speakers including Ran Gidor (Counsellor at the Israeli Embassy), Jeff Halper (from the Israeli Committee against House Demolition), a Palestinian academic (to be confirmed) and Willie Rennie, MP, who was recently on a fact-finding mission to Israel/Palestine.

Link: www.libg.org.uk

Burma has an unfortunate tendency to disappear quickly from the headlines in the Western press. In Britain, it is seen as a less ’sexy’ subject than Zimbabwe, though in many ways the situation in Burma is as bad, if not worse. The military junta is a kleptocracy that enslaves its people and seems devoid of any feeling when thousands of Burmese citizens die. Moreover, whereas there is a growing feeling internationally that the Zimbabwean regime is on its last legs (Robert Mugabe’s personal longevity perhaps only explicable by the hypothesis that the Devil can’t quite face welcoming him into Hell), the Burmese junta seemingly could go on and on, fed by its country’s natural resources and bolstered by the compliance of some of its neighbours.

China’s failure to use its clout to hold Burma to account is well known. But as Malcolm Bruce, MP (Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development) said at a Liberal Democrat pasta and politics in Hackney tonight, India — the self-proclaimed world’s largest democracy — hasn’t exactly been turning the screws, as it could. I argued in the discussion following Malcolm’s presentation that the best hope for change may come through regional pressure, from within ASEAN (one recalls that Vietnam intervened to get rid of the genocidal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia), though don’t hold your breath. ASEAN’s southern African counterpart, SADCC, hasn’t emerged with many brownie points re Zimbabwe, despite the efforts of some members such as Botswana and Tanzania.

Liberal International will be holding its next Executive in Bangkok, in December, and Burma will be right at the top of the agenda. Thailand has had to absorb hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing fighting, persecution and starvation in Burma, and has been the conduit for much recent aid. The West cannot bring the military thugs to account on its own — and would probably be unwise to try. But if ASEAN took a lead, it could be a very different matter.

Attendees at the Liberal International British Group’s annual garden party at Anneliese Waugh’s home in Moor Park earlier today had the unusual luxury of three distinguished guests of honour: Liberal Democrat Party President, Simon Hughes MP, the Secretary General of Liberal International, Emil Kirjas, and the former President of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, Lord Russell-Johnston. The leitmotif of their short speeches was the importance of internationalism, both in terms of policy and in maintaining links with like-minded parties round the world. It was gratifying to hear confirmation from Simon that Nick Clegg is determined that next year’s European elections will be fought on international issues — in other words, matters which have a European dimension. Nine years ago, the LibDem election literature was all about education, health and crime — and I’m still getting aggrieved complaints from pro-Europeans who wondered why we were shirking the challenge of fighting a European election properly then. 2004 was distinctly better. But I hope that in 2009, we will at last see the real thing!

We had an excellent day seminar in Cairo today, on the challenges facing Liberal values in Egypt, organised by the local Democratic Front (a newly registered Liberal party, which is an observer member to Liberal International), with financial assistance and participation from the UK Liberal Democrats, with assistance from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Among the approximately 100 Egyptian participants were not only members of the Democratic Front, but also representatives of the venerable El Wafd party and the much newer (and currently somewhat besieged) El Ghad, as well as academics and journalists.

I gave two presentations: on the history of the British Liberal Party, and on the question of whether values of human rights, freedom and democracy are universal. The latter is something I often lecture on at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and it’s a burning issue in the Middle East. George W Bush has been trying to export an American template which, as I said, is not wholly accepted in Europe, let alone elsewhere in the world. Democracy, in particular, has to be fashioned in a way that corresponds to the specific realities of each individual country, though the broad principle of bottom-up legitimacy of power is something that can be generally valid.

Of course, it is much more difficult to promote Liberal values in developing countries with high levels of poverty and illiteracy, where the prime concern of most people — including in Egypt — is day-to-day survival. So it is likely that Liberalism has quite a long haul in Egypt, even though the country actually had a rather vibrant Liberal political environment before the British squashed it in 1882. The country is very much in transition, however — even if most people appear to be unsure of where that transition is going.

Link: http://dfeg.wordpress.com

The presence of the Zimbabwean tyrant Robert Mugabe at the World Food Summit in Rome (which opened today) should not distract people’s attention from the importance and urgency of the issues being discussed. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which is hosting the conference, has warned industrialised countries that unless they increase yields, eliminate trade barriers and transfer food to where it is needed most, a global catastrophe could occur. Soaring food prices have pushed an estimated 100 million more people into hunger. However, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, urged governments to turn the criis into an opportunity. ‘While we must respond immediately to high food prices, it is important that our longer term focus is on improving world food security,’ he said.

President Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva of Brazil denounced what he called the intolerable protectionism which ’stunts and disrupts’ farming in developing countries. Poorer nations are faced with food import bills 40 per cent higher this year. Though summits in themselves cannot resolve the crisis, this meeting is an important step in the right direction and will need to be followed up by all concerned, not least the European Union. Liberal International British Group (LIBG) presented a resolution on this subject to last month’s Congress of the Liberal International in Belfast and will be encouraging the British Liberal Democrats to campaign hard on related matters.

 The 55th Liberal International Congress ended on an unconventional note, with an evening reception at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in North Down, whose Alliance Party Mayor, Dr Stephen Farry, greeted the delegates on arrival. We were entertained in the (indoor) Transport bit, rather than the (outdoor) Folk bit, though colleens from the Royal Tara Dance Academy performed (brilliantly) for us, in front of a thumping great steam engine. The venue was every big little boy’s fantasy: hall after hall of the most wonderful trains, trams, buses, cars, motorcycles, bicyles and so on. I bathed in the nostlagia of 1960s stuff, and not for the first time drooled at the beauty of early 20th century luxury cars. Most of the exhibits were actually made in Ireland, including, of course, a De Lorean car. But the most famous product of Ulster’s transport craft, the Titanic was, of course, not on display, being at the bottom of the Atlantic.

Link: www.uftm.org.uk

Liberal International marked the International Day against Homophobia today with a speech by Boris Dittrich, Advocacy Director on LGTB issues at Human Rights Watch in New York. Boris (who used to be the leader of the Dutch social liberal party, D66) pointed out that homosexuality is a capital offence in seven countries in the world and a criminal offence in 77. Simon Hughes, MP, President of the UK Liberal Democrats, spoke about the case of the young Iranian gay man in his constituency who was at risk of being deported back to Iran where he could have faced execution — a process halted because of the international outcry by LGBT and human rights organisations.

International lawyers met in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, a while back to draw up a set of principles aimed at achieving worldwide recognition of equal treatment in law for everyone, whatever their sexual orientation or gender identity. In order to avert accusations that European countries were trying to impose their views and customs on the world, Boris Dittrich got Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay to present the Jogjakarta Principles to the United Nations last year. Today, at the LI Congress in Belfast, a strong motion was passed urging political action in defence of these principles. As an interesting reflection of the universality of human rights values among Liberals worldwide, not a single person voted against the motion, even though there were representatives from many African and Arab countries whose governments or religious authorities have institutionalised homophobia. 

Link: www.idahomophobia.org

One of the collateral benefits of Liberal International Congresses and Executives is the opportunity they provide to get to know new places round the world. Like most mainland Brits, I had never visited Northern Ireland, until I arrived in Belfast on Thursday morning. Being in Northern Ireland has certainly influenced the tone of some of the Congress debates, not least because the Congress hosts, David Ford of the Alliance Party, and his predecessor, (Lord) John Alderdice, have been so central to the process of negotation and reconciliation in the six counties.

The Congress is taking place in the Hotel Europa, which boasts the unusual distinction of being the most bombed hotel in the world (70 times), though mercifully such excitement is a thing of the past. On Thursday evening, there was a reception for the LI Executive at Hillsborough Castle, the Queen’s Northern Ireland residence, where the Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, greeted us. He is, of course, used to living in comfortable surroundings, being the wealthiest of the defectors who left the Conservatives for New Labour. Then last night, we were entertained at Stormont, the Northern Ireland Assembly building built in the 1920s with all the pompous trimmings of a still imperial power. As John Alderdice was Speaker there at a crucial period in Northern Ireland’s development, he made the ideal tour guide.

Link: www.liberal-international.org

There was a time, not all that long ago, when Liberal International (LI) was a Euro-centric organisation. But that has changed dramatically in recent years, as democratic forces have gained ground in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and the LI family of parties has grown. That process is continuing at the LI Congress in Belfast this week, with new membes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Tunisia, Madagascar and the Seychelles joining the fold. Burkina Faso should have, as well, had the delegates from the party concerned had their British visa requests processed in time.

But the star double-bill this morning was President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, who gave a thoughtful speech covering a wide range of political, social and economic challenges for Africa, and the Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangarai, whose impassioned plea for support from fellow Africans as he tries to wrest his country’s oppressed people from the grasp of the liberator-turned-dictator, Robert Mugabe, rightly won a standing ovation. This was the first time I’d seen Tsvangarai in the flesh, and he was deeply impressive. But he is well aware that pressure from the West — especially Britain — can be portrayed by Mugabe and his thugs as neo-colonial meddling. This makes it all the more important for South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and other reginal leaders to get their fingers out and make sure that the second round of the Zimbabwean presidential elections goes ahead smoothly, and delivers the result a majority of Zimbabweans clearly want.

Link: www.liberal-international.org

Singapore has many things going for it. It is prosperous, authentically multi-cultural (despite the large Chinese majority) and squeaky clean — in fact, they even banned chewing gum for many years, so as not to mess up the streets and the transport system. Singapore has an airport that regularly tops the ‘favourite airport in the world’ list (eat your heart out, Heathrow). And despite the high population density on the island, it is green and in large parts a model of urban planning.

However, Singapore has a dark secret. It is a democracy that isn’t. Firmly seen as ‘one of us’ by the West (including Washington and London), it is actually a one-party state. Any attempt to create a viable opposition, and for that to function properly, is thwarted at every turn. Take the latest developments. The Secretary General of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), Dr Chee Soon Juan, and a senior fellow party member, Mrs Chee Siok Chin, will be in court on Monday to hear what damages may be awarded against them for ‘libeling’ former Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew (still the power behind the throne), and the current Prime Minister, Lee Hsen Loong (his son, surprise surprise). If past experience is anything to go by, the damages will be so high that the defendants will face bankruptcy. At other times, people who have dared to disagree have ended up in prison. That’s how Singapore deals with its opposition.

It’s all so sad. What ought to be a beacon of modernity and openness in South East Asia is actually a blot on the landscape, because of its systematic suppression of free democratic activity. Liberal International has appealed for urgent action by parliamentarians, the media and ordinary concerned citizens around the world. We are always keen to stand up against nasty dictatorships. Let us be true to our principles and stand up to the superficially charming anti-democracies as well.

Link: www.liberal-international.org    

Since Liberal International British Group (LIBG) submitteed a resolution on world food prices, to be debated at the Liberal International Congress in Belfast next month, the issue has shot up the global agenda. LIBG Executive member (and farmer) Phil Bennion, who drafted the text, rightly foresaw that we are not just heading for a crisis; we are already in it. This has now been stated with urgency by the World Bank and various other international institutions, which are worried that poor people in the developing world are being pushed into hunger by rocketing food prices. A labouring family’s daily wages in Bangladesh, for example, are now only sufficient to buy one small bag of rice.

The Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has been in the Netherlands for the past couple of days, was tackled on the issue by the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, who wondered (as the LIBG resolution similarly wonders) whether the explosive growth of biofuels is not partly to blame for the current crisis, as land is taken out of food production to grow crops for biofuels. President Lula responded that the solution is simply to grow more food, but I’m not at all convinced that it is as simple as that. Brazil, like China and India, is championing increased private car sales, further boosting demand for fuels. I gave up my own car 8 years ago, and personally believe that we need more people to say that in cities, especially, individual car ownership is not a responsible template for the 21st century.