Issue 159

 

LI Congress elects new President and Bureau

On 30 October, the approximately 300 assembled delegates of the 56th Congress of Liberal International elected the new Bureau of Liberal International. Hans van Baalen MEP (ALDE-VVD) was elected to succeed Lord Alderdice as President of Liberal International. Juli Minoves from Andorra was elected as the successor of Hans van Baalen as Deputy President. Newly elected Vice Presidents on the Bureau include Senator Cristian David (PNL Romania), Jelko Kacin MEP from LDS Slovenia, and Robert Woodthorpe-Browne (Lib Dems, UK). Dzhevdet Chakarov MP (MRF Bulgaria), Wolfgang Gerhardt MP (FDP -Germany and President of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty), and Bi-Khim Hsiao (DPP Taiwan) will continue to serve as Vice-Presidents. Treasurers Josep Soler (LiD-Catalonia) and Silver Meikar MP (Reform Party of Estonia) will also continue their mandate. Newly elected President of Liberal International Hans van Baalen commented that “The nature of politics is not analogous to a friendly game of tennis — rather it is like a rugby match, we should not back down from controversy and confrontation. Liberals have to be on the offensive in the rapidly expanding developed world and must emerge as those best equipped to defend civil rights and the free market'. For the full speech please refer here.

 

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LI welcomes new member parties

Liberal International is proud to announce the enlargement of the liberal family with seven new observer member parties. The congress participants at the LI 56th Congress in Cairo approved the applications of the seven new member parties to be observer members at the administrative session on 31 October. Liberal International congratulates the Singapore Democratic Party (Singapore), The National League for Democracy - Liberated Areas (Burma), Civic Will Party (Mongolia), El Ghad Party (Egypt), the Liberal Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and SLS (Kosovo). All new observer members received unanimous support from Liberal International delegates during the vote. Liberal International also congratulates the Democratic Front Party (Egypt), Radicali Italiani (Italy), the Democrat Party (Thailand) and Partido Justicia Nacional (Peru) on confirmation of their new Full Membership status during the administrative session of the Cairo Congress. LI looks forward to a promising partnership with all the new members in the international liberal family.

 

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Liberal International members agree on resolutions

At their 56th Congress, the member parties of the Liberal International agreed upon a new The World Today resolution as well as a variety of other resolutions that were tabled by the member parties. These resolutions included themes like the recent local elections in Russia, the promotion and protection of human rights, privacy, sustainable development, the global financial crisis and energy efficiency. As a service to the member parties that was requested by various delegates, the secretariat will soon provide the resolutions in French as well. For the resolutions refere here.


Les résolutions finales seront disponibles en français dans les prochaines semaines

 

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Prominent Liberal Politicians address LI Congress

Outgoing LI President Lord Alderdice welcomed the over 250 delegates of the 56th Congress of Liberal International by providing a framework for the ensuing discussions, 'As we look forward to 'education in the 21st'century' we can look forward with confidence because we know that the principles we believe in, the policies we develop and the relationships we have with each other are the things that give us hope in a world that is threatened by crisis and conflict.' Delegates of the 56th Congress of Liberal International were also welcomed by a video greeting from the Thai Prime Minister (and leader of the Democrat Party)  Abhisit Vejjajiva. 'With the joining of the Democrat Party into the international, liberal family, we hope to engage ourselves with Liberal International in the future even more closely' said Prime Minister Vejjajiva. Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and current leader of the opposition continued in stating that, 'Liberalism equips a citizen to know that in the mixture of beauty and ugliness, virtue and baseness in which a person finds him or herself in this world, he or she must want to be on the side of the beautiful and the virtuous.'

 

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Theme Report by David Coltart: a Zimbabwean perspective

Liberal International was honoured to receive Zimbabwe's Minister of Education David Coltart to address the congress participants as theme rapporteur. In his report on the congress theme of Education in the 21st Century, titled 'A Zimbabwean Perspective', Minister Coltart outlined his view of the importance of education in a struggling country like Zimbabwe. Coltart delivered an inspiring speech about the difficulties he has encountered in trying to ensure even the basics of education to the children of Zimbabwe, since he became Minister in February 2009. Although strained by limited financial resources, Coltart stressed his ambition to stabilise the Zimbabwean education system and provide a basic education based on democratic values to children from all backgrounds. He called on both the Zimbabwean government as well as the international community to support these efforts. Coltart concluded: 'If we do not educate the coming generation to be tolerant, to cherish democracy and to find practical solutions to issues such as poverty, environmental degradation and global warming (..) the future will be bleak.' For the full report refere here.
 

 

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Congress delegates speak on Education at Cairo Congress

Four panels were held at the LI Congress, all with prominent liberal speakers. The Panel 'New Technology, Development and Education' was chaired by John Tan, assistant Secretary General of the Singapore Democratic Party. Speakers were Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake, the co-founder of the political organization Liberati Alexander Bard and Provost of the Nile University, Egypt Dr. Tarek M. Khalil. 'Media and Education' was chaired by Vice President on the LI bureau Cristian David. Speakers were Rocío Guijarro, Manager of Venezuelan Think Tank Cedice-Libertad and LI Deputy President Juli Minoves-Triquell. 'Religion and Education', was chaired by LI Secretary General Emil Kirjas, speakers were President of the Liberal Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lamija Tanovic and Dr. Kamal Aboul Magd, Vice President of the National Council of human Rights in Egypt. Graham Watson, MEP and former ALDE leader served as chair for 'Education, Decentralisation and Finance'. Speakers were Paul Boughey of the Democratic Alliance in South Africa, Leader of YABLOKO, LI's Russian member Sergei Mitrokhin and Alice Nzomukunda, leader of the ADR party in Burundi. All panels inspired great discussion around the different themes.  

 

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Prize for Freedom Book launch a great success

In celebration of the 25 anniversary of the Ll Prize for Freedom, the book 'Defining Liberty: A look at the first 25 Years of the Liberal International Prize for Freedom,' a collection of speeches and articles by laureates of the past 25 years, was launched at the LI Congress in Cairo. LI President Lord Alderdice who initiated the project during his mandate as Chair of the Human Rights Committee said: 'It says to all of us who read the stories of the laureates that you can fight for freedom in whatever profession, whatever background and country you are in.' Sam Rainsy, laureate in 2006, gave an enlightening speech to the assembled Congress: 'In my case, the Prize was not given to an individual; it was to honour a just cause in a particular context. The cause is to defend liberal values about all freedoms that we all cherish. The context for me is Cambodia. I received the Prize on behalf of countless friends and colleagues who had made sacrifices in serving the cause for freedom [...] The LI Prize for Freedom is a most valuable recognition and an encouragement for us to go on fighting for liberal values and ideas.'

 

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LI Human Rights Committee Meeting at Cairo Congress

The LI Human Rights Committee meeting took place in parallel with the LI Congress Chaired by the Human Rights Committee Chairman Gordon Lishman, the first session consisted of report and review of the work of the Committee. Vice Chair Andy Sundberg briefed about the work and role of LI as a participating member in the UN Human Rights Council and the importance of LI's future contribution in the field of human rights. The plenary session proceeded with guest speakers including Mohammed Fayek, who addressed the importance and development of human rights and education in Egypt as in his position of member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights and former Minister of Information. Following was a report given by Human Rights Watch LGBT Program Director Boris Dittrich on follow-up the resolution on the prohibition of persecutions and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation which was adopted in last LI Congress in Belfast. The last speaker Birgitta Ohlsson, MP of Folkpartiet, Sweden praised the brave Cuban liberals for continuous fight for liberal values.

 

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