Jeremy Browne, Lib Dem Foreign Office minister, and Edward McMillan-Scott MEP have a joint article in today’s Independent on how the European Union is helping to uphold the human rights if people around the world.

Here’s a sample:

Human rights, poverty reduction and the upholding of international law are essential to – and indivisible from – both EU and UK foreign policy objectives. We cannot achieve long term security and prosperity unless we uphold our values, and recognise that unchecked human rights abuses represent a threat to our own national security.

Although we must promote our values with conviction and determination, it must be in ways that are suited to the grain of the other societies we are dealing with, particularly in fragile or post-conflict states. Democracy and respect for human rights rest on foundations that have to be built over time: strong institutions, responsible and accountable government, a free press, the rule of law, equal rights for men and women, and other less tangible habits of mind and of participation are all necessary elements for democracy to prevail.

The Arab Spring is making a reality of the aspiration for democracy and reform so vividly revealed in the UN’s 2002 Arab Human Development Report. Patchy and transitional – and often agonising – though the process may be, political and economic freedom are spreading across the Middle East and North Africa and inspiring other parts of the world.

As our and the EU’s economic weight is squeezed and influence passes more and more to governments who may not share our values, the EU and national governments will have to work harder and more harmoniously to entrench international law and human rights. We must continue to raise our concerns about human rights wherever and whenever those concerns arise, including with countries with which we are seeking closer ties, such as China or Russia.

* Nick Thornsby is a day editor at Lib Dem Voice.