Human rights in the Middle East
Human rights in the Middle East have been shaped by the legal and political development of international human rights law after the Second World War, and their application to the Middle East. The 2004 United Nations Arab Human Development Report[2] (AHDR) claimed that although Arab-Islamic tradition does hold unique importance for ideas of human welfare, History has proven that "they were not sufficiently prevalent in society to foster a culture based on a political contract, and allow for the legitimacy of differences of opinion, dialogue and transfer of power."[2] Issues of the validity of democracy in the region and human rights are at the very centre of the challenges facing Middle Eastern society today.[3]
Legal framework
International obligations
In 1948 Egypt, Iran and Pakistan signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Saudi Arabia did not, arguing that it "failed to take into consideration the cultural and religious context of non-Western countries."[4]
The
The Arab Human Rights Committee,[7] was established in 2009 to oversee compliance with the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which entered into force in March 2017. As of the beginning of October 2009, ten Arab states ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights. These are: Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.[7] As of February 2012, another four States ratified the Arab Charter. These were: Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Sudan, and Yemen.[8] The Charter creates a process through which the committee receives and reviews state reports and makes recommendations as appropriate. The Charter does not provide for a complaints mechanism.[8]
The committee has had three sessions during which it has been focusing on "procedural aspects of organising its work".[7]
Human rights issues
Capital punishment
In regards to capital punishment the countries of the region can be separated into two categories:
- Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Israel and Mauritania are considered "abolitionist in practice". Aside from Israel, all of the above countries maintain the death penalty for serious crimes such as drug-related offences and murder, however no executions have been carried out in a long time. The last Israeli execution was carried out in 1962 as they have retained capital punishment not for ordinary crimes but purely exceptional circumstances.[9]
- All other countries in the Middle East execute prisoners for crimes including "ordinary crimes".Syrian Civil War, capital punishment has been abolished.[11]
The death penalty has proven difficult to eradicate in the Middle East due largely to many countries’ legal systems being based around religion, which is more “resistant to change than systems based solely on legislation”.
Capital punishment represents the most dramatic clash between a ‘UN-sponsored’ human rights concept and Shari'a law.
Freedom of religion
In Egypt, the Constitutional Declaration of March 2011 and the new constitution ratified on December 22, 2011 provide for some freedom of religion, but certain constitutional provisions, laws, and government policies and practices limit that freedom.[16]
In Saudi Arabia, freedom of religion is not recognized nor protected under the law. Sunni Islam is the official religion according to the 1992 Basic Law and the Qur'an and the Sunna are Saudi Arabia's constitution.[17] Besides mosques, there are also no churches or other places of worship in Saudi Arabia. It is the only country in the world to ban them.[18]
Kuwait's Constitution allows for religious freedom however this is not often put into practice. The government generally enforces the restrictions on freedom of religion established by other laws and policies. Sharia (Islamic law) is the core source of legislation and Islam is the state religion.[19] Both Iraq and Lebanon's governments generally respect religious freedom. It is protected in the constitution and various other laws. In Lebanon “The constitution declares equality of rights and duties for all citizens without discrimination or preference but establishes a balance of power among the major religious groups.”[20] In Iraq Islam is considered the official religion. The constitution instructs that Islam be considered the main source of legislation, and declares that no law may be enacted that contradicts the “established provisions of Islam.”[21]
The
Freedom of speech
Free speech has been largely censored in the Middle East for years, by the means of suppression/removal of online content,
Status of women
Employment
Women throughout the Middle East earn less than men although there are
In many countries in the region, labour laws prohibit women from undertaking arduous or dangerous work, or work which could be deemed “detrimental to their health or morals”.[24] Women are prohibited from working at night, with the exception of those employed in medicine and a few other fields. Although these provisions are seen locally as a means of protecting women, in effect they “treat women as minors who are unable to make decisions regarding their own safety and hold women’s guardians responsible if the rules are violated.”.[24]
Driving
Education
Education has been an important area of advancement for women in the region, and is a significant path for their advancement toward wider equality. Since the 1990s, women in the region have made advances in access to literacy, education, university enrolment, and the range of subjects of study available to them.[24] In Saudi Arabia, for example, three educational institutions started to permit women to study law in 2007. However, they remain prohibited from serving as lawyers and judges in court and are only allowed to act as legal consultants to other women.[24] Despite these improvements, there are still many barriers to gender equality in education. In majority countries studied, universities largely remain segregated by gender.[24] In Saudi Arabia, for example, the number and diversity of classes offered to men are much greater than those available to women.[24]
Domestic abuse
No country in the region (with the sole exception of the de facto autonomous
Children's rights
All the states in the Middle East region have ratified the
In some areas of the Middle East, child camel jockeys were used; a lot of these children were from other countries and were malnourished. All this was changed and the practice was made illegal.[29]
In Egypt, the military was accused by the UK-based Sinai Human Rights Foundation (SFHR) of jeopardizing children's right to education during its campaign against militants in North Sinai. Egyptian forces occupied and turned 37 schools into military bases. Following the take over, the government was unable to properly relocate the children. Students were left without access to education, while the illiteracy levels increased. Clashes between the army and armed groups also destroyed 59 schools, three of which were reportedly attacked or destroyed by militants.[30]
Prisoner rights
A fact-finding panel from the
Saudi Arabia was accused of detaining hundreds of African migrants, especially Ethiopian migrants, in filthy conditions, since October 2020. Reports by the Human Rights Watch informed that more than 350 migrants were being kept in small rooms of a detention center in Riyadh. Interviews of some of the migrants revealed than many of them are tortured and beaten by the guards, using rubber-coated metal rods. Details further highlighted that no measures were taken inside the centers to control the spread of COVID-19, despite some of the detainees having symptoms of the virus.[32]
The EU Special Representative for Human Rights highlighted the cases of Bahraini prisoners Hassan Mushaima, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, and Abduljalil al-Singace for its early 2021 human rights dialogue with Bahraini authorities. The EU has systematically raised concerns to the Bahraini authorities demanding the prohibition of torture on prisoners, their right to a fair trial, freedom of expression and association, arbitrary detentions, and mass trials.[33][34]
The Mairie de Paris, as the oldest partner in the
A small island in the Middle East, Bahrain faces frequent condemnation from the
In a press briefing released on 30 April 2021, the spokesperson for the
Kameel Juma Hasan was imprisoned for alleged participation in ‘unlawful’ demonstrations, critical of the government of Bahrain. The act is being considered a violation of human rights by Amnesty International, as even though Kameel was first charged with the said allegations at the age of 14, he did not receive any of the procedural benefits falling under Bahrain’s new juvenile-justice law. Moreover, as per the statements provided by Kameel’s family, he had been subjected to beating and forced standing for long hours, after being transferred to the Royal Academy of Police post his detention.[40]
The ADHRB, a human rights support organization reported in early August 2021 the worsening condition of a 22-year-old Bahraini national, Mustafa Abdulkarim Khatam, due to being subjected to torture during interrogation inside the prison. Mustafa was allegedly interrogated for nine days and subjected to psychological as well as physical forms of torture, including, verbal and physical insults, lashing, beatings, suspension, prevention of basic activities like sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, or sitting. Mustafa’s lawyer was reportedly prevented from attending the interrogations and as of 5 August 2021, he was not provided the urgent medical treatment required to stabilize his worsening condition at the time.[41]
Regional human rights initiatives
Several cross-regional programmes and initiatives are supporting Human Rights today, including:
- The Arab Commission for Human Rights (unrelated to the inter-governmental Arab Commission on Human Rights[42]) was created in 1998 by 15 human rights activists, including Haytham Manna from Syria, Moncef Marzouki from Tunisia, and others from Egypt and other Arab world countries.[43][44]
- The Coalition of Arab Cities against Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance was launched in 2008, in Casablanca, Morocco. It is part of the International Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Cities (ICCAR), an initiative launched by UNESCO in March 2004. These regional coalitions seek to establish a network of cities interested in sharing experiences in order to improve their policies to fight racism, discrimination, xenophobia and exclusion.
- The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, an NGO based in Egypt that collects publications, campaigns, reports, and statements from almost 140 Arabic human rights organizations across the region and republishes them in a daily digest.
- The Arab Master's in Democracy and Human Rights was created in 2015 with the support of the European Union. It groups together several universities from across the Arab Region (Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco, and Tunisia) in joint activities, including a specialised master's programme with theoretical, practical and critical features.
By country
See the following for more details on each country:
See also
- Human rights in Africa
- Human rights in East Asia
- Human rights in Central Asia
- Human rights in Europe
- Human rights in China
- Human rights in the United States
- Human rights in Muslim-majority countries
- Timeline of first women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries
- Human trafficking in the Middle East
- Democracy in the Middle East
- LGBT in the Middle East
References
Citations
- ISBN 9780714111872,
It is often referred to as the first bill of human rights as it appears to permit freedom of worship throughout the Persian Empire and to allow deported people to return to their homelands.
- ^ a b "Arab Human Development Report 2004: Towards Freedom in the Arab World" (PDF). 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-14. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
- ^ "Human Rights In The Middle East: Questions Of Compatibility And Conflict". www.e-ir.info. 30 March 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ a b "Human Rights: The Universal Declaration vs The Cairo Declaration". blogs.lse.ac.uk. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "Declaration" (PDF). ohchr.org.
- ^ "Organisation of Islamic Cooperation". www.oic-oci.org. Archived from the original on 2006-10-14. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ a b c "Human Rights organizations and Arab Human Rights Committee engage in constructive dialogue". www.fidh.org. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ a b "Middle East and North Africa". www.ijrcenter.org. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Policy declaration" (PDF). europarl.europa.eu.
- ^ "Death Penalty". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "The New Justice System in Rojava". biehlonbookchin.com. 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
- ^ "Texts adopted - Thursday, 22 November 2012". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "Iran: Proposed Penal Code Deeply Flawed". www.hrw.org. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ a b c "Death penalty 2015: Facts and figures". www.amnesty.org. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "World Coalition Against Death Penalty". www.worldcoalition.org. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "International Religious Freedom Report for 2012". 2009-2017.state.gov. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "U.S. Report on Religious Freedom in Middle East". www.wilsoncenter.org. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2008-09-19). "Saudi Arabia". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
- ^ "Declaration of religious freedom" (PDF). fciv.org.
- ^ "Report" (PDF). state.gov.
- ^ "Report" (PDF). state.gov.
- ^ "Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Internet Freedom Is Under Attack in The Middle East and North Africa". Freedom House. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ "Pegasus: Spyware sold to governments 'targets activists'". BBC News. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Women's rights" (PDF). freedomhouse.org.
- ^ "Case History: Lujain Al-Hathlol". Front Line Defenders. 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
- ^ "Children's rights" (PDF). resourcecentre.savethechildren.se.
- ^ "Children's rights" (PDF). defenceforchildren.org.
- ^ a b c "Global Update - UNICEF NZ". Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
- ^ "Premier League can't say if Newcastle ownership probe exists". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ "British MPs Call For Magnitsky Sanctions On Saudi Arabia Over Prisoner Abuses". Forbes. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ "Saudis detain hundreds of African migrants in squalid conditions, HRW says". Reuters. 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ "Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Borrell on behalf of the European Commission". European Parliament. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ "Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Borrellon behalf of the European Commission" (PDF). European Parliament. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ "Several Paris-based NGOs call upon the Mairie de Paris to cease all form of support for Bahrain "sport-washing" campaign". Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain. 2 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ^ "For the immediate and unconditional release of 12 men sentenced to death for crimes they confessed under torture and the imposition of an official moratorium on the application of the death penalty in Bahrain" (PDF). Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ^ "Tensions rise in Bahrain prison as inmates, families protest conditions". Reuters. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ "UN Calls on Bahrain to Investigate Violent Attack at Jau Prison and Release Dissidents". BIRD. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ "Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Marta Hurtado". OHCHR. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ "YOUTH REMAINS IN PRISON IN FAMILY REPRISAL CASE" (PDF). Amnesty International. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
- ^ "Profile in Persecution: Mustafa AbdulKarim Khatam". ADHRB. 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
- Oxford Journals. Archived from the originalon 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
- ^ "Regional Human Rights Organizations - Middle East". Emory University. 2011. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
- ^ "What is the Arab Commission for Human Rights". 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-07-26. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
Other sources
- ISBN 9781137001986
- ISBN 9781317613763
- Human Rights in the Middle East, DIANE, 1992, ISBN 9780788106057
• Farshad Rahimi Dizgovin, Enforcement of International Treaties by Domestic Courts of Iran, 58 Virginia Journal of International Law (2018).
• Farshad Rahimi Dizgovin, The Scope of the Right to Education, 23 American Society of International Law Insights (2019).