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Rights and Human Development Table of Contents Chapter
I The International Human Rights Law and
Interconnected Rights Chapter II International Bill of Human Rights Chapter III
Groups
More Worthy of Care
Chapter IV
The UN Instruments for the Protection of Human Rights and for Monitoring
the Implementation of International Conventions
Chapter V The Right to
Development as A Human and People Right Chapter VI Towards a Course for Development Based on Human
Rights Chapter VII International organizations concerned with human
rights and development Chapter VIII National institutions, Parliamentary Committees,
NGOs Working in the Field of Human
Rights and Development Chapter IX Manual of Terminology and Concepts Contributors Advisory
Committee Asma Khadre *
Al-Taieb Al-Bakoush * Bahya Al-Hariri * Ghanem Al-Naggar * Lila Zarouki *
Mohamed Ougar * Mona Rishmawy * Hani Megali * Wahiba Farea’ Experts
Participated in Planing Ibrahim Al-Esawy *
Ahmed Al-Rashidi * Ahmed Tawfik Khalil * Mohamed Mahmoud Al-Emam * Mahmoud
Samir Ahmed * Nivin Mosa’d Authors Ahmed Tawfik Khalil *
Amin Mekki Medani * Budjoma’h Ghechir * Rima Al-Saban * Abdul-Aziz Al-Nowidy *
A’zam Mahgoub * Essam Ali * Alaa Shalaby * Mohsen Awad * Mohamed Nour El-Ddin *
Mohamed Nour Farahat * Nivin Mosa’d Assistant
Researchers Abdul-Salam Al-Tawil * Faraj Lama Stearing
Committee Adel Abdel-Latif UNDP Karim Jesraoui - Frej Fenniche OHCHR Ibrahim Allam AOHR – Project Coordinator Editor Mohsen Awad Manual Coordinator Executive
Summary This Manual This Manual stems from an ambitious project which
aims to incorporate the concepts of development and human rights, and which is
a new old concept: old as a demand made by third world countries that went
through decades of debates and endeavors, and produced in one of its phases the
International Declaration of the Right to Development as a Human and People’s
Right in 1986. The concept is also new in relation to efforts aiming to
establish it and realize it in practice, amidst conflicting interests and
aspirations within the international community, and even within national
communities. When the Special Rapporteur for the Right to Development concludes
that not a single nation in the world applies Development based on Human
Rights, we can describe this right as “the elusive right”. Elusiveness is not only related to the incorporation
of the concept of Human Rights in Development, but it also extends to the
interpretation of documents on which the concept is based, foremost the
International Covenant for Economic and Social Rights, which is still
considered by some major capitalist countries as a list of demands and needs,
and not a list of rights and commitments, which requires a stable human rights
course to surmount it. Elusiveness does not stop at the position taken by
some Super Powers, which might bear the burden of “helping in development”,
within the framework of the international cooperation required by this concept,
but it also comes from some Third World countries that would like to shirk some
commitments, which would result from joining related international conventions,
these countries soon presented an opposing motto that says Human Rights based
on Development instead of Development based on Human Rights, meaning that these
countries have to realize Development prior to realizing Human Rights. This idea would take the entire situation
back to square one, which banters Civil and Political Rights for Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, and which had been settled since 1993 by conforming the
Vienna Document and Work Program. The biggest tribulations do not just lie in the
attempt to circumvent commitments, or re-producing concepts that human heritage
has outgrown, as they also lie in the effect of international variables on
human rights and development. Globalization, reorganization of the
international order, and projects to re-structure power in the world, offer
difficult challenges to established concepts, programs of development are not
the first of these concepts to face such challenges and the order of human
rights is not the last. Since the September 11 incidents, the epicenter of this
interaction is concentrated in the Arab world and in the This Manual wishes to contribute to the ongoing
debate around the concept of human rights and development, not only by delving
into the origin of this concept, or by pointing to the progress achieved in
establishing it, or by analyzing the challenges facing it, but rather by
presenting new proposals to implement it, as well as standards of progress in
its achievement, which is a problem facing all those who work in the field of
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The question still remains why is it
exclusively an “Arab Manual” and not a Human Rights Manual in general, as long
as it stems from the principle of the universality of human rights, and as long
as the organizations, which worked to achieve it, reiterated their established
conviction of this principle. In fact when preparation started to compile this
Manual this question was the subject of several debates, but the team working
on the Manual believed and still believes that there is no contradiction
between establishing the international concept, and local processing, as there
is an urgent need to examine the interactions of this concept with the national
and regional reality, as well as a similar need to give examples and models
from the local reality, and a stronger need for the targeted public requirements. This Manual provides analyses of the types of
interaction, and monitoring models, but still we have to define the public to
be addressed, which also presents a pivotal question that occupied the minds of
the team compiling the Manual, its answer was construed from the project
objectives, and from the AOHR expertise gained by working in the Arab world
over the last two decades, and through its interaction with Human Rights
Institutions working in the Arab world, as well as from the needs of activists,
researchers and journalists. The Manual
had to include four parts: ·
A
comprehensive overview to fulfill the needs of human rights activists. ·
Specialized
topics on the subject and the purpose of incorporating development and human
rights to fulfill the needs of specialists. ·
Introductions
that would help researchers. ·
Finally
a Manual of terminology and concepts The Manual content Chapter I The International Human Rights
Law and Interconnected Rights This Chapter reviews four main subjects, the first
is the concept of human rights and its international, regional and national
sources and problems, the second is its relation with the International Law
related principles, particularly principles related to the International Labor
Organization (ILO), to International Humanitarian Law and principles related to
the protection of refugees, the third is the position of International Human
Rights Law in Arab national legislations, and the fourth is the relation
between human rights and democracy in various international contexts. In its pursuit of the concept of human rights, this
section explains that human rights can be tracked in humanity’s religious,
philosophical, and intellectual heritage for several centuries preceding the
1948 Universal Human Rights Declaration. As all religions without exception
have texts on honoring the human being, and all cultures without exception
promote principles of kindness and justice, but when we speak of the modern
international human rights heritage, we have in mind the group of binding
principles that the human community, specifically since the end of WWII, agreed
to legally commit to, such legal commitment acquires its support from
international and internal instruments that guarantee this commitment. Therefore the term of “human rights” indicates a
group of rights closely connected with the humane personality stipulated by
international conventions and enjoyed by the human being, and which should not
be taken away from him for any reason, regardless of all the aspects of discrimination
such as religion, language, color, origin, ethnicity and gender etc… This Chapter also discusses groups of rights
according to their subject, their sources, and their regional ranges. The
Chapter also reviews human rights sources, between international and regional
Conventions and national legislations, and pauses at the dilemma of human
rights principles between universality and specificity, and deduces two
dimensions of the dilemma: the first
dimension is cultural as no people in the world have a cultural heritage free
of manifestations that might be in opposition with universal human rights
principles, such questions should be treated with care when examining the
implementation of universal human rights principles in a society. The second and bigger dimension is political,
which is that some governments use specificity as an excuse to dodge their
commitments to human rights. Furthermore, Super Powers use universality as an
excuse to interfere in the internal affairs of small countries mostly in a selective
manner. Therefore, the issue of universality and specificity is politically
exploited, as in the name of specificity the rights of citizens are violated
and in the name of universality the sovereignty of nations is violated for
purely political reasons. In discussing the relation of International Human
Rights Law with other related international laws, this Chapter reviews the relation
between International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law and
deduces that there is a unity in purpose between all human rights Conventions,
and the 1949 Four Geneva Conventions, which is another guarantee of the human
being rights and freedoms, although the latter aim to insure human rights at
the time of armed conflicts. The Geneva Conventions are distinguished by the
circumstances surrounding the protection, as they cover groups not included in
the protection offered by traditional human rights, such as protection for the
wounded, the drowned and civilians under the occupation, in view of the exceptional
circumstances surrounding the protection. Another difference is that some of
the rights stipulated by International Human Rights Law can no longer be
binding in cases of emergency and wars, while the rights stipulated in the
Geneva Conventions can never be disregarded, because the Conventions were
adopted to regulate human rights at the time of war. This section pauses at the current crisis faced by
International Humanitarian Law, which is represented by warring countries
intentionally disregarding its stipulations, using legal excuses or without
even using excuses, while some people tend to undermine the bases of national
and international judiciary systems in order to bind the hands of the Law and
prevent it from reaching the perpetrators of crimes that violate International
Humanitarian Law. In analyzing the relation between Human Rights
Principles and International Labor Organization Agreements, this sections
explains that human rights principles constitute a basic component of the
background reference regulating all ILO activities and work, while the ILO
objectives include the adoption and promotion of all policies and measures
based on the principle that all humans have the right to improve their material
living standards and their spiritual needs without discrimination. This section
explains that most ILO agreements and recommendations strive to protect and
develop human rights in one way or the other, as long as they touch on issues
like securing the work environment, protecting children and minors, regulating
working hours etc…in addition to the various aspects of economic, social and
cultural rights, as well as of civil and political rights. Nevertheless, a
number of ILO agreements deal with specific basic rights and freedoms, such as
freedom to congregate, emancipation from exploitation and equal opportunities
in employment. What distinguishes the ILO in the field of human rights is the
presence of instruments for the effective protection of the rights stipulated
in ILO agreements and recommendations, which have proven their competence and
effectiveness in protecting the human rights of workers. This section discusses in details the challenges
presented by the era of globalization, especially the problem of unemployment
and the increasing numerical gap between rich and poor countries. The section also discusses International Protection
for Refugees within the framework of International Human Rights Law principles,
and provides the definition of “refugee” according to International Law. The
section also discusses the connection between the development seen by general
International Law in the field of the protection of human rights, and
international Conventions regulating the international and regional rights of
refugees in addition to responsibilities connected to the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Affairs. The third subject in this Chapter is dedicated to
Arab Legal Systems and International Human Rights Principles, and reviews the
position of Arab Constitutions on the protection of human rights and public
freedoms, which is a position that reflects disparity in the guarantees offered
to human rights, and in the extent of freedoms they acknowledge, but they all
agree to refer the regulation of freedoms to legislations that mostly restrict
them. The effect of this phenomenon, which has historical roots, was
exacerbated when many countries used the necessities to fight terrorism as an
excuse to adopt legislations that violate human rights guarantees. This section also discusses the position of
International Human Rights Law in national legislation, and explained that Arab
Constitutions usually used three methods to handle this issue: the first method
put international Conventions at a higher level than the Constitution itself,
like the Statute in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Constitution. The
Tunisian and Algerian Constitutions adopted the second method as they consider
a treaty signed by the country as having less power than the Constitution and
more power than the normal legislation. The third method is adopted by most
Arab Constitutions and puts the international treaty after it has been
ratified, at an equal level with legislations, and in the event a legislation
is adopted after the ratification and violates the treaty stipulations, the
subsequent legislative principle is applied, in application of the principle
that latter legislation abrogates earlier legislation. This section explains
that there is not a single case where Arab courts ruled to directly apply a
Human Rights Convention or Covenant, except the Egyptian State Security Court
ruling issued on 16/4/87, when the Court found railroad workers innocent of the
charge of staging a strike, which is incriminated by the Egyptian Criminal Law,
because the right to strike is guaranteed by the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Arab judiciary reluctance to directly apply these
Conventions is explained by the way judges perceive themselves as just appliers
of the law, according to a culture consecrated by the Executive Power, as well
as by the ambiguous relationship between international human rights Conventions
and national legislations in some countries. This section also monitors the
effects of Arab reservations on Human Rights Conventions. The Manual dedicated the fourth subject in this
section to the relation between Human Rights and Democracy, and confirmed there
binding relation, as no one can imagine talking about human rights in a
tyrannical despotic society, in spite of what is said of some autocratic
regimes sometimes providing their citizens with economic and social rights,
because human rights are integral and inter-connected, and it is impossible to
sacrifice some of them at the expense of others. The section explains that
according to some definitions democracy is considered one of the human rights,
and pursues the different dimension of democracy like the right to participate
in international human rights conventions and the status that democracy has
occupied since1999, as one of the human rights, in resolutions taken by the UN
Committee on Human Rights. The section concludes that the connection between
democracy and human rights has evolved from just a connection between
objectives and values at an earlier stage, to the concretization of what might
be called Democratic Rights in a second stage and towards the additional
concretization of these rights in a third stage. This section dedicated a special discussion to the
issue of democracy in the Arab experience, and concluded that the region
suffers from “an acute misery in democracy and human rights”. This of course
led to many questions such as: are there some cultural patterns that prevent
the implementation of the values of democracy? Does Arab culture fall as
rumored within these patterns? Is there a way to amend the culture and spread a
minimum level of social agreement between the prevailing culture and democratic
values that have a comprehensive humanitarian nature? The conclusion reached
after extensive discussion is that there is no elements in Arab culture that
would make it unable to accept the values of democracy, but main political
alternatives circulating among educated Arabs in this matter need to be
reviewed in order for democracy to become one of their main elements by surmounting
the traditional forms in which these alternatives have appeared in the past.
Democracy is the only way that Arab people will emerge from their oppressing
crises and advance with modern developments. Chapter II International Human Rights
Standards This Chapter discusses international human rights
standards, through the group of principles established by the International
Human Rights Law within the framework of the two International Conventions
related to Civil and Political Rights as well as to Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights. In its analysis of the rights and freedoms handled
by the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights the Chapter does
not only mention the Convention texts, but it also broadens its perspective in
handling and referencing these texts, using as a guide the achievements
realized by the Committee on Civil and Political Right since its started its
operations, as well as the specific standards and instruments the Committee
derived to insure the practical implementation of the protection and promotion
of these rights and freedoms, foremost the integrality of these rights and
their non-divisibility. This section categorizes rights and freedoms into 20
articles, and unduly we do not need to repeat them in this review, we will just
look at some of their inferences in relation to the Arab world main concerns,
and the challenges facing the Arab world in the implementation of human rights
and public freedoms. ·
In
the presence of a depressing truth like the military occupation of two Arab
countries, it is essential to remember what this Chapter mentioned concerning
the right to self-determination being a pre-requisite for guaranteeing that
individuals enjoy their civil and political rights, as well as their economic,
social and cultural rights. Therefore, we find that Article#1, which handles
this right in both international Conventions, totally concurs. ·
Under
incessant regrettable repercussions of the international campaign against
terrorism, we should remind that the Committee on Human Rights strives to
reiterate that legislative and security measures that countries undertake to
participate in this campaign, should not be inconsistent with or should not
impair international commitments, which the state contracted to protect human
rights by voluntarily joining the Convention. ·
Under
the continued application of the Emergency Law in six Arab countries, we should
remind that while Article#4 of the Convention allows the temporary suspension
of some of the rights stipulated by the Article, during the application of the
State of Emergency, there are some rights that are to remain untouchable under
any circumstances. This license should only extend to the requirements of the
State of Emergency, which leads to the necessity of defining the period during
which the State of Emergency can be applied as well as its geographic sphere. ·
Within
the same framework we should remind that the sanctity of the Right to Live does
not only mean that this right should not be wasted, even in cases when a State
of Emergency is declared, as stipulated by Article#4 of the Convention, but it
also means that in order to implement this right the State has to avoid wars
and armed conflicts as well as all forms of collective violence. According to
Article#6 of the Convention the State is also required to undertake not just
procedures required to curb criminal acts leading to the deprivation of the
Right to Live, but in addition the State has to impose obligations on
state-affiliated security forces not to arbitrarily kill individuals. ·
Within
the framework of stressing the ban on torture, harsh, inhuman or humiliating
treatment, this Chapter reminds us that courts no longer admit any confessions
the defendant might give as a result of banned treatment, except to establish
proof of the treatment against the defendant and render its perpetrator
accountable. ·
Guaranteeing
the Right to Freedom and Personal Safety is necessary to enable the individual
to practice his other rights and public freedoms stipulated by the Convention,
it is obvious that a freedom-restricted person or a person who does not feel
his life, his honor or his property are secure cannot, for example, practice
his right to travel freely or be a candidate to public posts or form
associations. ·
Within
the framework of the widespread practice of referring civilians to military or
exceptional courts, it is worthy to point out that when this Chapter reviewed
the conditions required for a fair trial, it deduced that referring civilians
to military courts make defendants loose their individual right to stand trial
in front of their normal judge and to enjoy all the guarantees required by
Article#14 of the Convention. ·
In
the presence of complaints about conditions in prisons in some Arab countries,
we should reiterate what was mentioned in this Chapter, concerning the fact
that the State should not use lack of material resources as an excuse to shirk
its commitment to the respect of international standards related to living
conditions in prisons. In discussing Public Freedoms, this Chapter
concludes that the Convention content offers the broadest interpretation of
Freedom of Intellect and Belief, while the Convention allows the imposition of
restrictions on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, if required for the protection
of the interests of others or the interest of the entire community, such
restrictions should not void the Right of Expression of its content, meaning
they should be limited to what is required in democratic states. Freedom of
Opinion and Expression is one of the main assets of democratic systems, and
impairing it is impairing proper democratic rule. While this Chapter presents an extensive analysis of
the entanglement of the Right to Congregate Peacefully, and the Right to Form
Associations with numerous other rights, it pauses at an important meaning,
which is that civil society ability to contribute to the promotion and
protection of public human rights is limited by the extent of freedom this
civil society is allowed to practice, its right to form associations and to
practice peaceful activities, thus if the State restricts this right, civil
society will practically become at the forefront of those who suffer from human
rights violations. In the field of implementing the Right to
Participate, this Chapter explains that the concept of participation in
managing public affairs is fully inflected on the practice of political
authority, which means participating in the legislative, executive and
administrative authority, meaning all aspects of public matters, including
shaping and directing political matters at the local, regional and
international level through the means and ways regulated by the country’s
constitution and legislations. The
international Convention requires its members to issue the necessary
legislatures, which would allow citizens to actually practice this right and
participate in operations that represent in their sum the management of public
affairs, the Convention also requires that legislatures that regulate this
right be based on objective and reasonable standards. This Chapter reviews Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights in two parts, the first is concise and of an introductory nature, it
also gives definitions of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights connecting them
to the International Human Rights Law, the Declaration on Right to Development,
and the Vienna Work Plan. It also presents the subject of meeting and
reciprocal enrichment between the perception of development based on rights,
and the perception based on basic resources (human development). Furthermore,
it reviews the commitments stipulated by the International Convention of
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in preparation for assessment. The second part focuses on assessing the progress
achieved in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and in turn the second part
is divided into two sections, the first focuses on the UN methods used to
monitor the implementation of the Convention, as well as the implementation of
commitments described in official reports. In this context, the second part
reviewed main concerns expressed by the Committee on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights following the discussion of the reports presented by ten Arab
countries. The second and last section suggests a method to
assess progress in the implementation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
by relying on millennium goals for development, which are standard or
referential goals that would be used to monitor and assess the ratio of
progress in the implementation of rights based on a group of statistical
benchmarks. The study included numerous charts and some important tables, in
addition to attachments that contained 14 tables of important data related to
the subjects discussed. This analytical introduction pauses at three
controversial issues, which will be reviewed in this part of the Manual, the
first is commitments related to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in
relation to what the Convention stipulated about “graduation” and “as allowed
by available resources”. In relation to this matter, the study concludes that
there is unanimity on how to understand the type of commitments intended, as
some of those commitments are related to rights that do not need gradual
implementation, like non-discrimination, or the principle of equality between genders,
as in this case commitments are not tied to available resources and require
immediate implementation without delay or graduation. The same applies to other
freedoms like Cultural Freedom, and Freedom of Research and Creation. In the
case of commitments related to other Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the
State is required and obligated to initiate their implementation (without
delay), by undertaking measures to guarantee the gradual enjoyment of those
rights. Therefore, there is a commitment to unconditional
behavior that cannot be postponed, while commitment to the outcome, meaning the
actual gratification of rights, is connected to resources and requires
graduation, it is obvious that commitment to the outcome is tied to commitment
to behavior. This section also draws attention to the fact that
the concept of graduation to insure enjoyment of Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights has inspired some people to come-up with the concept of “minimum basic
commitments”. In 1990 the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
approved that these “minimum basic commitments” are represented by at least
guaranteeing enjoyment of what is considered basic in all rights. Subsequently
the Committee considered that the State party, which for example has large
numbers of people who lack the basic in food, health, lodging and education,
would have breached the commitments that it contracted to perform, hence even
in difficult cases, every state party should not forego those basic commitments
towards the rights of weak and needy sectors. The second issue that this study brings to light is
the difficulties facing the implementation of the Convention in the Arab world
as reported in the conclusions of the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural based on reviewing and discussing official Arab reports. Some of the
difficulties are wars, internal conflicts, the negative reflections of policies
of conditioning or structural reform, as well as international economic
conditions especially condition related to the fluctuation of the price of oil,
and to the increase of debts. In relation to the Committee’s concerns, or what can
be described as level of implementation of rights, they point to the following: 1.
Discrimination
is present in varying degrees in all Arab countries against ethnic or national
minorities, or against foreigners in general. Discrimination is also found
between town dwellers and peasants as well as between regions. 2.
Discrimination
against women is evident in numerous fields, although its intensity varies from
one field to the other. 3.
Unemployment
level is high, usually there is no minimum wages, and if present it usually is
not adequate, trade unions freedoms are usually absent or restricted in varying
degrees. 4.
The
standard of living is affected by poverty especially in the countryside, while
the standard of living is quite high in some countries in varying degrees. 5.
Interestingly
in one of the Arab countries, the AIDS virus is widespread although there is no
information about it, while the rate of mortality among new mothers is also
quite high. 6.
In
the field of the Right to Education it was noticed that the level of illiteracy
is high especially among women and in rural areas, the number of school
dropouts is also quite elevated. 7.
In
relation to the Right to Culture, there was an indication of the presence of
censorship on cultural activity in general. The third and final issue discussed in this Chapter
and which we would like to point out, is that it devised a procedure to assess
progress in the implementation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the
light of the millennium goals for development, and how to apply it to the Arab
reality. * * * Chapter III
Groups More Worthy of Care
This Chapter discusses group rights, and particularly the rights of five
groups, which are more prone to violation, making these rights more worthy of
care, such as Women Rights, Children Rights, Migrant workers and their Families
Rights, People with Special Needs Rights and Minorities Rights. Women
Rights
Obviously this special Chapter should start with Women Rights not only to
remove the prejudice befalling women as a result of discrimination against them
within both the public and private frameworks, and to support systems of
protection required to face all forms of violence against women, but also to
correct social imbalances resulting from marginalizing the role and
participation of women in development and in advancing society as a whole. This section reviewed
relevant international standards, from the International Human Rights Law,
Conventions related to Women’s Political Rights, Nationality of Married Women,
the Declaration for the Protection of Women and Children at the time of Wars
and Conflicts, and up to the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination
against Women and the Optional Additional Protocol. In this Chapter
evaluation of the Convention to End All Form of Discrimination against Women
and the Optional Protocol Thereto, the Chapter concluded that the Convention
covered all known aspects of the life and rights of women, from public life to
private life conditions. From family
relations, fostering, children, inheritance, ownership, marriage and divorce,
to work-related matters, transactions, participation in decision making in
public life whether in agricultural, industrial or commercial societies,
political rights, and finally the right to education, to have access to
training opportunities and to receive educational grants. The Convention also
pointed to Women’s Rights during the different stages of a woman’s life: as a
young girl, a wife, an employee, a housewife, and as the owner of a political
and cultural decision, the Convention failed to cover only one aspect of
women’s lives, which is Women Rights in old age, although social security is
supposed to guarantee this right. This section
mentioned that the importance of this Convention lies in the fact that it has
become and international epitome in the defense of women, and because 90% of UN
member states ratified the Convention, which implies that the world has
announced its censure of discrimination against women. But reality is still very far from the
Convention aspirations, as women in the world still live a deplorable reality,
considering that most poor people are women, most illiterate people are women,
most refugees are women, most victims of physical violence are women, and
people more liable to be led to the international sex-slave market are
women. To apply the Convention and
monitor its application are no easy tasks, as they require huge efforts to
change convictions, cultures and practices, these are in fact the biggest
challenges facing our Arab and Islamic societies. But working within the Convention framework
prompted a lot of activities, of studies, as well as the creation of
organizations, and encouraged the international movement to exert more efforts
to promote Women’s Rights. This section
considered that the Optional Protocol Thereto was an advanced step on the road
to implementing the rights stipulated by the Convention, as it allows
individual or group complaints by women who are victims of violations, or who
are suffering from discrimination due to their gender. But this section also noticed that 1/3 of
countries in the world did not sign this Protocol, which means that the
majority of countries does not approve following-up on cases of discrimination
against women, or answering any inquiries about them. Within the Arab
framework, this section reviewed the provisions related to Women’s Rights in
three regional Conventions, which are the African Charter for Human and
People’s Rights (1981), the Cairo Declaration for Human Rights in Islam (1990)
and the Arab Charter for Human Rights (2004), and concluded that these
Conventions are weak in relation to women, it was also noticed that the human
rights speech became weaker in Arab and Islamic countries, while it became
stronger in African countries. This
backwardness is not compatible with women developmental dimension in the Arab
and Islamic framework, if we compare them to women in general within the poorer
African framework. The question is: Why
does the Arab speech on human rights remain underdeveloped compared to the
similar speech in other third world countries?
The researcher
considered that the answer to the abovementioned question came under three main
headings: an ideological reason
controlled by the prevailing culture, a political reason and a structural
reason represented by a weak Arab Feminist movement. She considered that the ideological reason
was not connected to socio-economic infrastructure in the third world, as all
other third world countries had moved better and quicker in relation to Women’s
Rights. This concept is supported by the
fact that the amended Arab Charter was more attuned to international standards
for Women’s Rights in work-related matters, such as ownership and trade, and
more regressive and conservative in relation to the concept of equality in
other rights related to the direct relation between men and women, such as
guardianship, family, nationality etc, which proves that retro-gradation was
due to the ideological position adopted by Arab regimes and which is based on a
tribal concept, the retro-gradation is further shown by reservations expressed
by Arab countries on the Convention to End all Forms of Discrimination against
Women. The researcher
summarized the political reason in the fact that Arab countries lack democracy,
political legitimacy and popular support, and the fact that they manipulate the
issue of women, as they do other issues, within local social bargaining, as
well as within international bargaining.
The researcher pointed that the issue of women was sometimes clouded by
the fact that women would like on one hand to develop their positions and end
all discrimination against them, while on the other they did not like being a
tool in the hands of foreigners. The third and final
reason that the researcher mentioned focused on the weak Arab Feminist
Movement, as the Movement remains selective and scattered in many Arab countries,
while there is no unified Arab Feminist Movement, not through borders or
through modern technology (although it has some manifestations on the internet
like Aman and Kawthar), and the biggest problem remains that no Feminist
Movement agrees on a specific program. Widespread illiteracy makes women adopt
ancestral philosophy and take-up positions against the philosophy asserting
their rights. There is no way out of
such situations without developing a speech of awareness of rights and
legislations, within the framework of plurality of Arab culture and identity,
as well as of enlightened Islam. Rights
of the Child
This Chapter also discussed the Rights of the Child,
and brought out the cumulative character of the interest in these rights since
the League of Nations was established in 1919, until the adoption of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and the two Optional Protocols
Thereto related to Forcing Children to Participate in Armed Conflicts and
Exploitation of Children, which entered into application in 2002. The Chapter also highlighted the Convention
international character, as up to the year 2005 192 countries ratified the
Convention, which means that all countries of the world except Somalia (which
has no government as a result of civil war) and the United States ratified the
Convention.
This section discussed in details principles of the
Convention, categorized the rights it included, and highlighted the unique
character of the Convention as the first document that combined Civil and
Political rights with Economic and Social rights, while adopting the principle
of coordination and complementation among various rights. The Convention
reinstated the importance of the role of family, as the basic unit of society
and the natural environment for all its members growth and well-being,
especially children. The Convention also
promoted a group of values headed by the respect of human rights and basic
freedoms, as well as developing the child’s respect for his parents, his
cultural identity, his language, his special values as well as his national
values, preparing the child for a life that would perceive responsibility in a
free society with a spirit of tolerance and equality between genders, as well
as friendship among people and groups, and developing respect for the natural
environment.
An important part of
this section focused on the implementation of the Convention on the Right of
the Child through a Rights Based Approach built on three elements: “the Right’s
Person”, “the Responsible for the Right” and the “Right’s Subject”. The section demonstrated that it is possible
to analyze commitments resulting from the rights within the framework of three
obligations: Obligation to respect
the Right, which requires the responsible for the Right not to impair or limit
enjoyment of the Right, in a direct on indirect way. Obligation to protect
the Right, which requires the responsible for the Right to adopt all necessary
measures and procedures, to prevent a third party from impairing a certain
Right. Obligation to
implement the Right, which requires the responsible for the Right to adopt
legislative and administrative measures as well as other appropriate measures
to implement the Rights. The section also
explained several basic definitions for the implementation of rights based on a
comprehensive view of rights, which considers rights as symmetrical and
interactive, therefore impairing one of the rights would affect other rights,
same as vaccinations in an unhygienic environment would cast shadows of doubt
on the purpose for vaccinations, which is to limit child mortality and to let
children enjoy a healthy life.
Quantitative benchmarks alone do not reflect a true picture of rights,
as ratios of children being admitted to schools would not in itself guarantee
the right to education, one should rather look for benchmarks for quality of
education, principles of non-discrimination and equal opportunities. The presence of a legal text that
acknowledges a right represents a good framework for claiming the right but
does not in itself secure the right, as there are several elements that
interact differently with different scope of rights. It is important to deal with the fundamental
reasons that cause problems, not just treat symptoms, it is also important that
children, as owners of this right, participate and be empowered, as a true
guarantee for continuing to enjoy the right. Final observations
made by the International Committee on the Rights of the Child reflect the
Committee’s assessment of the performance of Arab countries in the field of the
Rights of the Child, in light of discussions of periodical reports presented by
17 Arab countries. The assessment shows
some positive aspects such as Constitutional texts, ratification of relevant
Conventions, a number of Arab countries ratifying the Optional Protocols
Thereto, the creation of new institutions concerned with children issues, the
establishment of Supreme National Councils for Childhood Affairs, and some
countries innovating the position of Representative for the Protection of
Childhood, and a Parliament for Children. The Committee did
have some causes for concern: the existence of discrimination against girls,
discrimination between cities and villages, widespread road accidents that
threaten children’s lives, the lack of services for handicapped children, lack
of awareness and information about domestic violence, wrongful conduct
including sexual abuse within the family and outside the family, due to lack of
protective legal procedures, the widespread circumcision of girls in some
countries in spite of efforts to end the practice. Labor laws failure to offer
protection for children, who work in family projects, in agricultural
activities and as domestic help. The
unofficial sector that appears in many cases as one of the worst forms of
labor, the lack of information about teenagers health and about counseling
service for mental health. Stressing the
need for systems for gathering detailed information about children in all the
fields covered by the Convention, including information about more vulnerable
groups, such as individuals with no nationality, the handicapped, and children
of economically deprived families, due to the importance of such information to
assess progress. The Committee also
mentioned a number of important observations regarding treatment of delinquent
children, including the low age of criminal liability in some countries (7
years), while other countries do not determine the age of criminal liability,
minors are not separated from adults in some jails and programs for
rehabilitation and integration of minors are very weak. Migrant
workers
The third chapter also discussed the Rights of migrant workers, who
represent one of the fragile groups from a human rights perspective, due to the
fragile legal protection offered to them.
Several local legislations do not include international standards, which
clearly give migrant workers human rights, but some of the host countries
reject these standards, or only apply them to their national workers. Migrant
workers are affected by human rights violations such as eviction and
deportation, as well as by aspects of discrimination, like racism and
xenophobia, and Migrant workers face great difficulties when attempting to find
a way to seek justice. This section
explained that the negative aspects of globalization, which excluded the free
movement of workers from all its elements, increased the problems facing
migrant workers and produced numerous negative phenomena like: illegal
immigration, human trafficking, and increased dangers facing the most
vulnerable members of this group, first women who are being exploited, and
second house servants (who again are mostly women). In spite of efforts
by the International Labor Organization and relevant UN organizations to
protect migrant workers, whose numbers reached around175 millions, difficulties
facing the protection of this group’s human rights increased, as feelings of
antagonism towards migrant workers increased in some countries due to migrant
workers competing with local workers for jobs, furthermore some western
right-wing parties adopted programs to evict migrant workers. The September 11 attacks increased suspicions
and xenophobia; many countries hosting migrant workers adopted discrimination-based
legislations and procedures that increased the fragility of their conditions. This chapter also
discussed international standards for the protection of migrant workers rights,
and highlighted the fact that the ILO was the first organization to issue legal
instruments for the protection of migrant workers rights, and also has numerous
agreements to that effect, which treat various aspects of migrant workers
rights. Since the seventies, the UN showed interest in the problem of migrant
workers, and in 1980 the General Assembly adopted a resolution to establish a
Task Force to draft a Convention that would guarantee the rights of migrant
workers. In 1990, the Task Force
presented its draft of an international convention for the protection of
migrant workers and their families. The Convention
consecrated a number of basic rights for all migrant workers and their
families, which included: the right to live, to prohibit torture, to prohibit
enslavement or slavery, freedom of opinion, conscious and religion, freedom to
manifest the individual religion or belief, freedom of expression, to prohibit
arbitrary detention, interference in the personal life of an individual,
arbitrary confiscation of properties, to protect from violence, the right to a
fair trial, to prohibit the retroactive application of criminal laws, to
prohibit the confiscation or destruction of identity documents, collective
eviction, to guarantee the right of participation in union activities, the
right to enjoy the social security enjoyed by nationals of the host country,
the right to medical care and the right of the child of migrant workers to
acquire a name and a nationality, to get an education, to respect the cultural
identity of migrant workers, and their right to transfer their properties and
savings when their contract comes to an end. The Convention also
included some rules related to specific groups of migrant workers and their
families, and stipulated the creation of a Supervisory Committee to oversee the
implementation of the Convention, whose members would be chosen by member
states. The Committee would include 10
experts who would carry their missions in a completely independent and
honorable way; the number of experts would be increased to 14, once 41
countries ratify the Convention. Although the UN
General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Protection of all Migrant
Workers and their Families on 18 December 1990, few countries acceded it, and
the Convention did not become operational before the year 2002. Until April
2005, only 29 countries acceded the Convention, most of the countries that did
were developing countries (including 4 Arab countries: Algeria, Morocco, Libya
and Egypt), not a single country that hosts migrant workers joined the
Convention. The Special Rapporteur
for migrant workers explained the reluctance to accede the Convention to be the
result of real interests that rely on bases with real power, while the
individuals who protect the interests are most likely responsible for the
problems that prevent the complete application of these human rights standards. Countries reluctance to accede this Convention gives
an indication of the type of difficulties facing the implementation of
international standards for the protection of the human rights of migrant workers
and their families; it also increases the necessity to support efforts to
consecrate international accession to the Convention and its respect. Challengers of Disability
The fourth section of this Chapter discusses the rights of the
Challengers of Disability, and highlights the problem of disability at the
international level as it touches more than 600 Million individuals, which
represents around 10% of the world population, although most people with
disability are from developing countries.
The section also explains the concepts particular to disability and
which differentiate between “handicap” and “disability”, as although both are
related to a medical concept, the term disabled comprises the disabled person
and his environment, and its purpose is to once more focus on the faults found
in the environment and in many the social activities, which prevent the
disabled person from participating with others on an equal footing. This section points to the
mistaken concepts that prevailed in the way people perceived disabled persons
as a group that only needed protection, without considering their needs as
human beings and their right to enjoy all the rights enjoyed by other groups of
people. This perception contributed to
the disabled being socially isolated, and consecrated a social belief that the
disabled person did not enjoy a group of fundamental rights and freedoms in a
way equal to the way his healthy equivalents enjoyed those rights and freedoms. In reviewing international
standards, this section examines the basic rights guaranteed by major
international conventions, which support the rights of the disabled. The section also reviews international
declarations related to this group like the Declaration on the Rights of
Disabled Persons (1975), the Declaration on the Rights of the Mentally Retarded
(1971), the Declaration on Progress and Development in the Social Field and the
Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness, and the
Improvement of Mental Health Care. The
reports also mentions related documents adopted by the General Assembly, such
as the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Disabled
Persons, which was adopted by the General Assembly 43rd session on
December 20, 1993. These rules were drafted based on
experience acquired during the UN Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992), and
were based on the International Human Rights Bill, the International Convention
on the Right of the Child, the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, in addition to the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled
Persons. And although the rules are not
binding, they implicitly contain a strong moral and political commitment for
states to undertake measures to realize equal opportunities for disabled persons. The rules also comprise important principles
related to responsibility, work and cooperation, they also point to domains
that have a conclusive importance in relation to quality of life, and to
achieving total participation and equality.
The rules represent a base for inter-state technical and economic
cooperation, as well as cooperation through the UN and other international
organizations. Since the UN General Assembly
adopted those standard rules on the equalization of opportunities, a monitoring
instrument was created, and an addendum of the standard rules was published in
order to crystallize principles and suggest treatments for the aspects of
deficiency mentioned in the report presented by the Special Rapporteur for
Disabled Persons to the 36th session of the Committee on Social
Development. The most apparent common
feature in this addendum is focusing on the needs of disabled children and
elderly people, who represent the weakest members of this group. The section mentions that the
year 2001 witnessed the most important steps on the road to concluding an
international agreement that would grant legal protection for the rights of
disabled persons. The General Assembly
adopted a resolution drafted by Mexico, calling for the need to conclude an
agreement on the rights of disabled persons, and to form a Committee that would
review suggestions related to the agreement.
In 2003, the Committee called for the formation of a Working Group that
would prepare a draft. In 2004, the Committee and the Working Group held
several meetings and reached a consensus about a draft agreement on the rights
of disabled persons, which would later be used as the base of negotiations. Within the Arab framework, Arab
countries were part of the efforts aiming to support and guarantee adequate
legal protection for disabled persons to allow them to enjoy all their
rights. At the local level, specific
plans and policies were adopted, while at the regional or international level
plans and policies were adopted through the Arab League; Arab countries also
supported international efforts to reach an international agreement on the
rights of disabled persons. Within this
framework, the region witnessed a number of important forums like “The Conference
on Disability in the Arab World: Reality and Aspirations”, which was held in
October 2002 in Beirut, and issued a number of important recommendations, the
“Arab Regional Conference on the Standards related to the Development and
Rights of Disabled Persons”, which was also held in Lebanon in May 2003. The 2003 Conference was organized by the UN
Economic and Social Committee for West Asia with the participation of some UN
Bureaus, Arab governments and Arab NGOs, to prepare for the Arab Decade for Disabled
Persons 2004-2013, which was approved by the Council of Arab Ministers for
Social Affairs during its 22nd session. Rights of Minorities Section V of this chapter addresses the rights
of minorities and tackles the difficulties pertinent to minority concept. This
led the working group interested in minorities to accept the principle of self
identity. Accordingly, the decisive element in the definition of minority is
the individuals’ determination that they are members of a minority. This section reveals the discrepancy between the serious nature of the
minorities’ problem and its impact on triggering off disputes, on the one hand,
and the stand of the UN Charter, on the other. There is no explicit reference
to minority protection in the Charter. The same applies to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. The first allusion to the rights of minorities was
enshrined in Article (27) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (1966).This provision was essentially used as a basis for discussion
during the development of the draft
‘declaration of the rights of persons affiliated to national, ethnic or
religious and lingual minorities’ adopted on 16 December 1992. The Minority Declaration is deemed the sheer UN instrument that
exclusively addresses the rights of persons affiliated to minorities. It does
not only stipulate the protection of the existence and identity of the
minorities but also recognizes that the protection and enhancement of the
rights of the persons affiliated to minorities shall contribute to secure the
rights of effective participation in the cultural, religious, social , economic
and public life , and to take the relevant decisions. The Declaration further
focuses on the rights of these minorities to the establishment and maintenance
of their federations; to conduct free and sound transnational communications
with the citizens of other countries with which they have affinities. The international mechanisms for the protection and enhancement of the
rights of minorities are multiple and include the subcommittee for the
prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities formed in 1946.The
subcommittee has been involved in minority issues though its name was changed
in 2000 to the subcommittee for protection and enhancement of human rights
together with the stemming task force, the ‘special procedures’, treaty
organizations and the office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. The
minority task force, formed in 1995, is considered the only international forum
exclusively concerned with the rights of minorities. However, the analyses of sources, including the analysis of the
international mechanisms, agree on the deficiency of the minority rights’
enhancement mechanisms as well as the urgent need to promote and bolster said
mechanisms to fulfill their mission. Within the Arab framework, the issues of ethnic, religious, lingual and
sectarian groups in the Arab arena are characterized by two contradictory
features. These are substantially controversial issues in some Arab countries
whereas they are non-existent in the Arab political and social studies on the
national and regional levels. This is definitely attributed to high sensitivity
towards the issues of national unity and social peace. Though this sensitivity is not just confined to the Arab Region, it has a
negative effect. Sometimes, it conceals social tensions that turn into disputes
which could have been easily avoided if they were unveiled and tackled with
transparency and within a democratic frame that provides the means of equity. The minority issues have constituted grave armed conflicts in some Arab
countries and political conflicts in others. There were multiple patterns of
solutions, such as self-rule within the framework of national unity, be it in
Iraq (1970) or the Sudan (1972), or the sectarian reconcilation as in Lebanon
.However, these solutions did not persist long and conflicts and disputes were
flamed anew. Currently proposed solutions take new forms based on the right of
self-determination and federation. The Government of Sudan has recognized the
option of separation for the South six years after the effectiveness of peace
agreements. Algeria manifested its recognition of the Amazegian identity
through acceptance of some of the Amazegian demands. It further recognized the
Amazegian language as one equal to the Arabic language. Some Arab countries
allocate some seats in their parliamentary councils to ethnic groups as in
Jordan. Though these solutions partially comply with the main principles of the
Universal Declaration for the Protection and Enhancement of Rights of
Minorities, they were not void of risks as regards the regional integrity and
social peace of some countries. Unless the substantial settlements in countries
like Sudan and Iraq become a prelude to the resolution of the problem of the
Southern ethnic and national groups as well as the intricate relations between
the Kurds and Turcoman and Arab minorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, the risks shall
loom ahead as regards the regional integrity and social peace in these regions. The ideal framework for the resolution of intractable dilemmas combines
two approaches-independence and integration. This rests on relentless work to
reach sound solutions with a democratic framework governed by the rule of law
and equality; one that provides means of equity and seeks to secure regional
unity and integrity for the citizens of these countries. *
* * Chapter IV
The UN Instruments for the
Protection of Human Rights and for Monitoring the Implementation of International Conventions This Chapter in the Manual reviews all the
procedures devised by the UN to support and protect human rights, whether the
procedures related to the organizations stipulated in the UN Charter or related
to organizations stipulated in related International Conventions, including the
International Convention of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families
which became operational on July 1, 2003. In doing so the Chapter attempts to
explain the practical steps to be taken when addressing these organizations and
instruments, whether on the part of states, NGOs or even individuals, based on
the fact that knowing procedures and mastering them would facilitate benefiting
from these organizations and would help the implementation of human rights. To confirm the close connection between human rights
and democracy, this Chapter reviews international standards for holding free
and impartial elections, for the supervision of international and national
elections, and reviews the technical support offered by the UN to states to hold
free and impartial elections. This Chapter does not only speak about international
instruments, it also reviews a regional instrument represented by the African
Committee for Human and People Rights, considering that many Arab countries
belong to the African system for the protection of human rights. This Chapter has the merit of engaging in the
ongoing debate about the effectiveness of international instruments and ways to
support them, the last part of this Chapter discusses this subject at four
levels: The First Level is related to the criticism directed
at the UN as an organization, regarding its inability to control the double
standards used by Super Powers to deal with some cases, and its failure to stop
some military interventions that took place out of the UN frameworks, as well
as the disparities resulting from some countries having the right of “Veto” in
the Security Council. The Second Level looks at the Committee on Human
Rights, and summarizes the criticism directed at it in the fact that it is
formed of countries that define their positions through their own interests,
and not based on the preservation of the principles of human rights. Therefore
we have seen countries whose record is full of violations yet it is very
difficult to condemn their actions inside the Committee, other countries in the
Committee are ruled by repressive regimes, which made the Committee lose its
credibility and handicapped its activity, furthermore the Committee has become
the scene of conflict and political differences. The Third Level reviews Committees in Charge of
Monitoring the Implementation of Conventions, and summarized the criticism
directed at them in the fact that some experts are not totally independent and
are closely connected to their countries political position, which rendered
some committees completely ineffective. The study shows that 50% of experts
occupy official positions in their countries government and get appointed to
these Committees as a reward or a promotion, the presence of those experts embarrasses
their colleagues who would like to go further in their critical analyses but
fear it might cause a rift in the Committee. These Committees also suffer from
lack of material and human resources required to face the huge number of
country reports, as some reports are studied two years after being presented.
The Committees also do not have a monitoring instrument to follow on the final
observations and recommendations they present, countries also do not cooperate
with them and do not present their reports at the required time. In addition,
countries lack the political will to seriously deal with the Committees, and
some Committees do not approve the official presence of NGOs. The Fourth Level examines the Committee on NGOs
affiliated to the Economic and Social Council, and summarized the criticism
that NGOs direct at the Committee in the following: resolutions are adopted by
consensus, practically giving every member the right of Veto, which deprived
many organizations of the attribute of “consultant” for political reasons, this
requires switching to the majority system in the adoption of resolutions.
Meeting bi-annually does not serve NGOs and therefore they require an annual
meeting. Resolution#1269 should be reviewed to conform to the new relation between
NGOs and the UN. The rules governing NGOs participation in UN international
conferences should be unified, to make the UN and not the states set the rules. At the end of this review, the Chapter presents
twelve suggestions to support UN instruments, which represent the opposite side
of the criticisms. But after completing this Chapter, discussions in
the UN about the development of UN structures and instruments entered a new
phase following the publication of a report prepared by an international high
level committee, formed by the UN Secretary General and presided by Niar Anshon
the former Thai Prime Minister. -
The
Committee sharply criticized some human rights instruments, and pointed that
the credibility of the UN Committee on Human Rights had been eroded, as well as
its professional efficiency, which undermined its ability to perform its
missions in the last few years. The Committee pointed that countries that have
no firm commitment towards supporting and protecting human rights cannot put
standards for supporting rights; in the last few years countries had asked to
be members of the Committee not to support human rights, but rather to protect
themselves from criticism or from the censure of others. The Committee cannot
be credible if people think it uses double standards in facing human
rights-related issues. Therefore reforming this body is essential to make the
order of human rights operate effectively, and to guarantee that the Committee
would better perform the mandates entrusted to it. -
The
Committee also supported the efforts of the General Secretary and of the Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to guarantee the incorporation of
human rights in all UN activities. -
The
international Committee recommended the increase of the number of members in
the Committee on Human Rights, and to ask member states to appoint prominent
and expert personalities in the field of human rights to represent in the
Committee. The international committee also recommended the establishment of a
consultative team of around 15 independent experts to advise and guide the
Committee about analogous mandates. While the team itself should undertake some
of the current mandates related to research and to setting up standards and
definitions. The Committee also recommended that the High
Commissioner be asked to prepare an annual report about the status of human
rights in the entire world. This report would then be used as a base for a
realistic discussion with the Committee, the report should focus on the
implementation of all human rights in all countries, based on information
received through the work of UN organizations as stipulated by special
Conventions and instruments, as well as from other sources that the High
Commissioner might consider suitable. The Committee also recommended increasing the funds
allocated to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and
highlighted the contradiction between allocating 2% of the UN budget to the
High Commissioner and the commitment stipulated by the UN Charter to make the
support and protection of human rights one of the UN main goals. The Committee
also recommended –for a long term plan- to look into promoting the Commission
into a Council for Human Rights, thus it would not to be anymore a branch
organization of the Economic and Social Council but rather one of the Charter
organizations standing beside the Economic and Social Council and the Security
Council, in a manner that would reflect the importance given by the UN Charter
Preamble to human rights in addition to economic and security issues. The international Committee was not the only one to
present suggestions for the development of human rights instruments,
Switzerland of its own initiative officially presented a proposal to reform the
Committee on Human Rights to the Secretary General, several countries
participated in the discussion including Canada, Norway, Denmark, Great
Britain, Check Republic and Poland. The Swiss proposal included three
alternatives: 1-
Invitation
to establish a mini Council of 15 to 25 members, this Council would be
prepared, at any time and according to the need, to have a quick and effective
response to violations committed by any country. This option meets with
resistance due the fact that all countries are not represented in the mini Council,
and all its members will exclusively be human rights experts. 2-
To
establish a Council of 50 to 60 members similar to the UN Economic and Social
Council, representation will by country representatives. 3-
Forming
a Council similar to the UN General Assembly where all countries will be
represented, the Council will be charged with the mission of devising a binding
international Convention in the field of human rights. But it is obvious that
such a Council will be subjected to the same obstructions, complications,
political balances, and economic interests that impede the work of the High
Commission and the current Human Rights Committee. On April 7, 2005, the Secretary General in turn
presented a proposal to reform the UN Human Rights instruments to the Committee
on Human Rights in Geneva. The Secretary General explained that: “the issue of
human rights has entered a new era, as in most of the past 60 years, the UN
focus was to implement, legalize and preserve rights, this effort provided a
framework of legislations, standards and instruments, such an effort should
continue in some sectors, but the era of declarations is now gone. It is
imperative for the benefit of the era of applications, and based on this
evolution, I suggest major changes in the three main pillars of the UN human
rights order: the Contractual Organizations, the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and NGOs in the following manner: ·
To
expand and strengthen the system of contractual organizations to enable them to
perform their functions, it is imperative to swiftly devise procedures to
enable them to work effectively. ·
To
realize the requirements of expanding the role of the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, to solve the problems facing its work, to secure
additional fund for the Office that would conform to the huge missions
entrusted to it. The Office of the High Commissioner was asked to draw a work
plan for this purpose. ·
To
invite member states to replace the Committee on Human Rights with a smaller
Council for Human Rights. As new requirements have surpassed the Committee’s
abilities, and politicization and selectiveness of the Committee’s work led to
a point where it casts shadows on the reputation of the entire UN system, and
as such partial reforms will not be sufficient. The Council for Human Rights
can offer a new beginning, and inter-governmental agencies interested in human
rights can have a position in this Council, in addition, the Council can have
powers and capabilities consistent with the importance of its work. The UN actually has Councils that deal with its two
main purposes: security and development, therefore establishing a third Council
for Human Rights would present a conceptual and articulate clarity. I suggested
that this Council be a permanent structure, capable of meeting whenever the
need arises and not just meet for six weeks per year, as is the case now. The
Council’s main purpose would be to assess how all countries implement their
commitments towards human rights; this would lend an explicit expression of the
principle that human rights are universal and indivisible. The Council would
give equal care to Civil, Political, Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights as
well as to the Right to Development. The Council would be equipped to provide
technical assistance to countries, and to give advice regarding state policies
as well as policies of UN agencies. Under such a system, every member state can
periodically appear for review in the Council, this periodical review would not
prevent the Council from dealing with widespread repressive violations that
could occur, the Council would be able to focus the international community’s
attention on urgent crises. This Council should be more controlling and more
illustrative, therefore I suggest that Council members be elected by the
General Assembly with a 2/3 majority, and that elected members be totally
committed to international standards. Electing members by a 2/3 majority would
make them more capable of control, and would make the entire Council more
illustrative.” * * * Chapter V The Right to Development as A
Human and People Right This Chapter reviews its subject through four main
sections, which handle the UN efforts to consecrate and implement the Right to
Development, and the meaning of the Right to Development as a Human and People
Right, as well as applied international policies and obstacles facing the
implementation of the Right to Development, and finally the requirements
necessary for the implementation of the Right to Development. The Chapter reviews UN efforts in this field from
1977 up to the 1986 Declaration of the Right to Development, and concludes that
the General Assembly’s decision to adopt this Declaration was balanced and
reconciled different positions as the Declaration considered the Right to
Development one of the Human Rights as well as a People’s Right. The
Declaration focused on the individual as the main beneficiary from development,
and on the state as party mainly responsible for its implementation, but within
a framework of international cooperation, which encourages the evolution of
developing countries, and tries to remove all outside problems preventing the
individual and people from practicing their rights, as well as internal
problems resulting from not respecting indivisible human rights. If the
Declaration focuses on the internal aspect of the Right to Development, and the
State responsibility to implement it, it did not neglect the international
aspect of the Right to Development and the responsibility of rich countries for
it. This Chapter also reviews latter efforts to
implement the Right to Development and pauses at the new monitoring instrument
created 1998, through the appointment of an independent expert on the Right to
Development, as well as a work team of unconstrained composition, to monitor
the progress realized in the implementation of this Right. The Chapter also
specially pauses at the recommendations offered by the independent expert and
which comprised four sides: a development program built on rights, reducing
poverty and improving social benchmarks, conventions for development to be
concluded between parties based on reciprocal commitments, and monitoring
instruments independent from contractual instruments to asses the
implementation of various rights and commitments. In handling the Content of the Right to Development
as a Human and People’s Right, this section concludes that the basic character
of the Internal Dimension of the Right to Development meets with the basic
principle consecrated by the International Law for Human Rights, which is that
the initial responsibility for respecting human rights is a State
responsibility, as promoting respect is in the first place a national
responsibility that each state owes its citizens, within the framework of
respecting its international commitments. This internal aspect of the Right to Development
meets with the concept of human development, which puts the human being at the
heart of the development process, as its main performer as well as the main
beneficiary from it. This concept was consecrated by the Declaration on the
Right to Development before it firmly appeared in the developmental philosophy,
this aspect also meets with the concept of Good Governance based on
participation, transparency and rationalizing public policies. Thus it can be
said that at the national level, the Right to Development is based on two major
elements: the right to participate in policies and series of development, and
the right to enjoy all human rights in policies and series of development. In relation to the International Aspect of the Right
to Development as a Human and Peoples Rights, this Chapter concludes that it
comprises three elements: the right to development as the right to participate
on an equal footing in international relations, as the right to preferential
treatment to facilitate development, and as the right to receive international
assistance conditioned with the respect of human rights. As expected the last
controversial element was discussed in great details, using the fact that the
Right to Development initially requires that assistance to develop be connected
with respect of human rights, but connected this to a group of principles in
order to become objective, effective and a contributor to the implementation
and realization of the Right to Development. These principles are related to
reaching a consensus about the concept of human rights, adopting a trustworthy
reference for assessment, they are also related to priority of positive
procedures and priority of international handling, the principle of relativity,
the principle of respecting human rights in measures undertaken in the name of
their respect, non-selectiveness, foregoing the unilateral use of force to
support respect of the human being, and the principle of international
monitoring of all measures undertaken in the name of human rights. In analyzing problems facing the implementation of
the Right to Development, this Chapter discussed two types of problems, the
first type includes internal problems related to banning democratic
participation and impeding the enjoyment of human rights in development
policies. The Chapter explains that this danger is prevalent in most Third
World countries, where the most important industry is power, which is the most
dangerous and powerful instrument to compile and make fortunes. In the absence
of a strong industrial sector independent from the authority, possessing power
is the most important source of accumulation, even in the private sector
success very much depends on the private sector relation with the authority and
on having its support. The second type of problems facing the
implementation of the Right to Development include international problems,
foremost the multi-faceted interventions carried by some Super Powers, whether
under the cover of the Security Council or through unilateral action, as well
as the intervention of international monetary institutions to impose an
economic, social and political model, which undermines the bases of the Right to
Development, while international pledges to help development do not rise to the
level required by the situation, in addition to dangerous inconsistencies that
surround international stipulations, which largely limit their effectiveness
against the power of instruments and practices violating the Right to
Development. In relation to the latter
problem, the study analyzes the two most important models of stipulations,
namely the American and the European Union experiments. The Chapter reaches its conclusion by a study of the
requirements of the implementation of the Right to Development, and divides
them into internal and international requirements. The first focuses on
reforming some UN agencies, foremost the Security Council, as well as
international monetary institutions within the framework of reforming the
international organization itself. While the second focuses on reforms required
at the national level through defining responsibilities that the democratic
forces have to shoulder in reform on one side, and their responsibilities
within the framework of their regional and international coalitions on the
other. * * * Chapter VI Towards a Course for Development
Based on Human Rights This Chapter explains that the concept of
development based on human rights, or the incorporation of human rights into
development, is a relatively new concept, which has not been fully established
or assimilated by development agencies in general nor by civil society nor by
funding institutions nor by UN organizations, in addition the concept in itself
includes difficulties and complexities. In order to clarify the dimensions of the concept of
development based on human rights this Chapter reviews the development of human
rights principles as well as the concept of development leading to the 1986
Universal Declaration on the Right to Development as a Human and People’s
Right. The Chapter explains although some major capitalist countries had
reservations towards the Declaration on the Right to Development, the Declaration
came to confirm that this right was one of the human rights, and not just a
petition presented by individuals and which governments can answer or refuse.
The Declaration confirmed that the human being constitutes the hinge of the
development process, and that he combines participation in the process with
benefiting from it, meaning the human being is the development process
expedient and objective. But in fact no great achievement occurred in the
implementation of the Right to Development Based on Human Rights until the
beginning of the nineties when a number of international conferences and
summits were held, which all strived to reiterate the Right to Development as a
Human Right, not to be impaired in relation to any individuals or groups. This Chapter concludes that the course of
incorporating the concepts of human rights and development requires defining
applicable objectives of development based on specific rights, connected to
legal standards found in the Universal Declaration as well as in international,
regional and national human rights conventions. This requires the fulfillment
of several conditions like to adopt international legal standards and
incorporate them in development programs, to render governments directly
responsible for the implementation of those rights in relation to various
rights and groups within the country, to consider them as rights and not needs
that the government might consider providing, to offer to help governments
implement these rights, to adopt human rights and development benchmarks and to
carry organized monitoring to insure that commitments are met. This Chapter also concludes that this concept
requires that several principles be considered as basic conditions to
incorporate human rights in development, the most important is the universality
of human rights, as they are interwoven and indivisible, to increase the level
of responsibility and accountability in relation to the development process by
defining the people who have rights and their dues, and in return who is responsible
for obligations and commitments. Furthermore, the procedure should be based on the
right and not on need or expertise, meaning that beneficiaries from development
should own and administer this right, while stressing that the human being is
the center and axle of the development process, either directly or through a
representative in institutions of civil society. The objective is to give the
human race the capability, the power, and efficiency required to improve their
lives, improve their societies, and control their destinies. This procedure requires a large participation by
various social groups and their contribution in a simple and effective way, not
just as a token or superficial participation, as it is imperative to focus on
openness and transparency and to give various sectors a chance to be informed
about development policies and plans and express their opinion, point of view
and aspirations. They have to be informed about the scientific presentation of
development projects, plans and activities as well as about institutions
interested in development, to spread awareness of development institutions as
well as treatment and reform means and instruments in relation to beneficiaries
and partners. As discrimination between human beings means putting
one group in a better position than others, thus diminishing the rights of the
latter, then this method requires the removal of laws and institutions, which
discriminate against any attribute or individual, and to provide the necessary
resources to all groups and individuals. Based on this the concept of
development based on human rights means the total introduction of equality
among all, especially marginalized groups. There is no definite or unified list
of these groups as they vary according to time and location, it is imperative
that developmental information should be sorted according to ethnic, religious,
linguistic distribution as well as to social role and other human
rights-related factors and to define the manner in which development incomes
are distributed, to discover who benefits from incomes and who is deprived. This Chapter goes on to analyze role of the UN and
its agencies in this mission, and the effort of the UN various agencies in this
matter, starting with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(UNHCHR) which plays a worldwide leading role in the field of human rights, to
the UN Development Program (UNDP) and their common efforts, as well as the
UNICEF pioneer experiment in the field of incorporating human rights in development. The final part of this Chapter focuses on ways to
incorporate human rights in development and narrowed them to five methods: 1-
The
memo of understanding between the UNHCHR and the UNDP 2-
The
joint regional evaluation/the framework of the UN Program for Developmental
Cooperation 3-
Which
are considered as the most important strategic instruments for developmental
planning and incorporating human right in development and the objectives of the
developmental millennium 4-
The
Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) 5-
The
role of contractual committees In conclusion the Chapter deduces that the process
of incorporating human rights in development remains a cumulative process,
which progresses from time to time until conviction is established,
determination is built, and commitment to the process is concretized on the
part of international agencies, governments, institutions of civil society and
donors. * * * Chapter VII International organizations
concerned with human rights and development Chapter VII identifies the most important
international organizations concerned with human rights and development, some
of the organizations are UN subsidiaries, which were established by resolutions
adopted by the UN General Assembly like the UN Development Program (UNDP), the
UN Environmental Program (UNEP) and other subsidiaries that work independently
and have their own Board of Directors. While other organizations are
specialized agencies such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the
UN Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health
Organization (WHO), all the latter organizations are totally independent, some
of them were even established before the UN itself, like the ILO, which was
established by the 1919Versailles Treaty and in 1946 became the first UN
specialized agency. Each of these organizations has its independent budget and
decision-making system, but they are all connected to the UN through “Juncture
Agreements”. The objectives and purposes of these organizations
vary, as some have developmental objectives like the UNDP, the UNEP and the
UNIDO, which aims to promote industrial development, while others aim to
protect and support different groups like the ILO, which aims to protect the
right of workers and improve work conditions, the UNIFAM which works to
strengthen the political and economic status of women by focusing on Women’s
Rights and incorporating them in the universal human rights movement. The UN
International Childhood Fund (UNICEF), which works to protect children and
support conditions conducive to their growth and development, and the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is active in protecting, helping,
rehabilitating, and repatriating refugees. These organizations provide the main driving power
for realizing UN objectives in development as well as economic, social, and
cultural rights. Some organizations play a role similar to the role played by
the UN in forming and shaping international standards in specific sectors, as
the ILO does in the field of labor standards, as it reached 300 international
agreements and recommendations in this field, so does the UNESCO in field of
cultural rights. But the reciprocal support of objectives and their blending,
while in some cases they might even be identical, does not mean that these
international organizations duplicate each other objectives, or use analogous
measures and procedures. If we go back to the example we previously mentioned
about the common ground between the UN and the ILO, we can distinguish three fields,
in the first they have analogies like union rights and collective bargaining,
while in the second they differ completely as the ILO focuses on some
professional conditions for work, while in the third the UN and ILO field of
interests blend as the UN focuses on standards without which the Right to Work
cannot be implemented, and the ILO focuses on details without which the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights cannot be
implemented. The nature of the relationship between each of these
organizations and NGOs varies, not just in what is expected, such as the type
of cooperating organizations in relation to common objectives, for example the
principal connections of the ILO are mainly with labor organizations and the
connections of the WHO are mainly with medical or scientific organizations
etc…but variation also occurs outside specialized frameworks, as outside of the
framework of labor organizations, the ILO cooperates with NGOs within the
framework of semi-contractual arrangements to carry out certain assignments
like statistics, studies and training… the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
relations are not limited to aid or humanitarian relief organizations, but also
extend to NGOs interested in education, pedagogy, human rights and other. Regulatory bases governing relations and cooperation
between international organizations and institutions of civil society also
vary. Most of the international organizations grant the “Consultative Status”
to a limited number of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
while some also grant this Status to international regional organizations,
others provide other levels for cooperation through a roster, or even outside
the previous standards. The UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS)
provides a commendable service to support communication between international
organizations and NGOs. The NGLS is a unit liaising between specialized UN
agencies, programs, funds, desks and donors, the unit was established in 1975
at the suggestion of the UNDP and the UN Public Information Bureau, and is
supported by several international organizations to promote dialogue,
cooperation and communication between the UN and NGOs, especially in the fields
of sustained human development, environmental development, development,
universal economy, and boosting development in Africa. The NGLS issues a great
number of publications that reflect NGOs interests and activities as well as
the UN system. * * * Chapter VIII National institutions,
Parliamentary Committees, NGOs Working in the Field of Human Rights and Development This Chapter aims to define NGOs working in the
field of human rights and development in the Arab world, and ways to
communicate with them. This task might outwardly seem easy, but in fact it was
a difficult one, starting with the problem of classification and going to the
problem of subjective unbiased selection to meet the Manual’s requirements.
While theoretical and field studies have always recognized the problems of
terminology, the problems remained unresolved, the team compiling data for the
Manual was entrusted with the somewhat risky responsibility of determining
specifications. Standards used to select the organizations to be
included in the Manual contained some difficulty, as with the increasing number
of NGOs working in the fields of human rights and human development in the Arab
world. A deeper awareness of the organizations role, an increased social need
for them, and the gradual regression of legislative restrictions to establish
them, led to a surge in their numbers. Due to the large number of organizations
it is very difficult to enumerate all of them in such a limited space, this in
turn imposed an individual judgment in selecting the organizations that would
appear in the Manual, and therefore the selection was somewhat arbitrary. In spite of these problems, civil society in the
Arab world in general and human rights institutions in particular, are very
dynamic in their course of development and their propagation, as there is a
constant and heavy burgeoning of institutions, which operate in varied fields
and have varied activities, between general and specialized, between regional,
national and local. In addition there is a degree of competition among them,
which sometimes leads to positive outcomes and at other times to negative
outcomes. Focusing on new areas and concepts is another
positive feature, as for instance, interest expanded to include Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights beside Civil and Political Rights. Arab Human Rights
Organizations started to focus on democracy as one of the basic rights, on the
concept of human or humanitarian development based on human rights, on good
governance as well as on issues related to the environment and water resources… In spite of these two positive features in the
movement of human rights institutions, the motion also included the
disappearance of some institutions shortly after they were established and
became active; or they were not able to operate after their establishment due
to subjective or internal pressures. These various features lead to difficulties in
observing these institutions and their diffusion in the absence of official or
semi-official statistics. It is less difficult to monitor human rights
institutions due to their continuous activities and their wish to promote
themselves, but it is difficult to find out any detailed information about
human rights organizations. A number of modern Directories, which were published
by national, regional or international authorities, although they provide wide
and almost comprehensive data about those organizations, did not help us when
we were preparing related sections, as many data like “name of responsible or
manager”, “means of communication” and “field of interest” were no longer
current. Some of the institutions included in these Directories were no longer
operational or no longer existed. This section presents around 150 non-governmental
organizations operating in 17 Arab countries in the field of human rights in
general or in a specialized field (women – children), or in the field of
developing democracy, and human or humanitarian development based on human
rights, this latter type of organizations is not widespread, in addition we
also present some organizations working at the regional level. Taking into
account that the number of related organizations that could be tallied in the
Arab region is double this number, this does not mean that we selected or
preferred organizations listed in the Manual over others, this rather reflects
the difficulties surrounding the tabulating operations especially features of
development and motion. We could not include any data about four Arab
countries, namely the Sultanate of Oman, Djibouti and Qatar where there are no
of non-governmental human rights formations, while in Somalia the nature of the
current conditions prevented us from contacting human rights organizations
there. In Iraq and in spite of a growing civil society
movement in the aftermath of the occupation, and the accelerated proliferation
of general civil society institutions and specialized human rights
institutions, the rapid proliferation was accompanied by even quicker variables
as well as deep and fundamental problems related to the issue of occupation and
popular polarization, which made it difficult at the current time to present
facts that would be firm and would have the ability to progress. Accordingly it was decided that the data presented
in this section would be the subject of constant change and development, by
posting it at the website of the Arab Project for Human Rights and Human
Development www.arabhumanrights.org
to allow everybody to access it, and to periodically update the site when
organizations not in the Manual send their data to the website, or when
organizations already included in the Manual update their information. Furthermore the Arab Organization for Human Rights,
as the institution responsible for supervising and executing the project, as
well as the institution responsible for managing the project website starting
May 2005, will have its technical team develop and update the data posted on
the website. Either through receiving requests for additions from
organizations, or requests to update the data of organizations already in the
Manual. The AOHR technical team will also expand the type of information
available on the website through the self-effort required by aspects of the
AOHR activities, campaigns and other regional projects. * * * Chapter
IX Manual of Terminology and
Concepts This last Chapter of the Arab Manual for Human
Rights and Human Development aims to achieve three main goals: the first is to
clarify some legal terms that might cause confusion, whether due to the variety
of related references between Anglo Saxon, Latin or Islamic in the Arab
countries, which the Manual would like to address through its scientific
material. The second is to differentiate between some interlocking general
concepts; this interlocking is due to the close connection between one concept
and another, as between referendum and elections, or between parliament and
local council. The third is to monitor some of the most prominent new concepts
in the field of human rights, and to analyze new dimensions of old concepts
used in the same field. In connection with these three objectives, this Chapter
is divided into three main sections that cover legal interlocking terms,
interlocking general concepts, as well as new and renewable concepts
successively. The options of this Chapter were based on some
methodical limitations that governed its general framework and controlled it;
the most important limitations are the ones connected to the field of inclusion
and exclusion that controlled the terms and concepts related to human rights
and development. From the beginning, its is important to reiterate that it was
not on the mind of any of the people responsible for the publication of the
Manual, that this Manual would be inclusive of all what it could contain, but
it imperatively had to be selective, meaning it would include what it should
contain. Although it is possible to differ about what should
be included and what should not, it can be said that the selection procedure
was widely discussed by a group of prominent experts in the studies of human
rights and development, and came as a result of reading a great number of
encyclopedias, directories and dictionaries, reflected by the list of
references and sources. In addition in selecting concepts and terms, it was
observed that they would fulfill the need of the people responsible for the
publication of this work, based on their expertise in human rights at the Arab
level, meaning the need to spread awareness of various concepts that express
the same meaning or a close meaning from one Arab country to the other, which
some people might call symbolizing the gap between the Arab Mashreq and
Maghreb, but it is far better to describe it as developing Arab awareness of
the culture of human rights. In addition
this material can still be developed and increased in the future within the
framework of a plan of constant updating of the Manual material, which will be
posted on the international information network on the Project website. Another methodical controller was related to the
distinction the reader of this work will find between the term and the concept.
This distinction comes in reality from the fact that the term points to the
“word” that a group of specialists in a branch of knowledge accept as meaning
something specific, making the agreement between those specialists the center
of definition and its limitation. For example the term of constitution has a
different meaning in sociology and politics. While the concept has a more
definite nature than the conventional nature of the term, as it embodies the
values stemming from each human civilization. Such is the case of the concept
of democracy within the context of western civilization and the concept of
Shura in the context of Arab-Islamic civilization. The third methodical controller is related to the
Manual sources, which is a problem that the people responsible for issuing the
Manual had to face. As in addition to dictionaries, encyclopedias and
directories, there was an abundance of UN documents related to the Manual material
and to its three sections, as well as articles of opinion and venerable
academic studies. Compilers of the Manual chose to focus on UN documents
because they directly reflect the development of the international community
ideas on how to deal with issues related to human rights and development, but
they did not neglect other sources that presented individual efforts and
analytical views, as they considered they would strengthen and enrich the
Manual. This Chapter discussed 40 main subjects handled in alphabetical
order within every section, after attributing every concept or term to its
direct linguistic root. * *
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