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Arab Conference Confronts Human Rights Issues
By Rami Eljundi
Mar 24, 2006, 12:03

More than 300 participants comprised mostly of human rights activists and Arab government officials met in a three-day conference on human rights in the Arab world in Doha, Qatar on March 4. This is the second conference of its kind in the Arab World, following last year’s meeting in Cairo, Egypt.

“It is important to have such conferences and there has been progress, but very slow. This would not have been possible 15 years ago,” said Ahmad AlMufti, an advisor for the Council for Human Rights in Sudan and chairman of the Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children.

“People want to promote the culture of human rights, women’s rights and freedom of speech, but they fear that some international powers stir such issues for hidden agendas, “said AlMufti. “The process has challenges both from the inside [some ruling governments] and the outside [some non-Arab countries] who want to use this issue [human rights] as an excuse to interfere in the region’s matters. Look what is happening in Iraq and now in Syria and Sudan -- in the western region of Darfur.”

Critics believe that national organizations behave within limits that are permitted by the ruling governments.

“National organizations are nominated by the state and unfortunately there is gap between the people and the government. The people do not accept everything that is issued by the government, which is something we are sorry for,” said Rasem Sayed Suliman AlAtasi, Head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria, which is not officially recognized by the state and does not work under any legal system. “In some countries, there are national organizations, but they do not have civil societies, how can these organizations work?”

AlAtasi said the absence of partnerships between national and independent organizations weakens the role of such institutions. Despite the fact that many Arab countries have advisory councils on human rights, their performance does not meet the criteria set by the Paris Principles.

“We think they [the national institutions] are independent in appearance, but they do not perform any independent investigations against violations to human rights. We have never found any justice in this respect,” said Hafez AbuSeada, Secretary General of Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.

Activists believe that the role of non-governmental societies should turn from just objection and opposition to participation and suggestions. Arab masses want respect to their human rights, but do not want to deviate from the broad lines that define their cultural and religious beliefs.

“The problem before us is the establishment of mechanisms that guarantee the independence of the national institutions [from official institutions] and their effectiveness. Governments should understand this role,” said AbuSeada.

“We have a commitment to coordinate things between them [governmental and independent organizations], which is not easy. This requires us to look into the different conflicts, which requires speaking different languages in different countries,” said Orest Nowosad, Coordinator of the National Institutions Unit for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

Some critics were skeptical about the use by some powers of the issue of human rights.

“I did not hear yet from any of our speakers here that one of the major violations to human rights in the Arab world is the [Israeli] occupation,” said Hasan Khreisheh, Deputy Speaker for the Palestinian Legislative Council.

“How about the violations of human rights under the occupation of Iraq and the forgotten detainees in Guantanamo?” asked Adel Quora, member of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt.

Declarations pass with no implementation in the Arab world. The majority of people believe that resolutions - on politics and human rights – are nothing but just ink on paper.

“Enough meetings! Enough wasting money on big conferences! The Cairo declaration, the Doha declaration, the Sana’a recommendations and enough declarations, enough talk we need serious implementations. We need actions,” said Majdi Helmi, Columnist for Al-Wafd Daily Newspaper in Cairo.

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