Theoretical issues in the Arab human rights movement.

• Author: Al-Sayyid, Mustapha K.

The gravity of the human rights situation in the Arab World calls for the presence of an Arab human rights movement with a clearly defined mandate and purpose. While other parts of the world, including many countries in the South, have seen the collapse of authoritarian regimes that had ruled over them in the recent past, no similar regime in an Arab country has vanished. To the contrary, despite the serious disasters these regimes have brought on some Arab countries, many now seem more entrenched than ever. Moreover, regimes which had embarked upon the path of political liberalization since the mid-Seventies, or in the late Eighties, have reversed their course, limiting the little political space which they had opened for autonomous political and social forces in their societies. An active and widely-based human rights movement would seem to be one of the agencies that could help establish, in the short term, more decent conditions of existence for the Arab peoples. However, the present state of the human rights movement, (even in its most optimistic assessment) can not be seen to be reaching its full potential.(1) For this movement to emerge as an effective force on the Arab political scene, as some would like, it is imperative for it to overcome many hurdles, some of which are external to the movement, while others are definitely of an internal nature.

This article discusses some of the internal difficulties faced by the Arab human rights movement, and examines how its lack of resolution on some critical issues has cast doubt on its credibility as a true champion of the human rights cause in Arab countries. The author would like to state that the following critique of the movement stems from a sympathetic position toward it and from a wish to see it gather more strength and penetrate more profoundly into the minds and souls of Arab citizens. The analysis in the following pages is based primarily on a reading of the annual reports and bi-monthly newsletter of the Arab Organization for Human rights (AOHR), the mother of human rights organizations in the Arab World.

The author has chosen in this essay to focus on theoretical issues because of the belief that theoretical questions are of utmost importance to any human rights movement, or to any political movement that is involved in the struggle against a well-established political order. Moreover, effective praxis for the Arab human rights movement is contingent upon a clear definition and theoretical analysis of its environment, goals and strategies. Theoretical rigor is not, of course, the only condition for the success of such movements, but it is undoubtedly important and even necessary.(2) Theoretical analysis is all the more important for the Arab human rights movement as many of its leaders, being former nationalists and Marxists, began their political training in movements which would seem in opposition to the human rights cause.

This essay will therefore outline four main theoretical issues requiring resolution by the Arab human rights organizations: 1) the issue of the universality of human rights, 2) the conceptualization of national sovereignty, 3) the indivisibility of human rights, and 4) Arab specific issues relating to the Shari'a.

THE UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Undoubtedly, the first theoretical question that is as yet unresolved by the Arab human rights movement, is the position it adopts with respect to the universal application of human rights, as embodied in many international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration, the two 1966 international covenants on political and economic rights, and the many other treaties and declarations of the United Nations. Ideally, the established position of the movement on this question would be to adhere to the universal concept as embodied in all these documents, with recognition of the specific cultural norms of Arab peoples. In reality, however, spokespersons for the movement often minimize the importance of critical divergences which the Arab human rights movement takes from the international human rights movement, particularly on such issues as the death penalty and certain personal rights. Some actions indicate a superficial adherence to the universal concept of human rights, and reveal the narrow nationalist and dogmatic ideologies stemming from the Marxist origins of many of the leaders.

In addition to divergences from the Universal Declaration of Human rights, the Arab human rights movement has also failed to practice universality by hierarchically ordering some rights above others. An examination of...