International law, Sixth edition
The Arab Charter on Human Rights
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International Law MALCOLM N. SHAW
The Arab Charter on Human Rights
294 An Arab Charter on Human Rights was adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States on 15 September 1994 and a revised version was adopted by the League of Arab States in May 2004. It affirms the princi- ples contained in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and the Cairo Dec- laration on Human Rights in Islam. 295 Reference is made to the national identity of the Arab states and the right to self-determination is affirmed. A number of traditional human rights are also provided for, including the right to liberty and security of persons, equality of persons before the law, fair trial, protection of persons from torture, the right to own private property, freedom to practise religious observance and freedom of peaceful assembly and association. 296 The Charter also provides for the election of a seven-person Arab Human Rights Committee to consider states’ reports. 297 The Charter came into force on 24 January 2008 upon the seventh ratification. 298 293 Article 34(6). 294 See e.g. M. Rishmawi, ‘The Revised Arab Charter on Human Rights: A Step Forward?’, 5 Human Rights Law Review, 2005, p. 361, and R. K. M. Smith, Textbook on International Human Rights, Oxford, 2002, p. 87. See also Robertson and Merrills, Human Rights in the World, p. 238, and A. A. A. Naim, ‘Human Rights in the Arab World: A Legal Perspective’, 23 HRQ, 2001, p. 70. 295 Adopted in 1990 by the Nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers. This Decla- ration emphasises that all rights and freedoms provided for are subject to Islamic Shari’ah (article 24), which is also ‘the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles in the Declaration’ (article 25). 296 Articles 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 30, 31 and 35. The right to development is proclaimed as a fundamental human right, see article 37. 297 Articles 45 and 48. 298 Note, however, the statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing concern with regard to the incompatibility of some of the provisions of the Arab Charter with international norms and standards. These concerns included the approach to the death penalty for children and the rights of women and non-citizens. The High Commissioner also noted that in equating Zionism with racism, the Arab Char- ter was ‘not in conformity with General Assembly resolution 46/86, which rejects that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination’: see statement of 30 January 2008, www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/0/6C211162E43235FAC12573E00056E19D? opendocument. |
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