It is perfectly right to say that human rights has been the foremost goal of the last quarter of the twentieth century. Since the mid-seventies, the movement to defend human rights has increased its activities, reaching a level that was never witnessed previously. Moreover, its increased activity has been global, unlimited to a particular field. Indeed every concept, idea or value that is directly related to human life has become, through this heightened activity, an aspect of human rights that must be protected.
Supporters of this movement have turned their eyes to every corner of the globe, establishing human rights groups or associations, to monitor, criticize and publicize any violation of human rights. Their activities also aim to increase cultural, political and social awareness of human rights. They publish annual reports adopting a clear stand. These reports are received by those engaged in the defense of human rights, giving them stronger motivation to enhance their monitoring and information activities.
The whole issue of human rights started in the first half of the twentieth century as an abstract idea aimed to counter the concepts advanced by Nazis, fascists and similar groups. It then took a concrete, international and legal form represented in the international declaration on human rights. Ever since the early days of international advocacy of human rights, Islamic scholars and advocates have been keen to point out that Islam has been far ahead of the rest of humanity in establishing such rights and requiring their protection and enforcement.
We have a number of definitive, Qur’anic texts that admit no omission, addition or any other form of amendment or modification, as well as several Hadiths speaking about human rights. Together, these Qur’anic verses and Hadiths provide a solid basis for issuing a complete international declaration on human rights based on Islam and its teachings.
These invaluable intellectual efforts have produced such a declaration which was issued by the Muslim Council of Europe on Sept. 19, 1981, under the name: “The International Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.” It should be added that this declaration was made at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The declaration includes 23 articles, every one of which is supported with evidence from the Qur’an or the authentic Sunnah.
Most scholarly studies on human rights and the Islamic view of such rights have tried to find a solid basis in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, supported with the writings of eminent Fiqh and Qur’anic scholars, for each concept of human rights. It must be acknowledged that most of these studies have involved serious and meritorious scholarly work. Many have been able to re-discover facts that have long been forgotten or neglected because Islamic law has been removed from the daily life of Muslims in most Muslim countries.
What has not yet been properly attended to is the question of the mechanism which can provide practical controls for defending human rights in Muslim communities. Indeed this aspect continues to meet with opposition that may, from time to time, lose or gather strength, according to local and global trends and circumstances.
In our view, the practical aspects of ensuring, practicing and protecting what is generally termed as human rights, and effective monitoring acquire particular importance in Arab and Islamic countries in particular. Indeed such practical aspects should be given a much higher priority than a theoretical study of what Islam says about these rights and its leading role in establishing them. A theoretical study, valuable as it certainly is, provides us with a strong argument. However, the practical commitment to these rights and the way the relation between the individual and the government is organized on their basis are the aspects which will endorse what our theoretical studies conclude. Or else, they will negate it, turning the argument against us.
It is only fair that we should acknowledge the lead that has been taken at the international level in organized defense of human rights. There are numerous organizations that address this issue and pursue human right cases in most countries, including Arab and Muslim countries.
Amnesty International, based in London, issues an annual report in several languages on the status of human rights and their violations in most countries of the world. It also issues country reports as and when the need arises. An organization calling itself Article 19, or the International Center against Censorship, derives its name from the article 19 in the international declaration on human rights. This organization devotes its activities to exposing censorship practices against freedom of belief and expression. It supports victims of such censorship anywhere in the world.
In 1977, a presidential order, issued by former US President Jimmy Carter and approved by the US Congress, established a human rights office within the State Department. This office prepares an annual report on the status of human rights in all countries, based on reports received from US embassies and other sources. The report is then submitted to Congress.
There is also in the US an organization called Lawyers for Lawyers, which is an affiliate of a larger organization called Lawyers for Human Rights. Both organizations have memberships of lawyers who believe in human rights. Members of the second in particular are lawyers who believe in the need to defend the professional and humanitarian rights of their colleagues.
The reports published by this organization are not limited, as may be understood from its name, to cases involving lawyers only. These reports also include cases of violations of human rights where the victims are not lawyers. The organization is particularly interested also in the legal status of ethnic, religious and national minorities in all countries of the world.
The United Nations has a special committee on human rights, established on the basis of the international convention on civil and political rights. This committee is responsible for monitoring the observance of the rights outlined by the international convention on civil and political rights and following up on progress to ensure these rights.
The Second International Conference on Human Rights was held in Vienna (14-25 June 1993), which recommended the establishment of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights. A resolution establishing this post was passed by the 48th session of the UN General Assembly, which concluded its work on Sept. 20, 1993. The first such high commissioner assumed office in 1994.
The agenda of the Vienna conference included an item proposing the formation of an international human rights court, but the idea was met with fierce opposition from many countries, for obvious reasons. Hence, it was not passed.
We should also mention another very important agency, which is the Arab Organization for Human Rights, formed in Cyprus in 1979. Its main activities are based in Cairo, despite the fact that it has not been able to obtain an official permit to work. It has affiliate offices in most Arab countries.
Other organizations are also concerned with human rights in the Arab world. Some of these are national, such as the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, and some are not national, such as the Union of Arab Lawyers, and the Union of Arab Journalists. Of all these, the most important role is that played by the Arab Organization for Human Rights.
We will look into the Islamic perspective of this issue next week, God willing.
