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To achieve this goal and change attitudes and behavior, Arab states need to establish an effective permanent commission on human rights, which, until now, the majority of Arab countries have avoided doing, if they are to have any credibility with the international community when they make human rights claims. This relates particularly to the countries making up the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), for its sanctions policy and bombing campaign against Iraq, Israel's blatant human rights abuse in Palestine or discrimination against Arab or Muslim minorities in Central Europe and elsewhere. It is hard to justify your complaints if you do not respect human rights yourself.

A permanent Arab Human Rights Commission, that has real authority, would be able to address the balance of power between the central governments role in the state, and the rights of the individual within that state. All the countries in the Arab world have never addressed society's legitimate need for collective national security from the individuals legitimate right for personal dignity and security. This is the dilemma that needs resolving. We do not need to apologise for taking strong measures to preserve our national sovereignty, for it is an obligation of the state government to provide public order and a stable environment in which human beings can develop and enjoy life. This need for security has to be counter-balanced with the rights of the individual, as defined by all the human rights conventions. One of the first acts of a Human Rights Commission would be to define the points of convergence and divergence between an individual's human right to freedom, dignity and equality, and society's collective right to stability, public order and development. The Commission should make the point, that the state is there to serve its citizens and not the other way around.

If there are cultural, religious or other distinct values that seem to over-ride universal human rights norms, such as pertain to women, children, refugees, religion or tribal values, then they should be stated clearly and proudly without being apologetic about them. But if Arab governments ask the world to make exceptions on human rights issues for Arab countries because of "unique cultural values," we might weaken our case when we speak out against human rights abuses, against the people of Palestine or elsewhere. As surely, Israel and other oppressive regimes would claim that they have "unique cultural values" too. Would it not be better for humanity as a whole if governments and societies drop this pretension about "distinctive values," that has enabled governments and leaders in not just the Arab world, but around the globe and though-out time to ignore the basic human rights of their citizens? Would it not be better if all governments and societies recognised the universality of a fundamental set of human rights and construct their constitution and laws to enshrine them?

If the Arab world does not heed the global movement on human rights that is making the nations of the world draw up and incorporate into their constitutions human rights laws, it will find itself increasingly out of step with the global community. A failure to act may discriminate against those Arab governments that do not uphold human rights in their countries. They could be denied access to, or expelled from such global oganisations as the IMF, the UN, and the WTO. Economic sanctions could be applied, capital markets would be reluctant to invest in the region, restrictions may be placed on technology transfers, and crippling sanctions against governments, and their people could be applied. All of the above would have a devastating effect on the development of the Arab world and the stability of its social structure.

In the evolving global society of the 21^st century, where ideas and information travel quickly and are easily accessible to nearly everyone on the planet, it is only a matter of time before the idea of individual human rights become the major criteria by which a country's government or leaders are judged; not just by the other nations of the world, but also by their own people. No society can now, as they could in the past, cut itself off and isolate its people from the world outside its borders, to maintain their power through repression and authoritarianism.

It should be recognised by the Arab world, that establishing an Arab Commission to defend human rights throughout the region is a move in the right direction. It would serve to bolster Arab and Muslim Identity through the active promotion and defence of human rights, while at the same time search for common ground on which all human rights oganisations, no matter what their ideological convictions, can stand.

The value of human rights is universal, and the cause of defending and protecting these rights is a just cause; but, for the value and justice to remain universal, it should be left for individuals in partnership with their governments to decide and define what they are. This would ensure that no one culture could dominate the human rights agenda. For human rights principles to be applied fairly, they should, at the international decision-making level, be accessible to the developing nations, allowing them to participate in the bodies, such as the international courts at the UN and other oganisations that formulate and enforce legislation globally. In the final analysis, it is the fundamental needs of people for education, housing, health care, nutrition and employment that have to be taken care of first, for if they are not, then modern human rights can never be protected until these needs are satisfied.