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AL HABTOOR INFORMATION AND RESEARCH DEPARTMENT Human rights as defined by the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" drawn up by
the United Nations has become the basic measure by which a country's development is judged. Any country that wishes to promote economic growth and prosperity in a
free market economy, can do so, by harnessing the power of creativity and enterprise of it citizens. So that it can plug into global trade, investment, and the
communication systems. Human Rights law is now like the international intellectual copyright law; you either do it and run with the wolves, or you don't do it and
become one of the sheep forever being hunted through the global economic jungle.It is no longer credible for governments, leaders, and social conservatives to claim
cultural relativism as an excuse for applying human right standards that are currently well below universal norms. Proponents of cultural relativity argue that human rights,
as understood in the West need not apply to their countries or societies on the grounds that their philosophical base is different and perhaps opposite to that of the
West. Arab societies for example, are not based on individualism; rather, they are structured as families that have a patriarch at their head, whereas western
conceptions of human rights are based on the idea of the autonomous individual. Western society emphasises the role of the individual's political and civil rights,
whereas Arab societies and other non-western societies place more emphasis on the role of the community at the expense of the individual's rights. Unfortunately if we
want to enjoy the benefits of globalisation, the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund, then Arab countries need to allow their citizens to
enjoy the benefits of the individual freedoms written into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For these are the rules of the new -world order.
To date, Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates have gone some way to adapt their societies to human rights, free speech and to a limited extent, the right
of assembly. These have made real gains and have been widely appreciated by the people of these countries. Nevertheless even they are not fully compliment with modern human rights values or conventions.
The fact has to be faced that the Arab World collectively has one of the worse human rights records in the modern world. Here is what Amnesty International for
Human Rights has said about the region in its annual report for the year 2000; "during 1999, widespread and serious human rights violations - including large-scale
executions, routine use of torture and unfair trials, often before special courts, took place throughout much of the Middle East and North Africa." In common with the
previous year, the climate of impunity remained, with few steps being taken to bring to justice those responsible for past human rights violations. Our record on human
rights should not be based on corrupt and notoriously inhuman police states; rather, our ambition should be to have our region judged by the more tolerant and positive
aspects of Arab society, so that we are seen by the rest of the world as a humane, wealthy, liberal culture, well able to tolerate cultural diversity and change. Continues >>> |
