Universalität der Menschenrechte im Menschenrechtssystem der Liga der Arabischen Staaten

Abstract

This piece examines the human rights standards of the League of Arab States (or LAS), and asks the question if they advance universality of human rights, and if not, what the main challenges are. The piece focusses largely on the Arab Charter on Human Rights, but also examines the recently adopted Arab Strategy on Human Rights and the Arab Declaration on Rights and Responsibilities of Civil Society Organisations. The piece argues that while human rights standards of the Arab League contain many important references that endorse universality of human rights, they also include many challenges: there are general references to specificity; standards frequently limit recognition of rights to citizens only; and finally, and LAS standards leave regulation of many rights to national legislation. Conclusions are made at the end, with specific observations on the possible role that the Arab Human Rights Committee might play in advancing universality of human rights.