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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Rights groups issue 'Casablanca Declaration'
By Dalal Abu GhazalehIn a final statement issued by human rights activists from 15 Arab countries following a three-day meeting which ended in Casablanca on Sunday, participants lambasted governments, militant Islamist groups and the United States.
The Arab human rights activists, united in having suffered suppression by their governments, also agreed on a 10-point action plan, dubbed the "Casablanca Declaration". Organisers of the meeting, the first joint action by Arab human rights groups, said they hoped the declaration would guide human rights groups, governments and Arab institutions in reforms of political, economic, religious, educational and information policies.
A controversial issue raised at the meeting was the rights of minorities in the Arab world, particularly the Kurds. Participants called for recognition of the Kurds' right to self-determination through dialogue with their governments, in an apparent reference to Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
The serene surroundings of the conference venue, a hotel on the Atlantic coast, provided the ideal setting for wide-ranging discussions of the problems facing Arab countries in the field of human rights. The most serious of these were identified as the ongoing political instability in countries such as Algeria, civil wars in Somalia and Sudan, tight international sanctions against Iraq and the sensitive issue of the role of Islam and conflicting interpretations of its tolerance of human rights.
Bahieddin Hassan, director of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, which organised the event, told Al-Ahram Weekly that no restrictions were imposed on the meeting by the Moroccan government. Prime Minister Abderrahmane El-Youssoufi and four of his ministers attended the opening session of the conference.
"Democrats and human rights activists [in the Arab world] are caught up between the hammer of government policies and the anvil of civil strife," El-Youssoufi said in a keynote speech to the conference. "Violations of human rights have given rise to political problems, leading to a crisis of legitimacy," added the former militant lawyer who spent nearly four decades in prison and exile before forming Morocco's socialist-led government last year.
This message was not lost on participants who called on the Arab League to revise the Arab Charter for Human Rights adopted in 1994, described by Hassan as the "worst document ever issued" on human rights.
The Casablanca Declaration called for the revision of the charter, in coordination with Arab human rights groups, so as to include the concept of universal human rights. The conference also decided to form an action group to prepare a draft for the new charter.
Arab governments were urged to revise legislation and remove laws that conflict with the right to freedom of speech and expression. The declaration also stressed the need for modern legal institutions such as independent judiciaries and parliaments which many Arab countries lack.
The Islamist groups were not spared criticism, with the declaration accusing them of "violence and intellectual terrorism" and called upon them to stop their armed attacks on governments and civilians.
As for the world's sole superpower, the United States, delegates argued that the Arab world has suffered greatly from the selective use of human rights principles to advance foreign interests. They deplored the US policy of double standards in the Middle East as seen in the firm action taken against Iraq, Sudan and Libya compared to inaction on Israel, which continues to occupy Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territories.
"Respect for the Palestinian people's rights represents the sound parameter for weighing international positions on just peace and human rights," the declaration stated. "Just peace requires an immediate and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands, the Golan Heights and south Lebanon," it added.
The declaration, described as the "document for the 21st century", criticised the "total suppression of basic human rights" in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and denounced the "back-pedalling" by Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Jordan. It also expressed concern about the ongoing refusal by 13 Arab governments to ratify the International Human Rights Declaration.
Some participants blamed the worsening human rights situation on the violent tactics employed by the authorities and by radical Islamist groups trying to install regimes in countries like Algeria and Egypt. Others believed the underlying reason was worsening poverty in many Arab countries caused by the implementation of economic and social policies under the supervision of international monetary institutions.
A third group blamed the situation on what they felt was a deep-rooted anti-democratic tendency among Arab ruling elites.
