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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 August 2000 Issue No. 493 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 August 2000 Issue No. 493
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Accentuating the positive
Since gaining legal status in May, the AOHR has issued its first annual report on human rights in Arab countries
Nearly three months after signing an agreement with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry that granted it legal status, the Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR) issued last week its 14th annual report on human rights in the Arab world, with an ostensible emphasis on the positive, reports Amira Howeidy.
AOHR's Secretary-General Mohamed Fayek addressed a news conference at the organisation's Heliopolis headquarters pointing out that "the report does not focus on human rights violations only" but also deals with positive developments. The first and "most important" in this respect, he stressed, was AOHR's legal registration agreement with the Foreign Ministry, signed 17 years after its establishment.
The positive developments include the liberation of the occupied zone in southern Lebanon, the lifting of the air embargo against Libya, the decline of violence in Egypt and its containment in Algeria. In addition, the Jordanian government issued a new press law allowing for greater freedom of expression and, together with Egypt, Bahrain, Algeria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Morocco, released thousands of prisoners of conscience.
Nevertheless, the "positives" were followed by a long list of violations monitored in 21 Arab countries in the 248-page report.
The extension of the state of emergency in Egypt, Algeria and Syria was viewed as "unjustifiable." Executions without trial were carried out flagrantly over the past three years in Iraq, said the report, as part of a "prisons clean-up" campaign. On the other hand, the report objected to the steady rise of the death toll "by the thousands" in Iraq as a result of UN-imposed sanctions, which have been in force for 10 years.
The report monitored "gross" human right violations, "which are the worst of their kind," in areas of conflict. The most obvious case in point is "continually denying the Palestinian people their inalienable rights and the marathon-like competition by the Israeli occupation authorities to change the geographic and demographic features of Palestinian land through building [Jewish] settlements." This is in addition to the "oppressive" measures used against Palestinians in the occupied territories, the report added.
In Somalia, the "absence of a political will among the Somali leaders was an obstacle to stabilising the situation and establishing law and order." Civil war raged on, said the report, and more innocent civilians fell victim to the fighting. "The country was practically divided and the chance to establish peace was lost." Similarly, in Sudan, a peace agreement was, in the words of the AOHR, "jeopardised" by the problem in the south, the assassination of the leader of one of the warring factions and the withdrawal of the most important factions in the negotiations. As the fighting continued, more people were killed and thousands fled their homes.
The AOHR received complaints of torture in prisons in Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen. "Some prisoners died in these countries and no serious investigation was carried out to determine the causes of their deaths," said Fayek. He also called attention to the phenomenon of "involuntary disappearances," which are estimated to be in the thousands, in Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon. Tens of similar cases occurred in Egypt, Sudan and Libya, Fayek said.
The report took issue with the ongoing clampdown on Egypt's Islamist-oriented Labour Party, whose activities and mouthpiece, Al-Shaab, were frozen in May. It criticised the restrictions imposed on the establishment of political parties in both Egypt and Algeria. "Despite the guarantees made in the Political Parties law in Algeria, the [Islamist-oriented] Wafa Party was prevented from being formed. And the existing restrictions in Egypt continued to turn down applications to establish new parties."
The report voiced concern over the Kuwaiti parliament's rejection of a royal decree allowing for women's political participation. Similarly, Morocco witnessed protests against granting women more rights.
The report described the violence that took place in the southern Egyptian village of Al-Kosheh, which claimed the lives of 21 Christians, as of a "social nature." The incidents were described by some foreign press reports as sectarian strife, which angered the Egyptian government at the time.
Asked if the AOHR would participate in monitoring the November parliamentary elections in Egypt, Fayek responded vaguely that "some countries allow monitoring, which is internationally recognised, but others don't."
After 17 years of work, "can the AOHR offer a prize to the country that respected human rights the most and name the country that least respected them?" asked one reporter. "It's our policy not to categorise countries," replied a smiling Fayek. Indeed, not only has the AOHR been careful not to provoke Arab governments, but observers believe that, following its agreement with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the organisation is expected to avoid causing Egypt any political embarrassment.
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