24 - 30 January 2002
Issue No.570
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 January 2002 Issue No.570 |
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Intelligent borrowing
Hassan Nafaa hopes a proposed alliance between the Arab League and civil society can be more than a marriage of convenience
Amr Moussa had been secretary-general of the Arab League for less than three months when he began to speak openly of an ambitious plan to upgrade the systems governing Arab cooperation, which includes an attempt to restructure the general secretariat and adapt it to the changes that have taken place at the regional and international levels.
Although details of the plan have not yet been released, the information available in the press suggests that it is modelled on the experience of the EU, and will separate the political and technical issues facing the league from its organisational and coordinating functions. The plan thus calls for the creation of commissions with broad powers to deal directly with the league's various social, political, economic, cultural and media concerns. The commissions will be headed by prominent Arab figures with experience in their fields of specialisation, who also enjoy widespread popular respect and support. I was especially interested to read that one of these bodies is to be called the Commission on Civilian Affairs.
If these reports are correct, then an important qualitative shift in perceptions of how to develop Arab cooperation has taken place, even if manifested only in the idea that "Arab civil society institutions" are a shared official Arab concern and deserving of special consideration. To my knowledge, no official document issuing from an Arab League agency has mentioned the term "Arab civil society" in this organisation's 50-year history. This suggests an unprecedented sense of urgency regarding the need for a mechanism to link the league -- the expression of the Arab governments' will -- with civil society, representing the aspirations of the Arab peoples.
Just as Arab governments' attitudes toward civil society are measured by their human rights records generally, and the freedom accorded to local NGOs in particular, so too should an international organisation's position on international civil society be measured by its human rights policies and the nature of its relations with international NGOs. According to these standards, the Arab League's position on Arab civil society can be best described as indifferent, if not openly hostile.
To take the first criterion, the term "human rights" does not appear anywhere in the preamble or the 19 articles of the Arab League Charter. As for the attention it has paid this issue in practice, it was not until 1967, and then only after considerable prompting from the UN, which had dedicated that year to human rights, that the league created a permanent Arab Committee on Human Rights. Nevertheless, this committee has focused all its energies on "Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights," almost completely ignoring the human rights of Arab citizens in Arab countries.
Nor does the charter mention NGOs, and in practice the league has acted as though civil society and NGOs did not exist. As a result, no mechanism regulates the relationship between the league, as a government organisation, and the many Arab NGOs that have emerged and come to constitute a tangible force in Arab society, especially in the past 25 years.
In contrast, from the moment of its creation, the UN drew attention to the importance of NGOs in helping it to achieve its objectives. Article 71 of the UN Charter stipulates the right of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to "make suitable arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations which are concerned with matters within its competence. Such arrangements may be made with international organizations and, where appropriate, with national organizations after consultation with the Member of the United Nations concerned." On the basis of this article, ECOSOC established the International NGO Committee, which devised the standards and mechanisms for consultation and cooperation between the UN and "global civil society institutions." The latter have gained increasing influence in setting the UN agenda and have become ever more active and effective in implementing UN activities.
Thus, the very idea of creating an Arab Commission on Civilian Affairs, with jurisdiction over such issues as human rights, NGOs, women's and children's rights, and youth, marks an enormous departure from traditional thinking. The prevalent view at the league has always been that such concerns reside firmly and exclusively within the realm of the national sovereignty of its member states. The Arab League Charter is very conservative on the subject of sovereignty, and in practice it has perhaps been more intent on safeguarding the sovereignty of its members than on ensuring the success of Arab cooperation. One can only suppose that the league's founding governments did not realise how much their support for Arab cooperation would affect true national independence and substantive, not merely formal, sovereignty. Perhaps their sensitivity on this issue is the reason for the league's poor performance in all fields, but particularly those pertaining to civil society and human rights.
Certainly, tapping the EU's experience in developing Arab cooperation was a bold and daring step forward. The EU is the world's most successful regional organisation in terms of innovative structural dynamics and the ability to get things done, especially as pertains to civil society and human rights. The Arab League's proposed plan, however -- perhaps because of its audacity in departing from the familiar -- raises numerous challenges. The EU's system of commissions, which the league hopes to imitate, did not emerge overnight. It is grounded in a legacy entirely different to the Arabs' historical experience, and based on a solid institutional and legal foundation that simply does not exist in the Arab world.
The values and laws pertaining to political, civil and human rights are virtually the same in all EU member nations. This general conformity was instrumental in securing the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights, perhaps the most comprehensive and effective document of its kind. It also advanced the creation of a European Court for Human Rights to oversee the convention's enforcement. This court is unmatched in the scope of its competence and power to issue binding and enforceable rulings. Obtaining membership in the EU, which was once restricted to a handful of western European countries, is conditional upon the applicant's ability to demonstrate that it abides by a specific set of human rights guarantees. Greece, for example, was ejected from the European Council in the 1960s following the coup that overthrew its elected government, and neither Spain, Portugal nor Greece were allowed entry into the EU until they had established solid democratic systems. In addition, civil society institutions in European countries can pursue their activities unimpeded. All these factors ensure the success of the European Commission on Human Rights and Civil Society. They do not necessarily obtain in the Arab world.
In other words, all the components for civil society exist independently in each European country, and civil society expresses itself within those countries through legitimate, recognised channels. The task of the European Human Rights Commissioner is thus very clear. It consists of coordinating the activities of European civil society institutions at the regional level and ensuring that these organisations participate in decision-making and implementation. Moreover, considerable care is taken to ensure that decisions, at the time of their promulgation, express the diverse outlooks of interest groups, so as to guarantee the necessary grass-roots support.
The situation in the Arab world is completely different. For a number of reasons, the process of building the modern institutionalised state is still incomplete. Most member nations of the Arab League, therefore, are in effect states-in-the making, and, because they lack the necessary institutional components, the process of democratisation has encountered many setbacks. Civil society cannot establish itself, let alone grow and flourish, in the absence of the structures and institutions that guarantee true freedom and political plurality.
This does not mean, however, that an incipient civil society does not exist in the Arab world. Some Arab countries have made progress toward democratisation and plurality, which has led to the emergence of a fledgling, and growing, civil society. There remains, however, an enormous disparity between the current situation and the needs of civil society.
Against this background, the tasks awaiting the Arab commissioner for human rights and civil society will be enormous. His/her function should not be merely to establish contact with Arab NGOs -- where they exist -- and to formulate an effective institutional relationship with them; it will also include drawing up a programme to develop civil society itself, rid it of the deformities that surrounded its birth and then foster and sustain healthy growth. These tasks are not only difficult and costly, because they require extensive technical expertise as well as enormous funding; they also touch on very sensitive ground.
Relations between Arab governments and NGOs, where they exist, are generally tense, and it is unlikely that many Arab governments will show great enthusiasm for this aspect of Arab cooperation, however crucial its strategic importance. We may therefore expect attempts to abort this project prematurely or empty it of substance if it survives its initial phases of development.
What the Arab League lacks is not innovative ideas, but rather the collective political will to make these ideas reality. Should the Arab League approve Moussa's proposal to create an Arab commission for human rights and civil society at the next Arab summit, the secretary- general will have to move quickly, in order to outmanoeuvre attempts to undermine the endeavour, and explore ways of setting up a framework for communications between the league and civil society institutions. Only a systematic relationship of this sort will allow healthy interaction between decision-makers in the league and the grass-roots forces in Arab society. Finally, creating an appropriate framework is a complicated process, because transferring a system generated elsewhere will not necessarily produce a viable result. Perhaps, then, a general discussion could be useful. It could take the form of a conference attended by representatives of Arab civil society in general, and of relevant intellectual institutions in particular.
* The writer is professor of political science at Cairo University.
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