The Arab charter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Arab charter - Essay Example The first Arab Charter was adopted in 1994, but none of the states ratified the charter thus leading to amendments that created the Arab Charter of 2004 in Arab summit in Tunis in 2004. The substantial amendments were done to confirm with the international human rights law on issues such as death penalty, rights of non-citizens and freedoms of expression (Weissbrodt and Vega, 2007). The Arab Charter 2004 came in to force on 16th March 2008 after the ratification of the seventh member state of the Arab league. Article 45 of the Arab Charter establishes the Arab Human rights committee that consists of seven independent member state nationals who are tasked with the supervision of the implementation of the charter and reporting on the progress that each member state has undertaken in giving effect to the rights and freedoms safeguarded by the Arab Charter (Shelton & Wright-Carozza, 2013). The final Arab charter is consistent with European Human rights as reflected in the treaties and op inions of UN experts on human rights (Weissbrodt and Vega, 2007). ... Accordingly, the charter reaffirms the principles of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations International covenants on political, social and cultural rights and Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (Shelton & Wright-Carozza, 2013). The joint states in Arab charter include the 22 Arab countries, but only 11 have ratified to safeguard the human rights and freedoms guaranteed by the charter. The states that have ratified the charter include Jordan, Algeria, Syria, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Libya (Shelton & Wright-Carozza, 2013). Other member states of the League of Arab nations include Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Djibouti, Algeria, Republic of Sudan, Kingdom of Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, the Sultanate of Oman , Libya, Mauritania and Republic of Yemen (Weissbrodt and Vega, 2007). Article 1 of the Arab Charter recognises human rights as a national concern for Arab states and aims at improving human lives in accordance with human values. The Article seeks to ensure citizens have a sense of the national identity, and share common interests with the spirit of brotherhood, tolerance and universal principles of human rights. Article 1 (d) recognises that human rights are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent as outlined by the United Nations Declaration of universal international human rights charter. Article 2 grants the citizens the right to self-determination, right to sovereignty and right to be free from all forms of racism or Zionism, which constitutes impediment to enjoyment of the fundamental human dignity (Shelton & Wright-Carozza, 2013). The Charter is