الميثاق العربي لحقوق الإنسان والمعايير الدولية: دور لجنة الميثاق

الملخص EN

The issuance of the Arab Charter on Human Rights was met with scepticism as to what it might contribute compared to the existing regional and international human rights regime.

This study seeks to evaluate the Arab Human Rights Committee's interpretation of the rights enumerated in the charter based on concluding observations and recommendations from the Committee since its formation and the periodical reports of member states.

Contrary to the apprehensions that accompanied the release of the Arab Charter, the study concludes that the committee of experts did its job not to contradict the international human rights system but to support and complement it in the Arab region; the committee broadly sought to adopt an explanatory approach that corresponds with and employs international interpretations of human rights in its interpretation of the provisions of the Arab Charter.

The study observes that the Committee, rather than adopting an explanatory approach that clashes with the work of United Nations human rights committees around issues fraught with cultural or religious sensitivity, either declined entirely to address these issues or addressed some of them without elaboration.

Engagement with the normative purport of human rights and how they are explained in the Arab Charter takes place in the context of academic interest in the field of international law and the implications of this research on the evolution of international law around human rights.