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Mapping Arabic human rights discourse: a thematic review

2023; Routledge; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13642987.2023.2250990

1744-053X

Mohammed Saleh Ali Almahfali, Mark LeVine, Abdulghani Muthanna,

Human Rights and Development

ABSTRACTThe Arab world faces serious challenges in the protection of human rights. Merely criticising government policies towards human rights has long meant risking one’s freedom, if not life. Yet despite the myriad threats, there is a long and powerful history of efforts to address human rights from multiple perspectives that has largely been ignored outside the region (and even by many human rights scholars and practitioners within it), in good measure because most of it occurs in Arabic, which most international human rights scholars do not read. This paper critically reviews Arab human rights publications written in Arabic as a first attempt towards elucidating the diversity and depth of human rights literature in the Arab world for the broader field of human rights studies. Bringing this knowledge to the international human rights community is crucial to helping develop a human rights discourse in and for the Arab world that can positively impact research, advocacy and governance despite the broad environment of authoritarian retrenchment across the region. In so doing, our research offers new knowledge for developing human rights studies in trajectories that can have more direct impact on human rights struggles on the ground globally.KEYWORDS: Human rights discourseArab worldMiddle Easthuman rights knowledgehuman rights productionshuman rights publications AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following institutions and individuals for their invaluable support throughout the research process. Firstly, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to Columbia Global Centers, Amman and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their generous support of the main author during the Mellon Fellowship Program 2022. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University for their support during the annotated bibliography phase. We are also grateful for the outstanding efforts of the experts at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) and The Asfari Institute at the American University of Beirut (LUB), whose guidance and expertise were instrumental in shaping the project. Additionally, we would like to express our special gratitude to our esteemed colleagues at The Arab Institute for Human Rights in Tunisia, namely Hajer Alhebshi, Wasilah Bin Taher, Jlilah al-Muaddib, Husni al-Salemi and Hadia al-Majthoob. Their exceptional dedication and tireless efforts in the compilation of the annotated bibliography are deeply appreciated.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data used to support the findings of this paper will be freely readable and downloadable at the time of publication on its own website Annotated Bibliography of Human Rights in the Arab World (ABHRAW).Notes1 See: Moroccan Human Right Association, ‘Since Its Creation on June 24, 1979, Four Phases Have Marked the History of the AMDH'. https://www.amdh.org.ma/pages/presentation_fr (accessed May 8, 2022), and Bohdana Dimitrovova, ‘Re-shaping Civil Society in Morocco: Boundary Setting, Integration and Consolidation', Journal of European Integration 32, no. 5 (September 1, 2010): 523–39, 529. Abdullahi A. An-Na'im, ‘Human Rights in the Arab World: A Regional Perspective', Human Rights Quarterly 23, no. 3 (2001): 701–32, 717–18.2 For a good summary of the rise of human rights in the context of neoliberalism see Samuel Moyn, Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2018).3 Sari Hanafi, ‘Knowledge Produced But Not Used: Predicaments of Social Research in the Arab World', in Universities in Arab Countries: An Urgent Need for Change: Underpinning the Transition to a Peaceful and Prosperous Future, ed. John R Baydoun Elias and Hillman (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018), 143–62.4 Nancy Hawker, ‘The Journey of Arabic Human Rights Testimonies, from Witnesses to Audiences via Amnesty International', Translation Spaces 7, no. 1 (August 10, 2018): 65–91, 65.5 An-Na’im, ‘Human Rights in the Arab World'.6 J. Crystal, ‘The Human Rights Movement in the Arab World', Human Rights Quarterly 16, no. 3 (1994): 435–54.7 Mohamed Berween, ‘Human Rights in the Arab Countries: Rhetoric and Reality', The International Journal of Human Rights 3, no. 4 (December 1, 1999): 19–29, 19–20.8 See e.g. Anthony Tirado Chase and Amr Hamzawy, Human Rights in the Arab World: Independent Voices (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006); Hadeel Hunaiti, ‘The Arab Human Right Committee: A Promising Mechanism in an Emerging Human Rights System' (2020).9 Mohammed Almahfali and Helen Avery, ‘Human Rights from an Islamic Perspective: A Critical Review of Arabic Peer-Reviewed Articles', Social Sciences 12, no. 2 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12020106.10 Saeed Sultan Al-Hashemi, ‘Kheṭāb Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Fī Duwal Al-Khalīj Al-ʻArabī [Human Rights Discourse in the Arab Gulf Sates]' (Beirut, 2017).11 Gerard A. Hauser, ‘The Moral Vernacular of Human Rights Discourse', Philosophy and Rhetoric 41, no. 4 (2008): 440–66, 442, and Neve Gordon and Nitza Berkovitch, ‘Human Rights Discourse in Domestic Settings: How Does It Emerge?', Political Studies 55, no. 1 (2007): 243–66, 244.12 U N General Assembly and others, ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights', UN General Assembly 302, no. 2 (1948): 14–25.13 Jennifer Attride-Stirling, ‘Thematic Networks: An Analytic Tool for Qualitative Research', Qualitative Research 1, no. 3 (December 1, 2001): 385–405, 391.14 Gareth Terry et al., ‘Thematic Analysis', in The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology vol. 2 (2017): 17–37, 34.15 The annotated bibliography focuses on Arabic-language documents and provides abstracts based on the following: The annotation should be between 250 and 500 words; Indicating the scope of the text; Mentioning the main arguments; Determining the research methods (if applicable); Highlighting the special features /Shortcomings; Providing any conclusions/results/findings. Based on that data, we moved forward to assign the data for this paper.16 An-Na’im, ‘Human Rights in the Arab World', 717.17 Ibid, 714.18 Jordan J. Paust, ‘International Law, Dignity, Democracy, and the Arab Spring', Cornell Int’l LJ 46 (2013): 1–20, 2.19 Hayat Alvi, ‘Women’s Rights Movements in the ‘Arab Spring’: Major Victories or Failures for Human Rights?', Journal of International Women’s Studies 16, no. 3 (2015): 294–318, 295.20 Catherine Baylin Duryea Duryea, ‘The Universality of Human Rights 337 Early NGO Practices in the Arab World', in The Routledge History of Human Rights (London: Routledge, 2019), 337–53, 337–8. See Anibal Quijano, ‘Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America', Nepantla: Views from the South 1, no. 3 (2000): 533–80; ‘Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality', Cultural Studies 21, nos. 2-3 (March/May 2007): 168–78.21 Abdullahi An-Na’im, ‘Problems of Dependency: Human Rights Organisations in the Arab World', Middle East Report, no. 214 (2000): 20-23+46–47, 23.22 al-Nadim Center for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, Shahādāt Al-Nisā' ʻalá Al-ʻunf Dākhil Al-Usrah, Al-Kitāb Al-Thānī [Women’s Testimonies on Domestic Violence] (Cairo: Publications of al-Nadim Center, 2009). AʻZzah Sharārah Bayḍūn, Nisā' Ywājhn Al-ʻUnf [Women Facing Violence] (Beirut: Oxfam Organisation, 2010).23 Muḥammad Shiblāq and Ghaydā' ʻInānī, Athrhm Fī Ḥayātī [Their Impact in My Life] (Beirut: Abʻād Foundation, 2013), 2.24 See for example: Thā'ir Ghandūr, Al-ʻAmal Maʻa Rijāl Al-Shshrṭh Lil-Qaḍā' ʻAlá Al-ʻUnf Ḍedd Al-Nnesā' [Working Wth the Police to Eliminate Violence Against Women] (Beirut: ASSODA Organisation, Oxfam Organisation and Dimensions Institution ‘Abaad', 2013), Oxfam Organisation and Abaad ASSODA Organisation, Al-ʻAmal Maʻa Rijāl Al-Ssyāsh Lil-Qaḍā' ʻAlá Al-ʻUnf Ḍedd Al-Nnsā' [Working With Politicians to Eliminate Violence Against Women] (Beirut: ASSODA Organisation, Oxfam Organisation and Dimensions Institution ‘Abaad', 2013).25 Nādir ʻIzzat Saʻīd, Al-Mar'ah Al-Filasṭīnīyah Wa-Majālis Al-Ḥukm Al-Mḥllī [Palestinian Women and Local Government Councils; Development and Elections] (Palestinian: Staff of Women’s Affairs, 1996). Huwaydā ʻAdlī, Al-Mushārakah Al-Siyāsīyah Lil-Mar'ah [Women’s Political Participation] (Cairo, 2017), 7. Rajā' Ibn Salāmah, Khaṭṭāb Al-Nawʻ Al-Ijtimāʻī [Gender Discourse], ed. Yousry Muṣtafa (Cairo: Networks of Associations Working in the Field of Women’s Rights, 2014).26 Saʻīd, Al-Mar'ah Al-Filasṭīnīyah Wa-Majālis Al-Ḥukm Al-Mḥllī [Palestinian Women and Local Government Councils; Development and Elections].27 Huwaydā ʻAdlī, Al-Mushārakah Al-Siyāsīyah Lil-Mar'ah [Women’s Political Participation] (Cairo, 2017).28 Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling, ‘Taqrīr Ḥawla Waḍʻīyat Al-Mar'ah Al-Filasṭīnīyah Bi-Al-Istinād Ilá Lettifāqīyat Al-Qaḍā' ʻAlá Kāffat Ashkāl Al-Tamyīz Ḍidd Al-Mar'ah [Report on the Status of Palestinian Women Based on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women]' (Jerusalem, 2001).29 Ḥafīẓah Shqyr, al-Ḥabīb al-Ḥamadūnī, Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Lil-Nisā' Bayna Al-Iʻtirāf Al-Dawlī Wtḥfẓāt Al-Duwal Al-ʻArabīyah [Women’s Human Rights Between The International Recognizing and the Reservation of Arab States] (Cairo: Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, 2008).30 Thus, while there are many organisations that are called Nisā'īyah (female) across the region, far fewer are termed Niswīyah (feminist), Nisā'īyah (female) orgainsations concern some women local issues such as work, care for widows and divorcees, and helping orphaned and poor girls, while Niswīyah (feminist) organisations, which are rare in the region, work on advocating to full equality politically, socially, and economically. See Nawar Al-Hassan Golley, ‘Is Feminism Relevant to Arab Women?', Third World Quarterly 25, no. 3 (March 1, 2004): 521–36, 521.31 ʻAzīzah Albssām, ‘Muʻawwiqāt Al-ʻAmal Al-Nesā'ī Fī Al-Baḥrayn [Obstacles to Women’s Work in Bahrain]', The Arab Journal of Human Rights 2 (1995): 85–93.32 Tunisian Association for the Defence of Individual Liberties, Alḥrryyāt Al-Frdyyh, Tqāṭuʻ Al-Muqārabāt [Individual Freedoms, Intersection of Approaches] (Tunis: Tunisian Association for the Defence of Individual Liberties, 2014).33 Shibl Badrān, Dīmuqrāṭīyah Al-Taʻlīm Fī Al-Fikr Al-Tarbawī Al-Muʻāṣir [Democracy of Education in Contemporary Educational Tthought] (Cairo: Dar Qeba’a for publishing and distribution, 2000).34 Thuwaynī Ibn Muḥammad al-Thanayyān, ‘Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Fī Al-Siyāsīyah Al-Taʻlīmīyah Fī Kull Min Al-Mamlakah Al-ʻArabīyah Al-Saʻūdīyah Wa Al-Mamlakah Al-Maghribīyah, Taḥlīl Wathā'iqī Muqāran [Human Rights in Education Policies in the Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Morocco: A Comparative Document Analysis]', International Interdisciplinary Journal of Education 2, no. 3 (2013): 346–63.35 Bashīr Nāfiʻ and Others, Al-Muwāṭanah Wa-Al-Dīmuqrāṭīyah Fī Al-Buldān Al-ʻArabīyah [Citizenship and Democracy in the Arab Countries], ed. ʻAlī Khalīfah al-Kawwārī (Beirut: Center for Arab Unity Studies, 2000).36 Ishrāq Bālzyn and Others, Taqyīm Al-Intiqāl Al-Dīmuqrāṭī Baʻda 5 Sanawāt Min Thawrat 2011 [Evaluation of Democratic Transition 5 Years after the 2011 Revolution] (Tunis: Al Kawakibi Center for Democratic Transformation, 2015).37 Matrūk al-Fāliḥ, Al-Mujtamaʻ Wālddymqrāṭyyh Wālddwlh Fī Al-Buldān Al-ʻArabīyah [Society, Democracy and the State in the Arab Countries] (Beirut: Center for Arab Unity Studies, 2002).38 Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Jawrashī, Munaẓẓamāt Al-Mujtamaʻ Al-Madanī Wa-Muʻḍilat Al-Taḥawwul Al-Dīmuqrāṭī Fī Al-ʻālam Al-ʻArabī [NGOs and the Dilemma of Democratic Transformation in the Arab World] (Beirut : Arab NGOs Network for Development, 2011), 16.39 ʻAbdālghfār ʻAbd al-Ṣādiq ʻAfīfī al-Duwayk, ‘Munaẓẓamāt Al-Mujtamaʻ Al-Madanī Wa-Madá Ertbāṭhā Bi-Qaḍāyā Al-Amn Al-Shāmil Ḥuqūq Al-Insān – Taʻzīz Al-Amn Al-Fikrī [Civil Socity Organisations and Their Relevance to Issues of Comprehensive Security, Human Rights- Strengthening Intellectual Security]' (al-Qunitra, 2011).40 Center for Human Rights and Democracy Studies, ‘Taʻzīz Estdāmh Munẓẓmāt Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Bi-Minṭaqat Al-Shshrq Al-Awsaṭ Wa-Shamāl Ifrīqiyā [Enhancing the Sustainability of Human Rights Organisations in the Middle East and North Africa]' (Morocco, 2011).41 National Council for Human Rights, ‘Al-Qānūn Al-Ttnẓymī Al-Mḥddd Llnnẓām Al-'Asāsī Lil-Quḍāh [The Organisational Law Regulating the Statute of the Judges]' (Rabat, 2014), 10.42 Ṣābir Nāyil, Iʻlām Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Wa-Taḥaddiyāt Al-Mustaqbal [Human Rights Media and Future Challenges] (Cairo: Arab Program for Human Rights Activists, 1999).43 Yusrī Muṣṭafá et al., Idmāj Mabādi' Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Wmsāwāh Al-Nawʻ Al-Ijtimāʻī Fī Al-Majāl Al-Ḥizbī, Tūnis Wa-Lībiyā [Integrating the Principles of Human Rights and Gender Equality in the Partisan Field; Tunisia and Libya] (Tunis: Center for Support of Democratic Transition and Human Rights, «Daam», 2017).44 Sanā' Sayyid Khalīl, Dirāsah ʻAn Al-Niẓām Al-Qānūnī Al-Miṣrī Wa-Mabādi' Ḥuqūq Al-Insān [a Study on the Egyptian Legal System and the Principles of Human Rights] (Cairo: Human Rights Capacity Building Project, UNDP, 2003).45 Moroccan Organization for Human Rights, ‘Namādhij Min Mhāmm Al-Ḥimāyah Wālnnhwḍ Bi-Ḥuqūq Al-Insān [Samples of Protection Tasks and Promotion of Human Rights]' (Morocco, 2012).46 Fāṭimah Blḥnāfy, ‘The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Good Governance by Strengthening the Protection of Human Rights', Human Rights and Public Liberties Review 1, no. 2 (2016): 113–24.47 ʻAzzūz ʻArabī, ‘Tarqiyat Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Fī Al-Jazā'ir, Dirāsah Ḥālat Al-Lajnah Al-Waṭanīyah Al-Istishārīyah Li-Tarqīyat Wa-Ḥimāyat Ḥuqūq Al-Insān [Promotion of Human Rights in Algeria, a Case Study of the National Consultative Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights]' (Algeria University, 2006).48 National Council for Human Rights on the draft law, Qānūn Al-Masṭarah Al-Jnā'yyh [The Code of Criminal Procedure] (Rabat: Al Ma’arif New Press, 2016).49 Gulf Center for Human Rights, ‘Freedom in Danger: Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders in the Gulf Region and Neighboring Countries', 2016.50 “ʻAdālah” Association for the Right to a Fair Trial, Ḥrryyh Al-Ttʻbyr Wḥrryyh Al-Iʻlām [Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media] (Morocco: “ʻAdālah” Association for the Right to a Fair Trial, n.d.).51 The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, Ḥurrīyat Al-Ra'y Wa-Al-ʻAqīdah, Quyūd Wa-Ishkālīyāt [Freedom of Opinion and Belief; Restrictions and Problems] (Cairo: The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, 1994). ʻĀmir Fākhūrī, ‘Ḥaẓr Al-Rumūz Al-Dīnīyah Fī Faransā Bayna Miṭraqat Al-ʻAlmānīyah Wa-Mabādi' Ḥuqūq Al-Insān, Dirāsah Fī Ḍaw' Al-Qānūn Al-Dawlī Al-ʻAmm [The Prohibition of Religious Symbols in France: Between the Hammer of Secularism and the Principles of Human Rights]', Almanara Journal for Research and Studies 20, no. 3 (2014): 37–59.52 Waḥīd al-Firshīshī, Ḥrryāt Al-ـJasad [Freedom of the Body] (Tunis, 2017).53 ʻAbd Allāh Rizq, Wāqiʻ Al-Muyāwimyn Fī Al-Idārah Al-ʻāmmh Wa-Al-Maṣāliḥ Al-Mstqllh Wāl-Bldyyāt : Intihāk Li-Ḥuqūq Al-ʻmmāl Wtjāwz Lil-Qawānīn [The Reality of Daily Workers in the Public Administration, Independent Services and Municipalities: Violations of Workers’ Rights and Abuses of Laws] (Beirut: Lebanese Observatory for Workers’ Rights, 2013).54 ʻAzzām Maḥjūb, Al-Ḥaqq Fī Al-ʻamal Al-Lā'iq Wa-Al-Tanmiyah Al-Jhwyyh Al-ʻādilah [The Right to Decent Work and Fair Local Development] (Tunis: the Arab Institute for Human Rights, 2014).55 ʻIṣām Yūnus, Mukāfaḥat Al-Tthmysh Wa-Ḍamān Al-Ḥuqūq Al-Eqtṣādyyh Wāl-Ejtmāʻyyh [Combating Marginalization and Safeguarding Economic and Social Rights] (Tunis: The Arab Institute for Human Rights, 2012).56 National Council for Human Rights, ‘Iʻmāl Al-Ḥaqq Fī Al-Tarbiyah Wa-Al-Takwīn Lil-Ashkhāṣ Fī Waḍʻīyat Al-Eiʻāqah [The Realization of the Right to Education and Training for Persons in a Situation of Disability]' (Rabat, 2016). Other studies are beginning of focus on mental health as well. National Council for Human Rights, ‘al-Sḥḥh al-ʻqlyyh Wa-Ḥuqūq al-Insān, al-Ḥājah al-Mlḥḥh Ilá Siyāsat Jadīdah [Mental Health and Human Rights, the Urgent Need for a New Policy]' (Rabat, 2012).57 Nisrīn Muḥammad ʻAbduh Ḥassūnah, ‘Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Al-Mafhūm Wa-Al-Khaṣā'iṣ Wa-Al-Taṣnīfāt Wa-Al-Maṣādir [Human Rights, Concept, Characteristics, Categories, and Sources]', February 18, 2015, https://www.alukah.net/library/0/82711.58 National Council for Human Rights, University of Assiut Center for Human Rights Studies and Research, Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Fī Al-Anẓimah Al-Ddstwryyh Al-ʻArabīyah [Human Rights in Arab Constitutional Systems, Reality and Hope] (Assiut: CHRSt & University of Assiut, 2006).59 Mahā Bahjat, ‘Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Wa-Ḥurrīyātuhu Al-Asāsīyah Fī Dustūr Jumhūrīyat Al-ʻIrāq 2005 [Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Constitution of the Iraq 2005]', Journal of Kufa Legal and Political Science 1, no. 1 (2009): 115–70, 159.60 al-Ḥabīb Alddrwysh, Dirāsāt Fī Qaḍāyā Al-Ttnsh'h Wālttmkyn Wāl'dmāj [Studies on the Issues of Upbringing, Empowerment and Integration] (Sfax: Faculty of Arts and Humanities, 2010).61 al-Ṭāhir Amīn, Al-Dīmuqrāṭīyah Fī Al-Islām Al-Sunnī Wa-Al-Islām Al-Shīʻī [Democracy in Sunni Islam and Shi’i Islam] (Tunis: Dar Waraqa for Publishing, 2016).62 al-Ṭāhir Amīn, Khiṭābāt Al-Islām Al-Tūnisī [The Discourses of Tunisian Islam] (Tunis: Dar Sahar Publishing, 2016).63 al-Tāj Ibrāhīm Dafʻ Allāh Aḥmad, ‘Ḥuqūq Al-Insān Fī Al-Sharīʻah Al-Islāmīyah Fī Ḍaw' Mṣdryhā Al-Qur'ān Wa-Al-Sunnah [Human Rights in Islamic Law in the Light of Its Two Sources, the Qur’an and Sunnah]', Education Faculty of Al-Azhar Journal 34, no. 164 (2015): 471–520, 471.64 Ḥasan Alṣṣaffār, Al-Khiṭāb Al-Islāmī Wa-Ḥuqūq Al-Insān [The Islamic Discourse and Human Rights] (Casablanca: The Arab Cultural Center, 2005).Additional informationNotes on contributorsMohammed AlmahfaliMohammed Almahfali is fellow research at Columbia Global Centers, Amman. He obtained his Ph.D. in Arabic Literature from Cairo University in 2014. He worked at Hadhramout University as a lecturer from 2004 to 2009, and was appointed as an assistant professor from 2014 to 2016. In 2017, he was awarded a two-year fellowship from the International Institute for Education – Scholar Rescue Fund IIE-SRF to work as a researcher at Lund University’s Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Sweden. His research interests include Arabic discourse analysis, Arabic Literature, and capacity-building in higher education and sustainable post-conflict recovery strategies to address the challenges in Yemen for the coming years.Mark LeVineMark LeVine is a Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, History, at the School of Humanities, University of California Irvine. He completed his Ph.D. at NYU in 1999, after which he held postdoctoral positions at Cornell University's Society for the Humanities and the European University Institute's Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, in Florence, Italy before coming to UCI. His research focuses among other things on histories, theologies, human rights and political and cultural economies of the Middle East and Islam in the contemporary periods; cultural production, revolution and resistance in the Middle East and Africa; modern and contemporary Arab countries; art and conflict in West Africa; comparative studies of imperialism and colonialism, urban planning and architecture.Abdulghani MuthannaAbdulghani Muthanna is an associate professor at the Department of Teacher Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. His research is published in international journals and books. With interdisciplinary expertise in the development and reform of comparative and international (teacher) education in international contexts, his research interests include education policy, research ethics and integrity, research supervision, teaching philosophy, teachers’ agency, pedagogy, professional identity development, student participation, organisational culture, students’ activities and lifelong collaboration in several international contexts. He is also the leader of ‘TEDUPO: Teacher and Educator Professionalism: https://www.ntnu.edu/ilu/tedupo’ research group at NTNU.