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Arab World Celebrates Arab Human Rights Day

Moussa: Lebanon ranks high in terms of laws pertaining to human rights


Written by Rihab Abou Hosn
Translated by Daisy Khalil


The Arab world celebrated on March 16 the Arab Human Rights Day under the theme “For an Arab world without discrimination."

This theme was specifically selected for this year due to the growing phenomena of all types of discrimination, including racial, ethnic, religious and gender discrimination.

Discrimination against women tops the list of racial favoritism in the Arab world. It is followed by discrimination against foreigners and immigrants, and finally by religious and ethnic bias, according to various reports.


The Arab world is known for its cultural, religious and political diversity which is a source of wealth, if properly exploited. Except that Arab communities differ from those international due to their inability to accept others who have different nationality, culture, gender, religion, ideology, or even geographic origin.

Moreover, experts reported that the majority of problems involving racism in our region are due to the inability to accept fellow citizens. This refusal is accentuated by the fear of others, which is manifested by bias attitudes in their everyday life. This xenophobia hence rejects any possibility of dialogue and communication.


Media and public opinion play a key role in fueling this discriminatory behavior and in the blackout that covers crimes and facilitates impunity.

The latter is mainly noticeable in discrimination against women. Experts believe fighting against different kinds of discrimination goes within the responsibilities of governments, taking into account the fact that equality and justice will be applied only when states abolish laws allowing violations of human rights and non-compliance with regional and international pacts.


In order to improve the way of living in any country, it is first necessary to accept one another and respect people’s rights. It becomes vital to begin an honest dialogue based on tolerance, and which includes all segments of the society, to promote the values and principles set out by different religions as well as by regional and international charters.

Extremism in our Arab society comes, not from religious views, but from human actions and ideology-based decisions. Faith calls for openness to others, for love and for dialogue, while extremism arouses hatred, self closing and ignorance. It is for this reason that we must work to fight against fanaticism that highly prevailed, in the last two years, over Arab countries.


Fanatic ideologies that have invaded our society affect their stability and threaten their safety, so it is of utmost necessity to set programs and launch intensive awareness campaigns to make citizens realize their rights and obligations, while shedding light on the benefits of diversity in all communities.

The Permanent Arab Human Rights Committee has recommended, in this context, the theme “For an Arab world without discrimination". This recommendation backs international attention dwelling on the fight against racism and discrimination.


According to the Committee, research centers and civil associations the world is threatened by the mounting level of extremism.

Arab citizens have indeed called to fight fanaticism, deeming this struggle as the only and best way to protect human rights, especially as political leaders interests have led to nothing but violence and sectarianism.


The Lebanese Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights is, for its part, doing everything in its capacity to introduce amendments to the laws and legislations pertaining to discrimination.

Chairman of the Human Rights Parliamentary Committee, MP Michel Moussa, told the National News Agency that the greatest achievement of the committee would be last year’s adoption of the National Plan for Human Rights which deals with the necessary proposals to improve these rights in Lebanon.


Moussa explained that this plan aimed to modify existing laws in conformity with the Human Rights Declaration.

"MP Ghassan Mokheiber and I proposed forming an independent national commission for human rights in Lebanon. This committee will independently oversee the records relating to discrimination cases and human rights issues in Lebanon," Moussa said.


The Deputy noted that “work was underway to convince the Parliament of approving a bill that protects women against violence,” noting that "the committee charged to develop this law has made progress after 52 meetings.”


"It has produced a first draft to be presented at the first plenary meeting upon the resumption of the parliamentary committee meetings," he explained.

Tackling the latest incidents of domestic violence in Lebanon which resulted in several casualties, Moussa said this situation required the approval of a law that protects women, as soon as possible. It was in this context that he asked the Prosecutor to accelerate the trial and punishment of the persons involved in these crimes, until such law is approved.


The MP insisted that no country respects human rights thoroughly as there is always a reason, namely political, security or social, to violate these rights.

“So what can we say about a country like Lebanon, which regularly suffers the impact of regional problems," he asked, recalling the issue of Syrian refugees whose number exceeded one third of the Lebanese population.


This complication adds to security incidents and domestic political unrest. All these negatives are detrimental to the institutional cycle. But despite all that, Lebanon remains better than other countries in the region in terms of human rights, specifically the rights of women.


The Human Rights Committee

The Arab Human Rights Committee has doubled its efforts to protect human rights in the Arab world and eliminate double-standards and politicization in the resolution of issues related to this topic.


On the occasion of the Arab Day for Human Rights, the Committee noted that the Arab Charter on Human Rights was the result of joint work between the countries of the region. This program is consistent with the Charter of the United Nations considering the possibility of establishing regional adjustment in order to promote and protect those rights.

The Committee noted that Arab countries, especially the 14 countries that signed the Arab Charter on Human Rights, among which Lebanon, were responsible for the defense of rights and freedoms, without discrimination whatsoever.


It added that "peace, security, development and human rights principles were related to each other," assuring that "these reflect the objectives of the Charter as they represent the basis of regional security, social welfare and economic prosperity.”

"Celebrating the Arab Human Rights Day annually, on March 16, allows monitoring the progression and regression of rights and freedoms application referred to in the charter," the Committee added.


This charter was adopted in May 2004, in Tunis, at the 16th Summit of the Arab League. It consists of a preamble and 53 articles, and lists the rights guaranteed by the traditional tools of protection of human rights such as individual freedom, equality before the law, protection against torture, private property and religious freedom.

Furthermore, the Arab Human Rights Committee is composed of seven members elected by secret ballot by the states that have signed the Charter. These members must have extensive experience and competence in this field, so as to perform their duties in their personal capacity, independently and impartially.


The members of the Committee are elected for a term of four years and are provided immunity to protect them against all legal and financial pressures, and against legal prosecution due to their positions or even their statements in the context of their work as active members of the committee.

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تابعوا أخبار الوكالة الوطنية للاعلام عبر أثير إذاعة لبنان على الموجات 98.5 و98.1 و96.2 FM

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