Human Rights: Middle East

Below is the RSS feed from Human Rights Watch

Below is a selection of books available in the Bodleian Law Library.  For more books search SOLO.

Although the Middle East as a region does not have an intergovernmental human rights system.  Therefore a lot of human rights law and practice takes place at a local level and through the adoption of United Nations human rights provisions.

In 1994 an Arab Charter of Human Rights was adopted by the League of Arab Nations and signed by all members (Jordan. United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Djibouti. Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic. Somalia. Iraq, Oman. Palestine, Qatar, Comoros, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, Yemen) and this has been amended and added to via various resolutions the latest version is from 2004.  The Charter allows for the election of a Committee of Experts to make state reports and comment on any changes to the Charter.

On 17th January 1998 an Arab Human Rights Commission was established by human rights advocates from different Arab states to promote the advancement of human rights without any political or religious affiliation.  The Commission relies on the rights laid out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

There is also a Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the Islamic Council of Europe in 1981.

All these documents can be found translated into English on the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library website.

Resources in the Bodleian Law Library

Below are books relating to human rights in the Middle East region.  The books are mainly found in the Public International section.  Not all books are listed and so search SOLO especially if you are looking for books relating to specific countries.  Other resources that may be of use as a starting point are Max Planck Encyclopedia (see link below) or the resource listed on the box on the left.  There also may be a significant number of books in the Social Science Library and so again it is best to search SOLO to find these.

Below is a list of links to reports and information for the different states from the United Nations and different human rights organisations, this list contains countries in Northern Africa as well as the Middle East.  There are also links to local human rights organisations and documentation centres where available, please note that these may not be official sources of information.