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Human Rights Day: Muslim countries pales in comparison

Written by Kazi Mahmood
Monday, 10 December 2007
However, the abuses and lack of respect of human rights in Muslim countries does not comply with the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights. Instead the pale situation in many Muslim nations does not reflect at all what Islam suggests about the respect of rights. Abuses including torture, arbitrary detention and election rigging are not new in the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) nation’s record on human rights. On the Human Rights Day, 10th December of each year, the situation of rights in Muslim countries pales in comparison to that of China, Russia and even Vietnam or Cambodia. As a matter of fact, human rights in the Muslim world are rapidly shrinking as a counter effect of the resultant destruction of established rights and liberties in capitalist countries like the U.S.A. and the U.K. The boomerang effect of the constriction in the rights of individuals in America and Britain has made it possible for Muslim countries to ignore the calls for more freedom and rights on their own land. The OIC has its own version of Human Rights. It is called the Cairo Declaration. On August 5, 1990, the 19th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI). The CDHRI is very precise: according to the official English version, “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’a,” (article 24) and “The Islamic Shari’a is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration” (article 25). In other words, by establishing Shari'a law as “the only source of reference” for the protection of human rights in Islamic countries, the Cairo Declaration gives it supremacy over the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Perhaps the U.S. and the U.K. allowed the Muslim nations to adopt their own version of Human Rights in order to tear the existing and accepted version of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Whatever the reason that led the Muslim world to adopt the Cairo version of rights, the world did not stop it from happening. In spite of this self-evident contradiction between the CDHRI and the UDHR, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published the OIC’s document in December 1997, thereby seeming to give it a certain authority within the United Nations. And, sure enough, the CDHRI then became a quotable source at the United Nations. The day and age for the recognition of the UDHR by the world has gone and now has come the time for each and every blocks (political and ethnical or religious) to adopt their own declarations of rights. In the U.S. it is the Patriot Act and the revisions in rights related laws. The book ‘The U.S.A. Above the law, at home and abroad” explains the various steps and the degree to which the U.S. has evolved in the killing of the established rights and liberties in the once great American democracy. However, the true nature of rights in Islam has to be understood first before any criticism is made about the OIC’s version of Human Rights. First of all, Islam values the life of a person more than anything else. To save a life in Islam means to do a great deed. The OIC’s version of rights includes articles that accept this guideline. Islam respects the rights of other faith and beliefs and protects such beliefs and their institutions – in Muslim majority nations. This protection is linked the tax that non-Muslims has to pay when living in Muslim run states. This tax entitles them to full protection by the state authorities. This is not really included in the Cairo declaration of rights. Islam also respects the rights of the individual for freedom of speech and freedom of information as well as freedom of association. However, such freedoms are tied to the acts of faith of the Muslims. To put it simply, rights in Islam are recognized and come with attached principles and values that are Islamic in nature. Hence the reason for Islam to disallow apostasy since it will not make sense that a Muslim rejects the Islamic faith but remains a Muslim and enjoys the protection of a Muslim state. Rights and freedoms in the Islamic perspective – wrongly understood in most Muslim nations – is like the kite that flies in the sky, freely dancing in the air but its freedom is limited by the string that attaches it to the person flying the kite. The American and European governments are slowly adopting this philosophy of rights and freedoms and they are not opposed to the declaration of the rights adopted by Muslim nations in Cairo in 1990. However, the abuses and lack of respect of human rights in Muslim countries does not comply with the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights. Instead the pale situation in many Muslim nations does not reflect at all what Islam suggests about the respect of rights. The shame is on the Muslim nations that do not even recognize the rights of foreign parents to live and work freely in countries where their children or wives come from. The constant record of abuses, jailing of opponents and the heavy handed policing of the citizens of their own countries suggests that there is an urgent fixing of the problem of rights in Muslim nations. Refugees Rights In Islam, refugees has rights too. Since they are forced out of their states or countries, they must be taken care of, fed and housed so that they do not face trials in the country where they sought refuge. In the real life however, many Muslim nations rejects the rights of refugees and even reject refugees. As a matter of fact, it is clear even in Islam that refugees cannot be permanently living in their country of refuge, unless they are granted the rights of citizenship or permanent residence. The fact is that a refugee is welcomed in Muslim states and the rights of refugees must be respected fully altogether, unlike some countries where refugees are not recognized and are subjected to all sorts of abuses. Islam dissociates itself from such abuses. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Show/Hide comments Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment Write the displayed characters Powered by Azrul's Jom Comment
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 December 2007 )

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