The Arab Charter on Human Rights and International Human Rights Standards: The Practices and Approaches of the Arab Human Rights Committee

الملخص

This article examines the Arab Human Rights Committee (AHRC)’s interpretation of the rights enshrined in the Arab Charter on Human Rights. It argues that the AHRC has positioned its work not as contradictory to the international human rights system, but as supportive of and complementary to it. The AHRC has generally adopted an interpretative approach consistent with international human rights interpretations, drawing upon them in its approach to the provisions of the Arab Charter. Instead of taking an interpretative approach that clashes with the work of UN human rights treaty bodies, particularly on culturally or religiously sensitive issues, the AHRC has often opted to avoid these topics entirely or has addressed them in minimal detail. Efforts to engage with human rights norms and their interpretation in the context of the Arab Charter have resulted from the increased attention of scholars to the issue of fragmentation in international law and its implications for the development of International Human Rights Law (IHRL).