Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Failure of the Arab Court of Human Rights and the Conflicting Logics of Legitimacy, Sovereignty, Orientalism and Cultural Relativism

  • Article
  • Published:
Netherlands International Law Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In 2014 the League of Arab States (LAS) adopted a statute to establish the Arab Court of Human Rights (ACtHR). However, the proposed court has been strongly criticised for, inter alia, failing to provide for the right of individual petition. Consequently, the statute has failed to receive sufficient ratification and the process of establishing a supranational human rights enforcement mechanism has stalled. This article considers the complex conflict of institutional logics that may explain this failure. On the one hand, the legitimacy and perceived legitimacy that comes with an effective human rights regime creates an isomorphic pressure on the Arab states and the LAS to establish a supranational human rights enforcement mechanism. On the other hand, this pressure is opposed by the conflicting logics arising from the Arab world’s reaction to orientalism, from cultural relativism, and from sovereignty, particularly in the context of authoritarian political systems. It is submitted that, because the proposed ACtHR would be only weakly legitimate, the motivational pressure on LAS member states to ratify the statute and establish the court is insufficient to overcome the pressure from those conflicting logics. It is, however, argued that cultural relativism should be seen, not as an impediment, but as a motivation for establishing an effective and legitimate supranational human rights court. Acting as a ‘norm-broker’, such a court may help to resolve the tension between the currently conflicting logics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Al-Midani et al. (2006), pp. 147–148.

  2. Rishmawi (2015), pp. 27–29.

  3. For a discussion of the struggles faced by the Arab Organisation for Human Rights see, Crystal (1994).

  4. Rishmawi (2010), p. 170.

  5. Almakky (2015), p. 8.

  6. Council of the League of Arab States (7 September 2014) Ministers of Foreign Affairs (142) session, Resolution No. 7790, EA (142) C 3.

  7. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) (2013), p. 17.

  8. International Commission of Jurists (2015), pp. 5–7.

  9. 2014 Statute, Art. 33.

  10. Anderson (2011), p. 2.

  11. See, DiMaggio and Powell (1983). For a discussion of Islamic culture and human rights see, Mayer (1994).

  12. DiMaggio and Powell (1983), p. 147.

  13. Ibid., p. 148.

  14. Greenwood and Suddaby (2006), p. 28.

  15. Friedland (2013), p. 34.

  16. See, Fassbender (1998), p. 529.

  17. Deephouse (1996), p. 1033.

  18. Thornton and Ocasio (2008), p. 101.

  19. Friedland (2013), p. 36.

  20. Coicaud (2002), p. 10 and Clark (2007), pp. 19–20.

  21. Beetham (1991), p. 33 and Tyler (2011), pp. 3–4.

  22. Vetterlein and Moschella (2014), p. 149.

  23. Scott and Ambler (2007), p. 68.

  24. Hawkins (2004), p. 783–784.

  25. See, Bennoune (2018) Universality, cultural diversity and cultural rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, UN Doc. A/73/227, para. 15.

  26. Burstein (2006), p. 435.

  27. See, Terman and Voeten (2018), p. 6.

  28. Landolt and Woo (2017), pp. 420–421.

  29. Carraro (2019), pp. 1083–1084, 1088.

  30. See, Peterson et al. (2016).

  31. Murdie (2009), pp. 422, 439–440.

  32. See, Howard et al. (2011).

  33. Harrelson-Stephens and Callaway (2014), pp. 414, 426–427.

  34. See, BICI (2011).

  35. Human Rights Watch (2011).

  36. BICI (2011), pp. 383–384.

  37. BICI (2011), pp. 223–226, 266–228, 281, 296–301.

  38. Magliveras and Naldi (2016), p. 150.

  39. Ibid., p. 150.

  40. Almutawa and Magliveras (2021), p. 1270.

  41. Quoted in: Rishmawi (2015), p. 1.

  42. LAS Ministerial Council (10 March 2012) 137th Ordinary Session, Resolution 7489.

  43. See, International Commission of Jurists (2015), p. 26.

  44. Trindade (1998), p. 7.

  45. Simma (2013), p. 319.

  46. For further discussion of the criticisms regarding the lack of provision for the right of individual petition see: Almutawa (2021), pp. 519–528.

  47. International Commission of Jurists (2015), p. 26.

  48. Ibid., p. 6.

  49. Magliveras and Naldi (2016), pp. 161–162, 170.

  50. Magliveras (2017), p. 46. See, 2014 Statute, Arts. 4, 28, 29.

  51. International Commission of Jurists (2015), p. 6.

  52. Magliveras (2017), pp. 51–52.

  53. Burstein (2006), p. 433.

  54. Cheng (2012), p. 142.

  55. Henderson (2014), p. 176.

  56. 1945 Charter of the United Nations, 1 UNTS 16.

  57. Krasner (2017), pp. 44, 49.

  58. Ibrahim (2019), pp. 294, 301–303, 305 and Barnett (1995), pp. 480, 495, 505.

  59. Rishmawi (2015), p. 4.

  60. 1945 Charter of the League of Arab States, 70 UNTS 237.

  61. Almutawa (2020), p. 251.

  62. See, Fawcett (2017).

  63. Zartman (2017), p. 947.

  64. The Bahrain government continues to criticise Iran for interference in its domestic affairs. See, for example, UNSC (2018) Maintenance of international peace and security: Comprehensive Review of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, 8293rd Meeting, S/pv.8293, pp. 54–55. See also, Almutawa (2019), pp. 32–36.

  65. See, Winer (2019).

  66. Fawcett (2017), p. 803.

  67. Mabon (2017), p. 1794.

  68. Ibrahim (2019), pp. 310–311.

  69. Hawkins (2004), p. 781.

  70. Moore (2003), pp. 885–886.

  71. van Hüllen (2015), p. 130.

  72. Mokhtari (2012), p. 195.

  73. van Hüllen (2015), p. 126.

  74. Ibid., p. 140.

  75. Said (1978), p. 12.

  76. See, Mgbeoji (2006), Little (2008) and Mayer (2012).

  77. Moosavinia et al. (2011), pp. 104–105.

  78. Saghaye-Biria (2018), p. 62.

  79. Choueiri (2003), p. 5.

  80. Barnett (1995), pp. 494, 504.

  81. Saghaye-Biria (2018), p. 66.

  82. Najjar (2005), p. 94.

  83. Hosseinioun (2018), p. 25.

  84. Ishay (2008), pp. 64–66 and Mutua (2001), p. 204.

  85. An-Na’im (2001), p. 702.

  86. Donnelly (2013), pp. 76–90.

  87. An-Na’im (2000), pp. 97–99.

  88. Personal communication (October 2021) with a Saudi Arabian Official who was a member of the expert committee drafting the 2014 Statute and was previously a member of the Arab Charter of Human Rights Committee.

  89. Personal communication (October 2021) with an Egyptian member of the expert committee drafting the 2014 Statute.

  90. Akbarzadeh and Ahmed (2018), pp. 299–300. See also, Heibach (2021) and Ehteshami (2018), pp. 85–86, 89–92.

  91. Wheatley (2014), p. 91.

  92. Hamilton and Buyse (2018), pp. 206, 227.

  93. van Hüllen (2015), p. 139.

  94. Risse and Ropp (2013), pp. 5–7. Based on empirical case studies, the spiral model suggests there are five stages involved in the process of human rights development: repression, denial, tactical concessions, prescriptive status; and rule-consistent behaviour.

  95. Evans (1996), p. 3.

  96. Baxi (2008), p. 160.

  97. Mayer (1994), p. 383.

  98. See, Bennoune, above n. 25, para. 7.

  99. Morrison (2004), p. 17.

  100. Donnelly (2007), p. 281.

  101. Donnelly (2013), p. 104.

  102. Halliday (1995), p. 157.

  103. Mutua (2004), p. 63.

  104. High Judicial Council/Appellate Court, decision of June 27, 2011 (Iraq).

  105. Magliveras (2017), pp. 51–52.

  106. International Commission of Jurists (2015), pp. 7–8.

  107. International Commission of Jurists (2015), p. 5.

  108. An-Na’im (2001), p. 720.

  109. Khadduri (1984), pp. 3–5. See, for example, the Qur’an, chapter 5, verse 8 and chapter 57, verse 25.

  110. El Fadl (2009), pp. 129, 144 and Kamali (2010), pp. 103ff.

  111. Kamali (2011), p. 87.

  112. An-Na’im (2001), pp. 731–732.

References

  • Akbarzadeh S, Ahmed Z (2018) Impacts of Saudi hegemony on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Int J Polit Culture Soc 31:297–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Almakky R (2015) Protection of human rights and the Arab League: a case study on the Syrian Arab Republic. J Islam State Pract Int Law 11:8–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Midani M, Cabanettes M, Akram S (2006) Arab charter on human rights 2004. Boston Univ Int Law J 24:147–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Almutawa A (2020) The Qatar crisis, legitimacy, and the use of sanctions against terrorist financing. In: Benson K, King C, Walker C (eds) Assets, crimes and the state: innovations in the 21st century legal responses. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 244–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Almutawa A (2021) The Arab Court of Human Rights and the enforcement of the Arab Charter on Human Rights. Hum Rights Law Rev 21:506–532

    Google Scholar 

  • Almutawa A, Magliveras K (2021) Enforcing women’s rights under the Arab Charter on Human Rights 2004. Int J Hum Rights 25:1258–1284

    Google Scholar 

  • Almutawa A (2019) The legitimacy of counterterrorism financing in Bahrain with reference to the United Kingdom. PhD Thesis, University of Leeds

  • Anderson L (2011) Demystifying the Arab spring: parsing the differences between Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Foreign Aff 90:2–7

    Google Scholar 

  • An-Na’im A (2000) Islam and human rights: beyond the universality debate. Proc ASIL Annu Meet 94:95–101

    Google Scholar 

  • An-Na’im A (2001) Human rights in the Arab world: a regional perspective. Hum Rights Q 23:701–732

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett M (1995) Sovereignty, nationalism and regional order in the Arab states system. Int Organ 49:479–510

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxi U (2008) The future of human rights, 3rd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Beetham D (1991) The legitimation of power. Macmillan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • BICI (2011) Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. www.bici.org.bh/. Accessed 22 Oct 2021

  • Burstein M (2006) The will to enforce: an examination of the political constraints upon a regional court of human rights. Berkeley J Int Law 24:423–443

    Google Scholar 

  • Carraro V (2019) Promoting compliance with human rights: the performance of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review and Treaty Bodies. Int Stud Q 63:1079–1093

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng G (2012) The contradictions of human rights and sovereignty: contemporary dilemmas of postwar historical practice. In: Cheng G (ed) Nationalism and human rights: in theory and practice in the Middle East, Central Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp 141–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Choueiri Y (2003) Modern Arab historiography: historical discourse and the nation-state. RoutledgeCurzon, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark I (2007) Legitimacy in international society. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Coicaud J-M (2002) Legitimacy and politics: a contribution to the study of political right and political responsibility. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Crystal J (1994) The human rights movement in the Arab world. Hum Rights Q 16:435–454

    Google Scholar 

  • Deephouse D (1996) Does isomorphism legitimate? Acad Manag J 39:1024–1039

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio P, Powell W (1983) The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organisational fields. Am Sociol Rev 48:147–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Donnelly J (2007) The relative universality of human rights. Hum Rights Q 29:281–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Donnelly J (2013) Universal human rights in theory and practice, 3rd edn. Cornell University Press, Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehteshami A (2018) Saudi Arabia as a resurgent regional power. Int Spect 53:75–94

    Google Scholar 

  • El Fadl K (2009) Islamic authority. In: Vogt K, Larsen L, Moe C (eds) New directions in Islamic thought: exploring reform and Muslim tradition. IB Tauris & Co, London, pp 129–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans T (1996) US hegemony and the project of universal human rights. Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Google Scholar 

  • Fassbender B (1998) The United Nations Charter as a constitution of the international community. Columbia J Transnatl Law 36:529–619

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett L (2017) States and sovereignty in the Middle East: myths and realities. Int Aff 93:789–807

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedland R (2013) God, love and other good reasons for practice: thinking through institutional logics. In: Boxenbaum E, Lounsbury M (eds) Institutional logics in action, part A. Emerald Group Publishing Ltd, Bingley, pp 25–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood R, Suddaby R (2006) Institutional entrepreneurship in mature fields: the big five accounting firms. Acad Manag J 49:27–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday F (1995) Relativism and universalism in human rights: the case of the Islamic Middle East. Polit Stud 43:152–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton M, Buyse A (2018) Human rights courts as norm-brokers. Hum Rights Law Rev 18:205–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrelson-Stephens J, Callaway R (2014) You say you want a revolution: the Arab Spring, norm diffusion, and the human rights regime. Hum Rights Rev 15:413–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins D (2004) Explaining costly international institutions: persuasion and enforceable human rights norms. Int Stud Q 48:779–804

    Google Scholar 

  • Heibach J (2021) Public diplomacy and regional leadership struggles: the case of Saudi Arabia. Int Polit. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-021-00310-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson C (2014) The Arab Spring and the notion of external state sovereignty in international law. Liverp Law Rev 35:175–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosseinioun M (2018) The human rights turn and the paradox of progress in the Middle East. Springer, Cham

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard P, Duffy A, Freelon D, Hussain M, Mari W, Mazaid M (2011) Opening closed regimes: what was the role of social media during the Arab Spring? Project on technology and political Islam working paper 2011.1. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/117568/2011_Howard-DuffyFreelon-Hussain-Mari-Mazaid_PITPI.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed 22 Oct 2021

  • Human Rights Watch (2011) Bahrain’s human rights crisis. www.hrw.org/news/2011/07/05/bahrains-human-rights-crisis. Accessed 22 Oct 2021

  • Ibrahim R (2019) Primary and secondary institutions in regional international society: sovereignty and the league of Arab states. In: Knudsen T, Navari C (eds) International organization in the anarchical society. Springer, Cham, pp 293–320

    Google Scholar 

  • International Commission of Jurists (2015) The Arab Court of Human Rights: a flawed statute for an ineffective court. www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/MENA-Arab-Court-of-Human-Rights-Publications-Report-2015-ENG.pdf. Accessed 22 Oct 2021

  • International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) (2013). The Arab league and human rights: challenges ahead. www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_lea_uk-lddouble.pdf. Accessed 22 Oct 2021

  • Ishay M (2008) The history of human rights: from ancient times to the globalization era. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamali M (2010) Freedom, equality and justice in Islam. Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamali M (2011) Citizenship and accountability of government: an Islamic perspective. Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Khadduri M (1984) The Islamic conception of justice. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasner S (2017) The persistence of state sovereignty. In: Fioretes O (ed) International politics and institutions in time. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 39–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Landolt L, Woo B (2017) NGOs invite attention: from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to the Human Rights Council. J Hum Rights 16:407–427

    Google Scholar 

  • Little D (2008) American orientalism: the United States and the Middle East since 1945, 3rd edn. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Mabon S (2017) Sovereignty, bare life and the Arab uprisings. Third World Q 38:1782–1799

    Google Scholar 

  • Magliveras K (2017) Completing the institutional mechanism of the Arab human rights system. Int Hum Rights Law Rev 6:30–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Magliveras K, Naldi G (2016) The Arab Court of Human Rights: a study in impotence. Revue Quebecoise De Droit Int 29:147–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer A (1994) Universal versus Islamic human rights: a clash of cultures or a clash with a construct? Mich J Int Law 15:307–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer A (2012) Islam and human rights: tradition and politics, 5th edn. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Mgbeoji I (2006) The civilised self and the barbaric other: imperial delusions of order and the challenges of human security. Third World Q 27:855–869

    Google Scholar 

  • Mokhtari S (2012) The Middle East and human rights: inroads towards charting its own path. Northwest J Int Hum Rights 10:194–201

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore D (2003) A Signaling theory of human rights compliance. Northwest Univ Law Rev 97:879–910

    Google Scholar 

  • Moosavinia S, Niazi N, Ghaforian A (2011) Edward Said’s orientalism and the study of the self and the other in Orwell’s Burmese days. Stud Lit Lang 2:103–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison H (2004) Beyond universalism. Muslim World J Hum Rights. https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdie A (2009) The impact of human rights NGO activity on human right practices. Int NGO J 4:421–440

    Google Scholar 

  • Mutua M (2001) Savages, victims, and saviors: the metaphor of human rights. Harv Int Law J 42:201–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Mutua M (2004) The complexity of universalism in human rights. In: Sajó A (ed) Human rights with modesty: the problem of universalism. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 51–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Najjar F (2005) The Arabs, Islam and globalization. Middle East Policy 12:91–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson T, Murdie A, Asal V (2016) Human rights, NGO shaming and the exports of abusive states. Br J Polit Sci 48:767–786

    Google Scholar 

  • Rishmawi M (2010) The Arab Charter on Human Rights and the league of Arab states: an update. Hum Rights Law Rev 10:169–178

    Google Scholar 

  • Rishmawi M (2015) The league of Arab states human rights standards and mechanisms. www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/league-arab-states-human-rights-standards-and-mechanisms. Accessed 22 Oct 2021

  • Risse T, Ropp S (2013) Introduction and overview. In: Risse T, Ropp S, Sikkink K (eds) The persistent power of human rights: from commitment to compliance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 3–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Saghaye-Biria H (2018) Decolonizing the ‘universal’ human rights regime: questioning American exceptionalism and orientalism. ReOrient 4:59–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Said E (1978) Orientalism. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott S, Ambler O (2007) Does legality really matter? Accounting for the decline in US foreign policy legitimacy following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Eur J Int Relat 13:67–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Simma B (2013) Human rights before the International Court of Justice: community interest coming to life? In: Tams C, Sloan J (eds) The development of international law by the International Court of Justice. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 301–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Terman R, Voeten E (2018) The relational politics of shame: evidence from the universal periodic review. Rev Int Organ 13:1–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton P, Ocasio W (2008) Institutional logics. In: Greenwood R, Oliver C, Suddaby R, Sahlin-Anderson K (eds) The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism, 1st edn. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, pp 99–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Trindade A (1998) The consolidation of the procedural capacity of individuals in the evolution of the international protection of human rights: present state and perspectives at the turn of the century. Columbia Hum Rights Law Rev 30:1–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler T (2011) Why people cooperate: the role of social motivations. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • van Hüllen V (2015) Just leave us alone: the Arab league and human rights. In: Börzel T, van Hüllen V (eds) Governance transfer by regional organizations: patching together a global script. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 125–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Vetterlein A, Moschella M (2014) International organizations and organizational fields: explaining policy change in the IMF. Eur Polit Sci Rev 6:143–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheatley S (2014) On the legitimate authority of international human rights bodies. In: Føllesdal A, Schaffer J, Ulfstein G (eds) The legitimacy of international human rights regimes: legal, political and philosophical perspectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 84–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Winer J (2019) Origins of the Libyan conflict and options for its resolution. Middle East Institute Policy Paper. www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/2019-05/Libya_Winer_May%202019%20update_0.pdf. Accessed 22 Oct 2021

  • Zartman I (2017) States, boundaries and sovereignty in the Middle East: unsteady but unchanging. Int Aff 93:937–948

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PhD in Public Law (University of Leeds), Employed at the Ministry of Interior, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain

    Ahmed Almutawa

Authors
  1. Ahmed Almutawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Almutawa.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Almutawa, A. The Failure of the Arab Court of Human Rights and the Conflicting Logics of Legitimacy, Sovereignty, Orientalism and Cultural Relativism. Neth Int Law Rev 68, 479–500 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40802-021-00202-w

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40802-021-00202-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation