Read complete books and articles on: Human Rights and the Middle East

Human Rights - universal rights held to belong to individuals by virtue of their being human, encompassing civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights and freedoms, and based on the notion of personal human dignity and worth. Conceptually derived from the theory of natural law and originating in Greco-Roman doctrines, the idea of human rights appears in some early Christian writers' works and is reflected in the Magna Carta (1215). The concept winds as a philosophical thread through 17th- and 18th-century European and American thought, including the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789). The United Nation's Commission on Human Rights, with Eleanor Roosevelt as chair, created the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which reasserted the concept of human rights after the horrors of World War II. Human rights have since become a universally espoused yet widely disregarded concept.

Organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch promote human rights and denounce human-rights abuses. In addition, such abuses around the world are monitored and documented by independent investigators ("special rapporteurs") appointed by the UN Human Rights Commission, which, in turn, rebukes cited nations for their human-rights failures. The charging in 1998 by a Spanish court of former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet with human-rights violations and the 1999 British ruling that he could be extradited to Spain, as well as the indictment and arrest (2000) in Senegal of former Chadian president Hissène Habré for human-rights violations during his presidency (although charges were later dropped), were regarded as steps forward in the international protection of human rights.

See M. A. Glendon, A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2001).

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15 of the Best Books and Articles on: Human Rights and the Middle East

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics » Read Now
by Ann Elizabeth Mayer. 258 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

Revised and updated, this edition offers critical assessments of recent Islamic human-rights schemes that dilute or eliminate the human-rights protections afforded by international law and compares these with Islamic legal heritage and human-rights law.
2.

Islamism, Secularism, and Human Rights in the Middle East » Read Now
by Mahmood Monshipouri. 252 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...Islamism, Secularism, and Human Rights in the Middle East Islamism, Secularism, and Human Rights in the Middle East Mahmood Monshipouri...Islamism, secularism, and human...
3.

Islam, Democracy and Human Rights: The Continuing Debate in the West, in Middle East Policy » Read Now
by Mahmood Monshipouri, Christopher G. Kukla. 18 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...notion of "human rights" cannot be...concept in the political parlance of the Middle East. Nonetheless...Voices: The Human Rights in the Middle East (Berkeley...Voices:...
4.

Judaism, Human Rights, and Human Values » Read Now
by Lenn E. Goodman. 204 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library

Following on the heels of his critically acclaimed God of Abraham (Oxford, 1996), Lenn E. Goodman here focuses on rights, their grounding in the deserts of beings, and the dignity of persons. In an incisive contemporary dialogue between reason and revelation, Goodman argues for ethical standards and...
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Following on the heels of his critically acclaimed God of Abraham (Oxford, 1996), Lenn E. Goodman here focuses on rights, their grounding in the deserts of beings, and the dignity of persons. In an incisive contemporary dialogue between reason and revelation, Goodman argues for ethical standards and public policies that respect human rights and support the preservation of all beings: animals, plants, econiches, species, habitats, and the monuments of nature and culture. Immersed in the Jewish and philosophical sources, Goodmans argument ranges from the fetus in the womb to the modern nation state, from the problems of pornography and tobacco advertising to the rights of parents and children, individuals and communities, the powerful and powerless--the most ancient and the most immediate problems of human life and moral responsibility. Guided by the probing argumentation that Goodman lays out with distinctive, often poetic clarity, the reader will emerge enlightened and prepared to respond with intelligence and commitment to the sobering moral challenges of the coming century. This is a book for anyone concerned with law, ethics, and the human prospect.
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5.

Iraq: Sanctions and Beyond (Chap. 6 "The 'Periphery': Political Alienation and Abuse of Human Rights") » Read Now
by Anthony H. Cordesman, Ahmed S. Hashim. 400 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Cordesman provides a net assessment of the political, economic, energy, security (internal and external), and military trends in Iraq.
6.

U.S. Complicity in Israel's Gross Violations of Human Rights, in Middle East Policy » Read Now
by Shaw J. Dallal. 7 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...example Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1986-1992 . Submitted to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House...15 The 1992 Report , p...
7.

Living without a Constitution: Civil Rights in Israel (Chap. 2 "Strengthening the Government at the Expense of Civil Rights: The First Years of Statehood" and Chap. 9 "Was the Failure to Enact a Basic Human Rights Law Inevitable?") » Read Now
by Daphna Sharfman. 192 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...as akin to political liberalism, which advocated human rights and democracy. At the same time, however, they had reservations about...Ben Gurion worked to win the support...
8.

Human Rights and Third World Development (Chap. 7 "A Human Rights Settlement: The West Bank and Gaza") » Read Now
by George W. Shepherd Jr., Ved P. Nanda. 334 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...China, one the Middle East, and two Africa...El Salvador," the first of the three...times in massive human rights violations. Through...Africa, and the Middle East, the...
9.

Negotiating Culture and Human Rights (Chap. 11 "Israel and Other Cases") » Read Now
by Lynda S. Bell, Andrew J. Nathan, Ilan Peleg. 416 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

"Negotiating Culture and Human Rights" provides a new interdisciplinary approach to issues of cultural values and universal human rights. Central to the discussion is the "Asian values debate, " so named because of the culturally relativist ideals embraced by some key Asian governments. By analyzing...
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"Negotiating Culture and Human Rights" provides a new interdisciplinary approach to issues of cultural values and universal human rights. Central to the discussion is the "Asian values debate, " so named because of the culturally relativist ideals embraced by some key Asian governments. By analyzing how cultural difference and human rights operate in theory and practice in such areas as legal equality, women's rights, and ethnicity, the contributors forge a new way of looking at these critical issues. They call their approach "chastened universalism, " arguing that respect for others' values need not lead to sterile, relativist views. Ultimately the authors conclude that it is less important to discover pre-existing common values across cultures than to create them through dialogue and debate
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10.

A Western Question to the Middle East: 'Is There a Human Rights Discourse in Islam?', in Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) » Read Now
by John Strawson. 28 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...western question to the Middle East: Is there a human rights discourse in Islam...as if there is no human rights discourse within the Middle East. All appear to...
11.

The External Relations of the Arab Human Rights Movement, in Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) » Read Now
by Ibrahim Awad. 17 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...Conservative. 18. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), A Report on CIHRS Activities in the Year 1995. (Cairo, n.d.). 19. Rabbani...Conference of the...
12.

Theoretical Issues in the Arab Human Rights Movement, in Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) » Read Now
by Mustapha K. Al-Sayyid. 8 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...countries agreed to divide the Arab East amongst the two of them. Britain promised Palestine...Empires. 9. Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHR). Sawasiya (March 1995...
13.

Sovereign Rights, Human Rights, in The Middle East » Read Now
by The Middle East. 2 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...from the Middle East) that they...to improve the human condition...that human rights are indivisible...regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere...objection to the double...
14.

Wars on Terrorism and Iraq: Human Rights, Unilateralism, and U.S. Foreign Policy » Read Now
by Margaret E. Crahan, John Goering, Thomas G. Weiss. 249 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

'If I had the power to do so, I would make this book compulsory reading for all who exercise political power in our world today! Instead, I will keep my fingers crossed that it will be read by as many members of Congress and of the current US administration as possible, and by a wide cross-section...
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'If I had the power to do so, I would make this book compulsory reading for all who exercise political power in our world today! Instead, I will keep my fingers crossed that it will be read by as many members of Congress and of the current US administration as possible, and by a wide cross-section of policy analysts, diplomats, academics and human rights defenders.' - Mary Robinson, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Wars on Terrorism and Iraq provides a timely and critical analysis of the impact of the wars on terrorism and Iraq on human rights particularly internationally, as well as related tensions between unilateralism and multilateralism in US foreign policy. The distinguished contributors examine the consequences for international relations and world order of the traditional standard bearer for human rights and democracy (the United States) appearing not to be championing the rule of law and negotiated conflict resolution. The authors also suggest effective policies to promote greater fulfilment of human rights in order to achieve peaceful accord within nations, and stability internationally.
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15.

Rights Not a Reward for Good Behavior, but a Basic Entitlement of All Human Beings, in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs » Read Now
by John Gee. 1 pgs.

...rights of the Palestinian...halt Israeli human rights violations...exercise certain rights simply because they are the entitlement of al human beings. This...good for the...