DiKE Die Arabische Charta der Menschenrechte 2004

Four years after its adoption by the League of Arab States in 2004, the Arab Charter on Human Rights (ArCHR) entered into force in 2008. Nine years later, in 2017, it was ratified by 14 of the League's 22 member states and signed by three others. The ArCHR is the region's first binding and comprehensive human rights convention and, in terms of international law, should be placed on the same level as the ECHR and the ACHR. Although the entry into force of the ArCHR was welcomed by the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, the criticism she also voiced, especially regarding the failure to comply with international human rights standards, remained in the foreground. Given its importance and potential impact on over 300 million people, it is surprising that the Arab Charter on Human Rights has not been analyzed in greater detail. In this paper, the history, development, and context of the ArCHR are reviewed, and the rights and freedoms it contains, as well as its monitoring mechanisms, are analyzed in detail and compared with the UN human rights standard.