The InterDependent

For months now, protestors have crowded the streets of global capitals—first Tunis, then Cairo, Sana’a, Tripoli, and many more. They’ve defied violent regimes, shattered stereotypes, and inspired a global audience of admirers to prove, as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said back in August, human rights are “for all of us, all the time, everywhere.”

Yet if there is one change that will define the Arab Spring, it won’t just be the result of the revolutions now unfolding—it will be the very way they were precipitated. “The whole reason for the revolution is the right to speak up!” said a 29-year-old Syrian activist I met in Beirut.

UN Photo

The crowds of people who took to the streets to demand their human rights this year have drawn a line in the sand. Before the Arab Spring, freedom of expression was limited in much of the Middle East and North Africa. Now, protestors and activists have reclaimed their right to speak out—and it’s one they won’t give back easily. In fact, they are already using that newfound voice to fight for even greater human rights across the board.

“People in the region are claiming the right to express their views, and demand social justice; economic justice, equality, dignity, the right to participate, the right to have a say and to hold the government accountable,” explains Fateh Azzem, the Head of the Middle East office of the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR).

Protestors have shattered the silence on human rights, yet the obstacles ahead are great. Human rights need to be institutionalized—at a time when they continue to be violated across the region. As states in transition look to the future, the right to freedom of expression may become the cornerstone for ensuring that such violations are exposed and all human rights are protected.

You don’t have to look far to see how great the challenge is. Despite the positive news coming from North Africa—elections were recently held in Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt and they are planned in Libya—human rights violations continue to various degrees in each of these places. In Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria, the danger is even more pronounced amid ongoing government crackdowns.

The Bahraini security forces have yet to release more than 500 political activists in jail, despite a scathing independent report that faulted the government’s reaction to protests. Meanwhile, government forces in Yemen are using heavy weaponry in civilian areas.

In Syria, the UN speaks of more than 4,000 killed and over 14,000 people detained by the regime so far. The UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry recently concluded that the acts of killings, torture, rape, imprisonment and other forms of severe deprivation of liberty have reached the level of crimes against humanity. In addition to regime brutality, several sectarian killings have been reported, particularly in the city of Homs, where those leading the protests have yet to condemn the violence.

Even in Libya, where the revolution seems to have drawn to a close, human rights are far from secure. During the conflict, thirty thousand people were killed and brutalities against civilians amounted to crimes against humanity. “War is the greatest violator of human rights’ says Azzam, as it violates rights across the spectrum all the way down to access to medical care.
Ending the violations—and ensuring that they don’t happen again—will mean turning activists’ passion into concrete policy. “For too long, these rights [to expression and assembly] have been buffeted and crushed in the Arab world’ says Nadim Houry, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division. Change will mean amending criminal codes so that articles which allow prosecution for such offenses as ”weakening national sentiment” and similar vagaries are no longer in place.

Part of entrenching real change will also require countries to deal with violations of the past, including holding those who have committed serious crimes accountable. Azzam argues that setting up mechanisms for transitional justice is vital. ”You cannot continue reading the book if you’ve turned a page without reading it; the story won’t make sense if you don’t read the page.” Immunity is not a viable option, which is why the recent Gulf Agreement extended to Yemen’s president Saleh is destined to come back to haunt the country, according to Azzam.

Human rights defenders argue that accountability must also be extended to the security services, long exempt from civilian oversight in Arab Spring countries. This is especially relevant in Egypt, where military rulers appear weary of relinquishing authority to an elected body.

Furthermore, civilians there continue to be tried in military courts. Last Monday, one of the most famous victims of the practice, Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who was taken into custody on 30 October on trumped up charges, had his appeal refused. There are many others — who lack a worldwide publicity campaign and a twitter hash tag (#FreeAlaa)—who are facing the same fate. ”This has to stop,” says Houry. ”There is no reason to have civilians tried before military courts. Military courts are notorious for lacking in due process.”

Freedom of expression offers a way to check such violations. El Fatteh’s colleague, the blogger Mona el Tahawy, was arrested on 24 November but freed within 24 hours following an intense twitter campaign for her release. Protests across the Arab world have materialized on the basis of Facebook page announcements. The theme of UN Human Rights Day pays tribute to these platforms; it honors social media as a mechanism. ”Social media isn’t the point; it is a tool which has made it possible for people to express their views” explains Azzam.

Traditional media also plays a role. The lack of foreign journalists in Syria severely impacts the coverage of the revolution there. Still, social media can translate online activism into action on the ground. The majority of mainstream news coverage from Syria is now based on material citizens and activists are providing through various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

This newfound freedom of expression also helps ensure that other rights will not be curbed. If a government tries to do so, the people in places such as Egypt now vow to voice their discontent. Recent events in Cairo have shown this to be true, with many taking to the streets once again to demand that the ruling military council cede power to civilian rule. Similarly, if a new government tried to curtail rights, on the basis of religion or under any other pretext, the people should be trusted to speak out—whether that means on the street or, hopefully, at the ballot box.

Solidifying these rights through concrete policies and institutions is paramount. “The really hard work starts now” says Azzam. The UN, for its part, has been working in the region since 2008 to strengthen freedom of expression, association and assembly by organizing workshops which bring together journalists, trade unionists and human rights defenders. They’ve tried to help states strengthen and develop their institutions which protect human rights—a role they will continue to play in coming months. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for example, is in the process of opening up a new office in Tunisia following the transitional authorities’ invitation, and there is talk of a new regional base in Cairo. The Tunisia office will help local authorities build a body for judicial protection, create a human rights institution, and draft new human rights legislation.

The preamble to the UN declaration of Human rights reads that it is essential that human rights are protected by the rule of law “if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression.” The rebellion has happened, now is the time to implement the rule of law.

Such structural changes require time, effort and patience; they cannot happen overnight. But human rights discourse is at the core of the new order, according to Houry. “Human Rights have gone from being a page 12 issue to a front page issue.”