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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
IMF/World Bank postpone debt relief
Prospects for tsunami regions
Controversy over UN reform
ODA: security measures expanded
Sudan: donors need common policy
No growth for German ODA ratio
Middle East role for Wolfensohn
GTZ director stays in office
UNDP report criticises Arab regimes
05/2005
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[ Arab Human Development Report ]
Reforms remain “embryonic and fragmentary”
In early April, the United Nations Development Programme launched the Arab Human Development Report 2004. It has thus published the third report of its series some six months later than originally planned. The main reason for the delay was that the US administration objected to the draft which contained criticism of its role in the Iraq war.
Rima Khalaf Hunaidi, assistant secretary general and director of the UNDP, made further implicit accusations against Washington when presenting the report. Basic rights of Arabs and Muslims are not only threatened in their home countries, she said, because “what was taken for granted legally and constitutionally before 11 September is now commonly violated – the right not to be tortured, not to languish in jails without due process and not to be arrested for eternity.”
The Arab Human Development Report lambasts occupation forces in Iraq: “As a result of the invasion of their country, the Iraqi people have emerged from the grip of a despotic regime that violated their basic rights and freedoms, only to fall under a foreign occupation that increased human suffering.” The report explicitly mentions the detention as well as degrading and inhumane treatment of civilians, which breach the Geneva Convention. The UNDP document also deals with Israeli occupation. From May 2003 to June 2004, Israeli security forces killed 768 Palestinians and made around 4,000 homeless.
However, the core aim of the series of publications is to examine problems within the Arab world. The authors state that there is an “acute deficit of freedom and good governance”. Clannism and rent-seeking economies are typical for the region. Many constitutions do not guarantee basic rights at all, while in other countries they are not exercised. The team acknowledges that reforms have been announced and even started in some places. Nonetheless, the report complains that such efforts often remain “embryonic and fragmentary”. The rights of minority groups and women are in a particularly bad state in the Arab world. The report names the Sudanese civil war region Darfur as an example for violation of minority rights. Without substantial improvements, the authors warn, there is risk of a “disaster scenario”, with violent protests and political instability in the entire Arab World. (dem)
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