كشورهاي اسلامي و حقوق جهاني بشر: مشاركت ها و مخالفت ها

Muslim States and International Human Rights Law: Contributions and Controversies

In recent decades, some Muslim states and their political leaders made critical remarks about human rights norms. They claimed that Human rights instruments were adopted without the participation of Muslim States and therefore, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be revised and alternative declarations must be devised that are fully compatible with Islamic Sharia as well as their cultural traditions. In reaction, Western States and scholars asserted that Muslim States contributed in the formation of human rights system and now they make recourse to Islamic Sharia as an excuse to deprive Muslim societies of human rights standards. The author seeks to show that during six decades since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Muslim States did not remain in the same position as alleged by competing theories. Although Muslim States were not involved in the codification and adoption of basic human rights instruments, the situation has drastically changed. It is argued that Muslim States have played a significant role in the development of Human Rights discourse, despite the fact that they were not notably involved in the codification and formation of human rights system.