AOHR to Organize Annual Conference on Human Rights in Arab States

On Wednesday, the Arab Observatory for Human Rights (AOHR) headed by Mr. Adel bin Abdulrahman Al-Asoomi, the speaker of the Arab Parliament and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the AOHR, announced that an expanded annual conference on human rights will be organized in the Arab States.

He noted that a working group has been formed to prepare for this conference, and it was agreed that the conference would be launched during the first quarter of 2023.

This came during the fifth meeting of the AOHR held today 30 March 2022 in Cairo, under the chairmanship of Al-Asoomi.

The meeting completed the AOHR institutional structure, by electing Hon. Dr. Mofid Shehab as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and the composition of its four substantive committees, in addition to discussing the establishment of institutional relations with national human rights institutions in the Arab States.

During the meeting, the Board of Trustees agreed to launch the Arab Human Rights Index, which in turn sets out a set of correct scientific indicators to measure developments in the human rights situation in the Arab world, so that it can be an effective tool in the process of advancing the human rights system and monitoring positive developments in the Arab States, which contributes to supporting the Human rights file in the Arab world, which refutes allegations made by some suspicious foreign organizations which use the human rights file as a pretext for attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Arab States.

The AOHR renewed its condemnation and denunciation of the Houthi terrorist attack on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its installations, infrastructure and energy sources and threats to international peace and security, and considered such attacks to be a cowardly terrorist attack in violation of international law, and called on the international community to take decisive steps against these militias from their continuing and escalating criminal acts that assert that it is a terrorist organization posing a serious threat to the security and stability of the region.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the AOHR, commended the decision of the Arab Coalition to stop military operations in the Republic of Yemen, which aims to reach a comprehensive and sustainable political solution to end the Yemeni crisis, to success the Yemeni consultations, and to create a positive environment for peacemaking.

The meeting discussed the strategic plan for the work of the AOHR, and the basis for action at the Arab and international levels to consolidate positive developments in the human rights file in the Arab States, to promote a culture of human rights, and emphasized the necessity for the international community to adhere to uniform and not double standards regarding human rights issues.

It had been pointed out the Russian-Ukrainian events, and the Board of Trustees stressed the need to respect international humanitarian law, and to consider humanitarian aspects and address any human rights violations in either country without any discrimination, and called upon the international community to uphold the humanitarian interest and to preserve human rights free from political tendencies and interests.

The AOHR also discussed the efforts undertaken by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees over the last period, which resulted in opening prospects for institutional and legal cooperation with the Arab Network for Human Rights and the National Councils for Human Rights in the Arab States, and A memorandum of understanding was agreed upon with each of the National Institute for Human Rights in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the National Council for Public Freedoms and Human Rights in the State of Libya, proceeding from its efforts to strengthen effective partnerships with national institutions.