The 49th regular session of the Permanent Arab Committee for Human Rights launched on Tuesday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, chaired by the State of Kuwait and with the participation of the concerned governmental bodies in the member states, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations enjoying observer status and the concerned authorities in the joint Arab action system.
The State of Qatar’s delegation to the session was chaired by HE Director of the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Turki Al Mahmoud.
The agenda of this session includes several topics distributed among permanent items, foremost of which are the Israeli violations and racist practices in the occupied Arab territories, ways to address the dilemma of Arab prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, and the bodies of Palestinian and Arab martyrs held by the Israeli occupation authorities in the Arqam cemetery, in addition to items proposed by member states that address issues such as equality, equity and climate change.
In her speech at the opening session, HE Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector of the League of Arab States Ambassador Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, said that since its establishment in September 1968, the Permanent Arab Committee for Human Rights has contributed to building and strengthening the pillars of the Arab human rights system, both in text and in practice, in addition to building bridges of communication with partner regional and international governmental organizations, national institutions and Arab civil society organizations working in the field of human rights.
She expressed her hope that the ratifications of the Arab Charter on Human Rights would be completed with the accession of all member states to this legal instrument, reiterating the call to open a constructive dialogue with non-party member states to work on overcoming what might prevent their accession to the charter.
She also welcomed what it described as the continuous renewal of the agenda items of the Permanent Arab Committee on Human Rights through innovative items proposed by member states such as equality, equity and climate change, calling to continue this approach, and to be guided by the items on the agenda of the sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in an effort to achieve harmony between the work of the Arab Permanent Committee on Human Rights and the concerns of the Arab Group in Geneva.
It is noteworthy that the Permanent Arab Human Rights Committee is one of the four mechanisms of the Arab human rights system that exists under the umbrella of the League of Arab States, in addition to the Arab Charter on Human Rights Committee, Arab Parliament Human Rights Committee and the annual conference of those responsible for human rights in the Arab Ministries of Interior.
The recommendations issued by the Permanent Arab Human Rights Committee in its 49th regular session will be submitted to the next regular session of the League Council at the ministerial level, which will be held in March – for the consideration of its adoption.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs