Geneva, on December 10, 2023
This report comes on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day within the context of the Arab Council’s monitoring of the human rights situation in Arab countries. It sheds light on serious violations of freedom of expression in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Palestine. The report was prepared by researchers from the Arab Council and is based particularly on data and information included in reports from Arab and international human rights organizations regarding the violations committed by the governments of these countries against the freedom of expression.
The report relies on the following indicators: freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of the press, the formation of associations, peaceful assembly, demonstration, freedom of blogging online, the use of social media, elections, restrictions on human rights activists
Legal context
The Arab governments subject the submission pursuing policies that contradict the most basic international human rights standards that guarantee freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948, the rules of which acquire a customary character, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1969 (ICCPR).
These governments blatantly violate Article 19 of the UDHR, which guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This right includes the freedom to hold opinions without harassment and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas by any means, regardless of frontiers. Article 19 of the ICCPR guarantees the right of every human being to hold opinions without harassment and the right to freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, whether orally, in print, or public. Artistic form or by any other means of his choice, emphasizing that this right may be subject to some restrictions, but provided that they are specified by law and are necessary: (a) to respect the rights or reputations of others, (b) to protect national security, public order, or public health, or public morals.
The governments above severely violate their people’s right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and the formation and joining of associations stipulated in Article 20 of the UDHR, which guarantees every person the right to participate peacefully.
The right to a peaceful meeting and association prohibits forcing anyone to belong to an association, in addition to Article 21 of the Covenant ICCPR that guarantees the right to peaceful assembly and does not permit any restrictions on the exercise of this right except for specific measures in a democratic society, by the law, to preserve national security, public safety, public order, protect public health or morals, or protect the rights of others and their freedoms.
The Arab government’s practices of silencing their people and targeting civil society, including human rights defenders, are inconsistent with their international human rights obligations enshrined in essential human rights treaties, including article 22 of UDHR and the ICCPR, stipulating the right of every individual to freedom of association. Associations with others, including the right to establish and join trade unions to protect his interests, and prohibits the imposition of any restrictions on the exercise of this right except those provided by law and which constitute necessary measures, in a democratic society, to maintain national security, public safety or public order or to protect public health, morals, or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
The strict restrictions imposed by the Egyptian authorities on peaceful dissidents and human rights defenders aim to retaliate against them and limit their freedom of movement in violation of their rights stipulated in Article 12 of the ICCPR, which guarantees every individual legally present within the territory of a state the right to freedom of movement in it, the freedom to choose his place of residence, the freedom to leave any country, including his own, and the inadmissibility of depriving anyone of the right to enter his country arbitrarily. It is prohibited to restrict these rights mentioned above by any restrictions other than those stipulated by law and which are necessary to protect national security or public order, public health, public morals, or the rights and freedoms of others. These are consistent with other rights recognized in the Covenant.
Freedom of expression, association, and participation in a peaceful protest is not a crime, and therefore, the Egyptian authorities’ horrific suppression of peaceful demonstrations, arbitrarily arresting peaceful demonstrators, and keeping them in detention for years without providing them with a fair trial, demonstrates their complete contempt for human rights, and shows a blatant disregard for the right to peaceful protest, and freedom of expression. Under international human rights law, the Egyptian authorities must facilitate the organization of demonstrations as a general rule and allow peaceful protests and assemblies without restriction or condition. The Egyptian authorities must also put an end to the vicious attacks on human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and independent media, leading to an end to the policy of baseless criminal investigations, arbitrary detention summons for forced interrogation, threats to close independent organizations, and travel bans. Other restrictive measures exclude civil society and human rights organizations from playing their role in contributing to building a democratic society based on the rule of law and respect for human rights.
The above governments are required to fulfil their obligations arising from it under Article 2 of ICCPR, which stipulates that each state party to the Covenant undertakes to respect the rights recognized therein and to guarantee these rights to all individuals within its territory and its jurisdiction, without any discrimination on any ground, and to take, by its constitutional procedures and the provisions of the present Covenant, such legislative or other measures as may be necessary for such implementation, and to ensure that an effective remedy is provided to any person whose rights or freedoms recognized in the present Covenant have been violated, even if the violation occurred by Persons acting in their official capacity. It must ensure for every complainant in this manner that a competent judicial, administrative, or legislative authority, or any other competent authority stipulated in the State’s legal system, decides on the rights allegedly violated and that it develops the possibilities for judicial redress to ensure that the competent authorities enforce the rulings issued in the interests of the complainants.
The systematic policies of persecution and harassment pursued by the Arab governments against the political opposition, civil society, and human rights defenders to intimidate and silence them, associated with widespread arbitrary arrests and detention of victims for long periods without them appearing before the judiciary, represent a blatant violation of the right of every human being to full equality. With others, his case be heard by an independent and impartial court, in a fair and public manner, to decide on his rights and obligations and any criminal charge brought against him under Article Ten of the UDR.
The above governments’ policy of further suppressing opposition and human rights defenders and silencing them by constantly including them on terrorist lists entails blatant human rights violations as a result of preventing them from exercising their natural right to express opinions, form associations, peacefully demonstrate, and play a role in political life. Civil and civil society in the country has flagrant violations of human rights guaranteed under Article 14 of the ICCPR, which states the following:
All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In determining any criminal charge against him or his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal established by law.
Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law.
In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees in full equality:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against him;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of his choosing;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) To be tried in his presence and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal aid assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it;
(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;
(f) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.
Recommendations:
In light of the violations above, the Arab Council recommends the thematic mandates to:
● Kindly request the Arab governments to take immediate and effective measures to fulfil their international obligations to respect and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
● Kindly request the Arab governments, especially Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Syria, to respect freedom of expression and the press and the right to peaceful demonstration under their obligations enshrined in international human rights conventions, including the freedom of expression, which includes seeking, receiving, and transmitting various types of information and ideas to others without regard to borders, whether on the written or printed form, in artistic form, or by any other means of his choice.
● Kindly request the Arab governments to commit to respecting the freedom to seek and circulate information via the Internet, the freedom of assembly, association and demonstration, and to support a free and active civil society.
● Kindly request the Request Arab governments, especially Saudi Arabia, Syria and Bahrain, to release all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression and to hold the judiciary responsible for protecting the right of citizens to express opinion and political participation under international human rights standards without any harassment or intimidation, as they are constitutional rights. Sacred, remove the names of all human rights defenders and civil society activists from terrorist lists immediately, and stop these arbitrary and retaliatory practices aimed at harassing them and suppressing their freedom to express opinion, peaceful assembly, and the formation of loyal associations.
● Kindly request the Arab governments, in particular Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Syria, rescind all arbitrary and unjust sentences issued against individuals for exercising their right to express their opinion and immediately release all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including all journalists, activists and human rights defenders. Unblock news and social media sites, and stop unnecessarily restricting the space available for civil society, including through asset freezes, travel bans, long periods of pretrial detention, and the increasing number of arrests.
● Kindly request the Arab governments include the principle of freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly in their national legislation under international human rights standards and facilitate civil society’s work by amending the relevant restrictive legislation.
● Kindly request the Arab governments to take all necessary measures to ensure access to justice and due process for all persons accused of criminal offences for exercising their right to expression, including access to a lawyer and assistance, and strengthen criminal procedures to protect the right to defence and a fair trial.
● Kindly request the Arab governments, especially Syria, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, to invite the most significant special procedures mandate holders to the Human Rights Council, facilitate their visits to these countries, and hold meetings with relevant official bodies, civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and political and human rights activists, to stand up on the situation of human rights and freedom of expression in these countries.
● Kindly request the Arab governments, especially Saudi Arabia, Syria and Bahrain, to stop all forms of intimidation or retaliation against those who cooperate with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights and to take steps to prohibit and investigate acts of intimidation and retaliation against those who deal with the United Nations and regional human rights systems, and hold all perpetrators accountable.
Arab Council Foundation – foundation under Swiss law
