An insight on human rights work from the Arab
region
Published on Sharnoff Global Views
January
2013
Dr. Elie
Abouaoun
Executive
Director – Arab Human Rights Fund (AHRF)
The
Arab region has experienced a number of historical developments in the last two
years, a dynamic of change unseen since the 1950s. Analyzing the whereabouts of this dynamic
might be pretentious for a grantmaking organization like AHRF; nevertheless,
reflecting on how this reshuffling of the cards would affect the situation of
human rights in the region is a much needed exercise at this stage. Cautious as
we are, adopting a blanket approach during this reflection is undoubtedly counterproductive.
Instead, a set of the largely shared elements that exist at the regional level have
to be explored.
While
it looks obvious that the recent popular awakenings will open windows of
opportunities for human rights actors in the region, the accrued weaknesses of these
actors over the last six decades will not be easy to overcome. The devolution
of government services, performance, and accountability in many Arab countries led
to an increased role for nonprofits in filling the gaps left by the
underperforming governments, paralyzed or ineffective parliaments (when they
existed at all), and the bureaucratic/corrupt public administration. However,
this was not translated in an effective contribution to the policy-making
process, and this shortcoming badly affected the credibility and sustainability
of NGOs and more specifically human rights organizations.
At
times, the work of human rights organizations was depicted (whether rightly or
not) as serving a certain political agenda, leading to a certain apprehension. The
fact that most opposition groups in the Arab countries used human rights or
rights groups to act against established regimes contributed to the image of
human rights activism serving a struggle for power instead of fight for values.
The quasi absence of independent Arab originated funding to support human
rights initiatives in the region strengthened the monopoly of foreign donors
which left scars on an already negative perception that rights groups are
acting in the stream of foreign agendas. The context of political repression
and the fact that most of these organizations in general failed to embrace high
standards in their work consolidated these apprehensions, and prevented them
from building mass support through small givers and volunteers.
At
another level, the repressive framework in most countries of the region
contributed to the disengagement of many actors, not the least being the
private sector and high net worth individuals. “Capital holders” channeled their
donations to “safe interventions”, mostly of social, cultural, and
environmental nature. Initiatives related to human rights, policy-making,
accountability, and similar topics were avoided in general due to the perceived
risks of creating conflicts with governments.
The
recent developments in the region have triggered the interest of many
governmental and private actors from outside the region. Some countries are
flooded with money by major donors, while at the same time NGOs are
mushrooming. Consequently, donations will now be sought and used by a large
number of organizations of various capacities and purposes. The chaotic
development of the civil society sector (more specifically organizations
working on human rights, democratization and the like) in the countries
undergoing a transition is therefore a major challenge to funders such as the
Arab Human Rights Fund.
The
transition processes in the region (as in most other places) will be painful
and lengthy. Previous experiences show that such transitions are not reversible
and no matter how costly they can be, they will lead to a renewed social
contract in each of the affected countries. Moreover, this dynamic will spill
over to other countries. In this context, partnering with local and regional grantmaking
organizations to maximize on their local knowledge is a key strategy for donor
agencies.
In light of the above, the role of a
regional fund such as the Arab Human Rights Fund (AHRF) is crucial.
Established in 2008, AHRF
was formed at the behest of the Arab region’s human rights community to serve
as a regional funding agency with an enduring commitment to the region, to the
full spectrum of human rights, and to the painstaking work of mobilizing resources
from the region to support human rights projects in
the region.
AHRF is a not-for-profit philanthropic
organization that provides support for the promotion and realization of all
human rights in the Arab region. The AHRF defines 'all human rights' as
those enumerated in the International Bill of Rights and all international
instruments dealing with human rights and humanitarian law. It carries out its
responsibilities and programs in accordance with these rights and principles
without discrimination by reason of gender, ethnicity, religion, national or
social status, political opinion or any other distinction. The AHRF is
independent of any governmental, political, religious or other interests and is
committed to operating with transparency and accountability.
Since 2008, the Arab
Human Rights Fund has made over $2.2 million in grants to 87 actors to support
human rights work in 20 countries in the Arab region.
Responding to the new
environment, the Fund is committed to increasing its support for human rights
initiatives that seek to use, expand or protect the new political spaces being
created by the popular uprisings sweeping the Arab region
No comments:
Post a Comment