The Arab human rights associations conference kicked off on Saturday with participation of regional and international entities, with a key conferee shedding light on violations of the Palestinian people’s rights.
Ambassador Moushira Khattab, the head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information and chairperson of the Egyptian Human Rights Council, said in her keynote statement at the session that holding the convention coincided with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (falling on December 10) and came 30 years after the Paris human rights declaration.
The Paris declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948.
The Arab network seeks to attain peace, security, justice and prosperity “for each Arab without indiscrimination,” she said.
Ambassador Khattab acknowledged the need for legislations and establishing independent institutions for maintaining human rights in the Arab countries.
“Some of the worst forms of human rights in the world is the plight suffered by the Palestinian people,” she said, noting that the Israeli occupation practices against the Palestinians are considered racial actions according to the international law. She singled out Israel’s siege of Gaza that is tantamount to collective punishment.
The conference involves heads of Arab, regional and international human rights organizations, representatives of the UN Development Programme, the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions and the UN Commission on Human Rights.
The two-day convention is scheduled to address challenges facing national human rights associations and means of backing them up.
Source: Kuwait News Agency