from the editors of FORCED MIGRATION review

Abstract

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and subsequent instruments of international human rights law and international humanitarian law play a vital role in providing protection for refugees and internally displaced peoples.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and subsequent instruments of international human rights law and international humanitarian law play a vital role in providing protection for refugees and internally displaced peoples. Yet the claim to universality has been disputed and not all states have acceded to these legal instruments. It seems that a particular point of controversy or dispute in the Islamic world is their compatibility with shari'a.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the UDHR, the Editors of Forced Migration Review (FMR) produced a short supplement in 2008 to enhance debate and understanding of the concepts and instruments of international human rights in the Islamic world. The original supplement was generously funded by UNICEF Iran. We are now publishing this revised and updated edition, alongside an issue of FMR on North Africa where the uprisings of 2011 have led to opportunities to enhance the rule of law and improve the implementation of rights.

This supplement includes the full text of the UDHR, the 1990 Cairo Declaration and the May 2012 Ashgabat Declaration in the hope that they will both inform and enable those concerned with assisting and protecting displaced people to advocate more strongly on their behalf. Also included are three articles that take up aspects of the debate over the applicability of international laws and conventions in Islam.

It is impossible to do full justice to a debate of such richness and about which strong feelings are held. The articles in this supplement make the case that the needs and rights of displaced people are of prime concern and that both Islamic and international precepts in theory recognise this. This then allows us to call on the strength of both traditions in support of displaced people.

This FMR supplement is being published in English and Arabic and is available online at: www.fmreview.org/human-rights

FMR issue 39 on 'North Africa and displacement 2011-2012', published in English, Arabic and French, can be found online at: www.fmreview.org/north-africa