Arab Charter on Human Rights, 2004

The Boston University International Law Journal is publishing, for the first time, an English version of the 2004 Arab Charter on Human Rights. A very brief review of how the 2004 Arab Charter came into being introduces this English translation. The drafting history of the Arab Charter on Human Rights begins in 1960. In that year, members of the Union of Arab Lawyers (the oldest NGO in the Arab world) requested the League of Arab States (created in 1945) during their meeting in Damascus to adopt an Arab Convention on Human Rights. Eight years later, participants in the first meeting for Human Rights in the Arab world held in Beirut, asked the Arab Commission on Human Rights to prepare an Arab Charter on Human Rights. In 1994, the League of Arab States adopted the first version of the Arab Charter on Human Rights at its 50th anniversary. The adoption of the Charter symbolized the importance of respect for human rights both to the Arab world and the League. The League’s adoption of the Arab