By NNN-KUNA
Cairo : The Human Rights Charter, which was approved at the 2004 Arab Summit in Tunis will be valid soon, said head of the Arab League's Human Rights Office, Ambassador Mahmoud Rashed Ghaleb.
Ghaleb, who was speaking to reporters Sunday, said seven countries had already endorsed the draft by lodging the necessary paperwork in this connection.
"Kuwait and Yemen have informed the Arab League that they were in the process of completing the endorsement formalities," the ambassador said and cited Syria, Algeria, Jordan, Bahrain and Libya as having fully endorsed the draft.
He said up to 12 countries had originally signed the draft, which was the first Arab human rights document entering into validity.
As a result of the charter, a mechanism will be laid down for monitoring its implementation by a committee dubbed the "Arab Human Rights Committee." The committee is to include independent experts in the human rights field who would be elected through a secret ballot.
The ambassador stressed that the new charter was approved by regional and international authorities.
He added that the new charter "reflects the old charter, which was endorsed by Arab foreign ministers in 1994." Several Arab states had reservations on the old charter, and thus it was amended during the 2004 Arab Summit.
The new version is a comprehensive document dealing with civil, economic and social issues and it includes human rights that were overlooked in other regional versions, including the rights of people with special needs and the right to live in a clean environment, as well as the right to employment opportunities.
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