MIDDLE EAST: There have been no significant advances towards democracy in the Arab world in the past year, according to the authors of a long-awaited and toughly worded UN report published yesterday. They blame political rather than cultural or ethnic reasons for the absence of democracy.
The third Arab Human Development Report surveys political developments in the Arab world and recommends a rapid acceleration of the pace of democratic reform. "Why, among all the regions of the world, do Arabs enjoy the least freedom?" its authors ask.
The document, entitled The Time Has Come: A Call for Freedom and Good Governance in the Arab World, was issued under the aegis of the UN Development Programme. The report's independent Arab authors argue that the answer is political rather than cultural. They cite the prolonged imposition of emergency powers by governments, the co-option of courts and parliaments by rulers, and the "double standard" adopted by foreign powers to accept or condone authoritarianism to ensure stability and secure oil supplies.
The concentration of power in the hands of kings, civilian presidents or military dictators has, argue the authors, created a 'black hole' at the core of Arab political life. Such regimes, reinforced by corruption and "clannism", dominate the entire environment and encourage passivity and obedience.
They say that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories violates the personal and public freedoms of Palestinians through extrajudicial assassinations, military operations against cites and towns, random arrests, house demolitions and closures.
"This has pushed many people in the region to lose hope of obtaining justice from global governance and could exacerbate a tendency toward extremism," says the report.
Occupation, the authors argue, is used as a pretext by Arab regimes to evade reform. It strengthens "extremist groups as violent as the occupiers . . . narrowing opportunities to achieve greater freedom in the Arab public sphere and stifling emerging reform initiatives."
The authors charge the US with failing to meet its Geneva Convention obligation to provide security for Iraqis.
"After dismantling the old state, the US-led authorities made little progress in building a new one," they assert.
They castigate the absence of "peaceful and effective mechanisms to address injustice and achieve political [ transformation]" and say this could lead to violent protest and the "transfer of power through violence" producing undemocratic successor regimes.
The report states: "The 'war on terror' has cut into many Arab freedoms . . . An unfortunate byproduct in some countries has been that Arabs are increasingly the victims of stereotyping, disproportionately harassed or detained without cause."
The authors argue that "disaster can be averted" if there is "an historic, peaceful and deep process of negotiated political [ change]" which results in "a redistribution of power within Arab societies, restoring sovereignty to its rightful owners, the vast majority of people in the Arab world."
The first of four planned reports identified deficits in knowledge, freedom, governance and treatment of women.
The second called for greater investment in education and research, press freedoms and opening to other nations.