Volume 19, Issue 1

The debate on Islam and human rights is roughly 50 years old. During this time a vast literature has been produced analyzing the relationship between the religion of Islam, Muslims societies and international human rights norms. What have we learned during this time that can further an understanding of this topic among students, scholars and members of the general public? What analytical framework is optimal? Is the crisis of human rights in Muslims societies a function of internal conditions, external factors or are they to be located within the framework of Islamic doctrine, traditions, the shariah in particular? This article grapples with these questions by looking back over the past five decades. The objective of this essay is to advance an objective framework of analysis for understanding the debate on Islam and human rights. A historical and comparative approach is adopted. Key moments that have shaped the debate on Islam and human rights are recalled. Significant political developments that have shaped the contours of the debate are examined such as the legacy of colonialism, the rise of political Islam, the role of Western policy and the failure of the post-colonial state in the Arab-Islamic world. The contributions of influential scholars and activists who have advanced the struggle for human rights in Muslims societies are also recognized in this article.

In most countries where Islam is acknowledged as a, or the , source of legislation, abortion is permitted under certain conditions and at certain stages of pregnancy. This article examines some of these laws and argue that they represent a continuation of the logic that governed the views of pre-modern Muslim jurists on abortion, that is, harm aversion. However, these laws also add a ‘modernist’ twist to that logic – rather than repealing that logic altogether, modernist views on ‘rights’ and the advancement of medical knowledge and technology have influenced the priorities of Muslim jurists and lawmakers as far as abortion and the issues associated with it are concerned. This influence has furthermore been possible by a conscious selection and blending of pre-modern views to serve modern concerns. In all this, however, harm aversion remains the centrifugal principle, even when the abortion discourse in Muslim countries appears couched in the modernist discourse of rights.

This article examines resistance discourses created and disseminated by a religious minority in Indonesia called Gerakan Ahmadiyah Indonesia (GAI) to counter any negative portrayals and religious-based discriminations. Ahmadiyah is a self-defined sect of Islam that has been the target of physical attacks and discursive discrimination in Indonesia. This analysis focuses on identifying discourse topics raised and strategies employed by one of the Ahmadiyya groups in the country called GAI to reveal their resistance and defend their ‘Islamic’ faith. Various texts produced in different genres namely statements and comments published in media, books, speeches and various articles published online in GAI’s official websites are used as the data which were collected during field research in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The analysis found that, in order to counter discriminatory discourses, the GAI Ahmadis present various resistance discourse themes such as distinguishing themselves from Jemaat Ahmadiyah Indonesia , justifying their Islamic understanding by highlighting religious freedom discourse, including themselves as Muslims and presenting themselves as peaceful movement.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR), established in 2006, has been hailed as an innovative mechanism of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. The peer review mechanism assesses the human rights records of all UN Member States and provides recommendations to further the global promotion and protection of human rights. This article provides an analysis of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s third UPR in 2018 with a specific focus on the State’s use of capital punishment. It explores the challenges faced by the UPR and issues recommendations to foster meaningful discourse, in the international community, to protect the right to life and engender change at the domestic level.

How are the human rights pertaining to the freedom of conscience/religion, health, and distinct culture intersect in the context of a global pandemic in the Muslim-minority areas? How do Russia’s Muslims make sense of the challenges to those rights caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic? In this paper, I focus on diverse Muslim Tatar communities, primarily of the Middle Volga region, who have recently witnessed numerous political and socioeconomic challenges infringing on their human rights. Attending on the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, in this paper I gauge the nature of human rights in the areas of health and religion by interrogating how the general Muslim publics and elites understand, justify, and explain those challenges in an environment of creeping authoritarianism. I call for a conceptual shift from the elite-driven traditional security perspectives to those of human rights as quotidian/everyday experiences while considering these vital issues. I use the Tatar-language Internet forums for the empirical analysis, offering and delineating the discursive repertoires and categorizing the areas of public concern in the new pandemic world.

The chaos and confusion that accompany war, disaster, and international migration separate families when they need each other most. The Red Cross and Red Crescent join the search across international borders, offering a unique service that allows families to reconnect. This paper examines the role of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and specifically their Restoring Family Links (RFL) program in the search for missing migrants. Based on interviews with the RFL program’s officers and those individuals who have been reconnected with their missing family members, this paper evaluates the results and implications of the RFL program model, draws out lessons and insights (local, regional, or global), and makes policy recommendations. Also, by sharing migrants’ experiences and insights, it aims to raise awareness of the less well-known legal, economic, and social consequences of the displacement crises.