Human rights in the Middle East have been shaped by the legal and political development of international human rights law after the Second World War, and their application to the Middle East. The 2004 United Nations Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) claimed that although Arab-Islamic tradition does hold unique importance for ideas of human welfare, history has proven that "they were not sufficiently prevalent in society to foster a culture based on a political contract, and allow for the legitimacy of differences of opinion, dialogue and transfer of power." Issues of the validity of democracy in the region and human rights are at the very centre of the challenges facing Middle Eastern society today.
Legal framework
International obligations In 1948 Egypt, Iran and Pakistan signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Saudi Arabia did not, arguing that it "failed to take into consideration the cultural and religious context of non-Western countries."
The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam was adopted by 45 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in August 1990. This declaration undermines many of the rights the UDHR guarantees allowing all the member states to abide by a set of human rights based on Shari'a law. For example, Article 18 of the UDHR establishes that everyone has the "right to freedom of religion, freedom to change his religion and freedom to manifest his religion in teaching, practice, worship and observance". Article 10 of the CDHRI establishes that "It is prohibited to exercise any form of compulsion on man or to exploit his poverty or ignorance in order to convert him to another religion or to atheism."
The Arab Human Rights Committee was established in 2009 to oversee compliance with the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which entered into force in March 2017. As of the beginning of October 2009, ten Arab states ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights. These are: Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. As of February 2012, another four States ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights. These were: Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Sudan. The Charter creates a process through which the committee receives and reviews state reports and makes recommendations as appropriate. The Charter does not provide for a complaints mechanism.
The committee has had three sessions, during which it has been focusing on "procedural aspects of organising its work".
Human rights issues
Capital punishment
In regards to capital punishment the countries of the region can be separated into two categories: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Israel and Mauritania are considered "abolitionist in practice". Aside from Israel, all of the above countries maintain the death penalty for serious crimes such as drug-related offences and murder, however no executions have been carried out in a long time. The last Israeli execution was carried out in 1962 as they have retained capital punishment not for ordinary crimes but purely exceptional circumstances. In March 2026, Israel enacted a law mandating the death penalty for terrorism-related murder convictions in specified cases, a departure from this decades-long moratorium.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/30/israel-passes-law-death-penalty-palestinian-convicted-terrorists The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) petitioned the Supreme Court the same day to have the law struck down, arguing it is unconstitutional and discriminatory.https://www.english.acri.org.il/post/abolish-the-death-penalty-law All other countries in the Middle East execute prisoners for crimes including "ordinary crimes". In the de facto autonomous Rojava federation in Syria, formed during the Syrian Civil War, capital punishment has been abolished. The death penalty has proven difficult to eradicate in the Middle East due largely to many countries’ legal systems being based around religion, which is more “resistant to change than systems based solely on legislation”. In most countries in the Middle Eastern region, the legal system is largely based primarily on Shari'a. However, Israel's legal system has different sources. In criminal law determined by Shari'a, most crimes classified as Hudud are punishable by death and are considered dangerous for Islamic society. Their punishments are fixed in the Quran and the Hadith. They include adultery, apostasy, armed robbery and rebellion. In 2012, Iran cemented its lead position in the region with two executions per day and Iran continues to execute juvenile prisoners despite its international obligations. According to studies undertaken by Amnesty International in 2015, at least 1,196 executions were carried out in eight Middle Eastern countries – “a rise of 26% from the 945 executions recorded in eight countries in 2014”. “Iran alone accounted for 82% of all recorded executions in the region and Saudi Arabia executed at least 158 people – a 76% increase on 2014 and the highest number recorded for Saudi Arabia since 1995”.
Capital punishment represents the most dramatic clash between a ‘UN-sponsored’ human rights concept and Shari'a law. Shari'a establishes the death penalty as mandatory punishment for a number of Hudud crimes. “Moreover, some execution methods envisaged in the holy texts, such as flogging, stoning and amputation, violate international conventions that prohibit torture and cruel and inhuman treatments.” The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aimed at abolishing the death penalty, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989. Article 1 of the Protocol states that all the Protocol's Parties shall refrain from carrying out executions and shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within their jurisdiction. None of the countries in the Middle Eastern region have ratified this protocol, although most have signed and ratified the ICCPR.
Freedom of religion
In Egypt, the Constitutional Declaration of March 2011 and the new constitution ratified on December 22, 2011 provide for some freedom of religion, but certain constitutional provisions, laws, and government policies and practices limit that freedom.
In Saudi Arabia, freedom of religion is neither recognized nor protected under the law. Sunni Islam is the official religion according to the 1992 Basic Law and the Qur'an and the Sunna are Saudi Arabia's constitution. Besides mosques, there are also no churches or other places of worship in Saudi Arabia. It is the only country in the world to ban them.
Kuwait's Constitution allows for religious freedom however this is not often put into practice. The government generally enforces the restrictions on freedom of religion established by other laws and policies. Sharia (Islamic law) is the core source of legislation and Islam is the state religion. Both Iraq and Lebanon's governments generally respect religious freedom. It is protected in the constitution and various other laws. In Lebanon “The constitution declares equality of rights and duties for all citizens without discrimination or preference but establishes a balance of power among the major religious groups.” In Iraq, Islam is considered the official religion. The constitution instructs that Islam be considered the main source of legislation, and declares that no law may be enacted that contradicts the “established provisions of Islam.”
The Constitution of Rojava, the de facto autonomous Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava in Syria formed during the Syrian Civil War, guarantees freedom of religion.
Freedom of speech Free speech has been largely censored in the Middle East for years, by the means of suppression/removal of online content, spying of dissidents, activists, or journalists, critical of their government, and arbitrary detention. In January 2021, among several governments, governments of Middle Eastern countries were called out for misusing the protection guideline for public health to suppress free speech and activism in the region. The countries included Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, UAE, and Tunisia. According to media reports of a massive expose into the use of Israeli spyware technology by authoritarian regimes, the list of governmental clients of the NSO Group’s Pegasus software included a number of Middle East nations such as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Reportedly, human rights activists, lawyers, and journalists were globally targeted with the phone malware application sold to these governments. A list of more than 50,000 phone numbers belonging to the people of interest to the client(s) of the company was found on the software. The NSO Group denied any wrongdoing in the case. The malicious software was said to have infected the targeted mobile phones with Android or Apple operating systems, to extract personal user data such as photos, messages, emails, call records, and allowed the secret activation of cameras and microphones of the device for real-time spying. Allegedly, the devices of the people close to the assassinated Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, including his fiancée, were also targeted via the software.
Status of women
Employment Women throughout the Middle East earn less than men although there are labour laws in place that dictate equal opportunities for promotion and training and equal pay for the same type of work. These labour laws are frequently violated in regards to not only salary but also benefits such as loans for senior officials or housing allowances. Women in most countries throughout the Middle East can file complaints of discrimination with government agencies but these are often ineffective due to their inability to effectively investigate discrimination cases or impose penalties for employers who violate the labour laws.
In many countries in the region, labour laws prohibit women from undertaking arduous or dangerous work, or work which could be deemed “detrimental to their health or morals”. Women are prohibited from working at night, with the exception of those employed in medicine and a few other fields. Although these provisions are seen locally as a means of protecting women, in effect they “treat women as minors who are unable to make decisions regarding their own safety and hold women’s guardians responsible if the rules are violated.”.
Driving Women in Saudi Arabia were not allowed to drive, even if they had a licence from another country. Many women were fined or jailed for defying these bans. This was changed in 2017 when women were allowed to apply for a Saudi licence.
Education
Education has been an important area of advancement for women in the region, and is a significant path for their advancement toward wider equality. Since the 1990s, women in the region have made advances in access to literacy, education, university enrolment, and the range of subjects of study available to them. In Saudi Arabia, for example, three educational institutions started to permit women to study law in 2007. However, they remain prohibited from serving as lawyers and judges in court and are only allowed to act as legal consultants to other women. Despite these improvements, there are still many barriers to gender equality in education. In majority countries studied, universities largely remain segregated by gender. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the number and diversity of classes offered to men are much greater than those available to women.
Domestic abuse