Human Rights in the Six Arab States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (‘GCC’): From Vision to Reality

This paper explores the extent to which the hypothesis of a ‘human rights trend’ in the six Gulf Arab States is valid. In order to do this, firstly, it examines these States’ attitude to international human rights instruments. Secondly, drawing from their ‘Visions’ for the future, it identifies examples of reforms, local policies and ‘best practices’. The paper draws from various examples, focusing however on Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The paper makes two main submissions. It submits that there is indeed a ‘shift’ towards a model of better human rights compliance, yet this trend is detectable in these States’ local policies, and not in their international commitments. The paper concludes that in order to achieve sustainable economic growth and meaningful collaboration with other States at the global level, it is in the interest of those States’ and their future generations to take human rights seriously.