History was made on 10 December 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris. The declaration promised, amongst many other things, equal rights and equal treatment for all humans, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, or any other factors. However, it was not met without criticism. A large part of this criticism was from various Muslim countries. The Iranian representative to the U.N., Said Rajaie-Khorassani, said that the “UN Declaration was a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition” (Mullerat 161) and could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing Islamic law. Subsequently, they took it upon themselves to create the Cairo Declaration in 1990.
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I believe it is more of a deletion to the UDHR. For example, Article 1 of the UDHR states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” (United Nations General Assembly 1948) However, the Cairo Declaration states that “All men are equal in terms of basic human dignity and basic obligations and responsibilities,” (Organization of the Islamic Conference 1990) but nowhere in the article does it state that they have equal rights. Another example that is hard to miss revolves around Article 10 of the Cairo Declaration. It states that “Islam is the religion of unspoiled nature. 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.” (Organization of the Islamic Conference 1990) On the contrary, the UDHR states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” (United Nations General Assembly 1948) In addition to these rights being subtly removed from the UDHR, the Cairo Declaration makes extensive use of the Sharia, which is the Islamic code of law, in its articles, as well as utilizing it as a moral compass of sorts. In my opinion, the
I believe it is more of a deletion to the UDHR. For example, Article 1 of the UDHR states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” (United Nations General Assembly 1948) However, the Cairo Declaration states that “All men are equal in terms of basic human dignity and basic obligations and responsibilities,” (Organization of the Islamic Conference 1990) but nowhere in the article does it state that they have equal rights. Another example that is hard to miss revolves around Article 10 of the Cairo Declaration. It states that “Islam is the religion of unspoiled nature. 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.” (Organization of the Islamic Conference 1990) On the contrary, the UDHR states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” (United Nations General Assembly 1948) In addition to these rights being subtly removed from the UDHR, the Cairo Declaration makes extensive use of the Sharia, which is the Islamic code of law, in its articles, as well as utilizing it as a moral compass of sorts. In my opinion, the