The GCC Human Rights Declaration: An Instrument of Rhetoric?

Abstract

Despite being promulgated in 2014 by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Gulf Declaration of Human Rights (GDHR) has received little academic attention. Khalifa Alfadhel is one scholar who has sought to engage with the declaration, citing it as a significant regional document worthy of commendation due to its reconciliation of both Islamic and international notions of human rights, a feat other comparable regional human rights documents have yet to achieve. Furthermore, Alfadhel praises the GDHR as it embodies the GCC's commitment to human rights and political reform, with the GDHR supplying the foundation for a regional customary law regime. This article questions such claims, arguing that Alfadhel has overlooked unambiguous flaws that contradict the GDHR's alleged regional promotion of human rights, ultimately undermining its supposed significance. Certainly, this article highlights how the GDHR is a rhetorical document that intrinsically negates the same rights it purports to protect. Keywords