Will the Arab World Overcome the Problems it Faces?

By Henry Srebrnik, [Calgary] Jewish Free Press

In 2009, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) published The Arab Human Development Report: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries.

The report listed seven dimensions of the threat to human security in the Arab World: “people and their insecure environment”; “the state and its insecure people”; “the vulnerability of those lost from sight”; “volatile growth, high unemployment and persisting poverty”; “hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity”; “health security challenges”; and “occupation and military intervention.”

Ten years later, things are, if anything, worse. The Arab world faces a host of threats including political instability, economic stagnation, a rise in sectarianism, proxy wars and foreign intervention, and, especially since 2011, huge increases in refugee flows.

Unstable states collapsed one after the other; Libya has fallen apart, Syria has been pulverized, and the same goes for Yemen and Iraq.

Weakened states have provided the opportunity for non-state actors to entrench themselves, huge demographic shifts have occurred as ethnic groups consolidate, and ethnic and religious groups that were long suppressed have been reawakened to national aspirations.

The lack of accountability throughout the region has meant that governments have had free rein to imprison peaceful critics, restrict the activities of civil society or use arbitrary arrest, detention and excessive use of force against protesters demanding their rights. Thousands have been victims of relentless government violations. 

Egypt is still suffering from the consequences of its 2011 upheaval, as stifling repression prevents political progress, suppresses tourism, fuels insurgency, and drives popular discontent.

It has been moving to execute detainees, with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi himself apparently backing this spike in death sentences in 2019.

Recently Sisi lectured his critics, including European leaders, at an Arab-European Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, suggesting that executing detainees is part of “our humanity.”

Two factors have added to the strains in the Middle East. First, there has been a massive youth bulge in the Arab world. A large share of the population is comprised of children and young adults. 

Typically, these young adults are seeking employment opportunities thus creating intense competition on the job market.

Second, there has been rapid urbanization. The Middle East today is the second most urbanized region in the world. Overcrowding in megacities has put a strain on infrastructure and services.

Increases in population have led to severe environmental problems like desertification and overgrazing. This has led to conflict and threats of conflict between states over water rights.

The refugee crisis threatens even more long-term damage to the region’s development. The humanitarian situation in Syria remains volatile. The persecution of human rights defenders in both government and rebel-controlled areas remains endemic.

Arab women enjoy the least political participation. This is because of a deeply entrenched patriarchal society, discriminatory laws, chauvinistic male peers, and the conservative and tradition-minded nature of the Arab world.

Many women remain victims of legalized discrimination, social subordination, and enshrined male dominance. Abused women rarely attempt to file complaints with police and when they do they frequently encounter officers who are reluctant to get involved in what is perceived as a family matter.

In Saudi Arabia, until last year, women could not drive. Bahraini women do not have the right to initiate divorce. The curricula taught in Arab countries seems to encourage subordination and compliance, rather than free critical thinking.

More recent reports indicate that human security in the Arab word has sharply deteriorated. The 2010-11 uprisings known as the “Arab Spring” were therefore not an isolated and short-term phenomenon but rather a culmination of decades-long agitation for human and democratic rights and social and economic justice in the region.

The years since the Arab uprisings have seen an increase in repression across the Arab world, as leaders face further challenges.

Even relatively successful states, such as Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia, are grappling with massive economic problems, discontented youth, and unstable neighbors. In almost every country, the economic and political problems that drove the region toward popular uprising in 2011 are more intense today than they were seven years ago. 

Arab leaders must bring an end to the widespread repression that has become a hallmark of governments in the region, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, recently stated. 

“As a first step, they should commit to releasing all prisoners of conscience who have been imprisoned solely for expressing their peaceful opinions and ending their crackdowns on protesters.”

However. the international community’s engagement on human rights in the Arab world, never particularly strong or consistent, has also changed significantly since 2011. 

A sense that the Arab revolutions failed, along with fear of migration and terrorism emanating from the region, have all corroded the willingness of Western leaders to confront these issues.