CAIRO: The 54th session of the Arab Permanent Human Rights Committee (AHRC), the main committee within the human rights system, will be held on Monday. The meeting will be chaired by Kuwait, with participation from relevant government entities of member states and other concerned parties within the Arab joint action framework. The Arab League’s Assistant Secretary General for Social Affairs, Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, underlined Sunday that confronting severe violations by the Zionist forces in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip and the detention of martyrs’ bodies, remains a top priority for the committee.
Abu Ghazaleh mentioned that the committee is committed to protecting fundamental human values by countering alien concepts introduced into Arab society, including addressing the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution on intersex people from its 55th session based on a proposal from Qatar. Additionally, she noted that AHRC will follow up on the outcomes of the Arab Summit in Bahrain regarding the right to health and education during armed conflicts, based on a proposal from Bahrain.
The three-day session will also decide on the theme for Arab Human Rights Day 2025 and will explore "Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human Rights,” focusing on the ethical guidelines for AI and ways to tackle the challenges this modern technology poses to the optimal enjoyment of human rights. The recommendations from the 54th session will be submitted to the next 162 session of the Council of the Arab League at the ministerial level for approval in September 2024.
Iraq fumes Zionist flag
Meanwhile, the head of Iraq’s delegation said Olympic chiefs had rejected their request not to display Zionist flag next to Iraq’s during the Paris Games. Iraq’s men’s football team beat Ukraine 2-1 on Wednesday in Lyon and lost 3-1 to Argentina on Saturday. "When we arrived at Lyon Stadium (Wednesday), we found the Iraqi flag displayed next to the Zionist flag,” despite Zionist team not having any matches in Lyon, Herda Raouf told AFP.
Raouf, whose country does not recognize the Zionist state and supports the Palestinian cause, added that his delegation had asked a representative of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) "to relocate or remove the Zionist flag,” but their wish was denied. The committee’s representative argued, according to Raouf, that the "flags of all participating countries in the men’s and women’s football games needed to be displayed in alphabetical order”.
Raouf added that his delegation sent a formal protest by email to the IOC with the same demand before the game with Argentina, but the request was once again rejected. French security forces identified the Ukraine-Iraq and (Zionist entity)-Mali football matches on Wednesday as high-risk events. Around 1,000 French police officers were on duty to provide security at game against Mali, at which fans flew Palestinian and Zionist flags. The Palestine Olympic Committee wrote to the IOC last week asking for a ban on Zionist athletes at the Paris Olympics over the war in Gaza, which was rejected. Following a 1-1 draw with Mali, Zionist team are in action against Paraguay on Saturday in Paris. — AFP