Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam

Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
SignedAugust 5, 1990 (1990-08-05)
LocationCairo
Signatories45 OIC members
LanguageArabic
Full text
Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam at Wikisource

The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) is a declaration of the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) first adopted in Cairo, Egypt, on 5 August 1990, (Conference of Foreign Ministers, 9–14 Muharram 1411H in the Islamic calendar), and later revised and adopted on 28 November 2020. It provides an overview on the Islamic perspective on human rights. The 1990 version affirms Islamic sharia as its sole source, whereas the 2020 version does not specifically invoke sharia.

The CDHRI declares its purpose to be "general guidance for Member States [of the OIC] in the field of human rights". This declaration is widely acknowledged as an Islamic response to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948. It guarantees some, but not all, of the UDHR and serves as a living document of human rights guidelines prescribed for all members of the OIC to follow, but restricts them explicitly to the limits set by the sharia. Because of this limit, the CDHRI has been criticized as an attempt to shield OIC member states from international criticism for human rights violations, as well as for failing to guarantee freedom of religion, justifying corporal punishment and allowing discrimination against non-Muslims and women.