The Global RIghts Project (GRIP) is led by an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students from the University of Rhode Island Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies and the Department of Political Science. GRIP draws upon the “world’s largest quantitative human rights database” to create an annual report on global human rights practices. More from the GRIP website:
The GRIP annual report grades each nation of the world according to its respect for a suite of 25 representative human rights. Measures for each right are drawn from the CIRIGHTS Data Project*, which aims to measure every human right in every country on an ongoing basis. The [2023] report found that 60% of the world’s countries get an ‘F’ (a score of 0-59) for their human rights practices, while only about 20% of countries receive a grade of ‘A’ or ‘B’ (a score of 80-100). The global median score was 50.” - The Global RIghts Project: Creating an annual human rights report card for all countries of the world. Accessed May 28, 2024
Here are the 25 human rights practices that are measured by GRIP:
So did any countries in the Middle East pass the human rights test? No, and that includes Israel:
Ok, so they all got F’s. Then again, there’s flunking and then there’s really flunking. Israel’s human rights score of 40 is bad, but it’s a whole lot better than Iran’s 0 and Syria’s 6.
How does this information help lay the groundwork for an Israel-Palestinian Peace Plan?
If the land currently known as Israel were taken over by Hamas and its allies, the human rights situation there would take a huge plunge. Consider this snippet from a 2021 Hamas-produced document discussing plans for a post-Israel Palestine:
In dealing with the Jewish settlers on Palestinian land, there must be a distinction in attitude towards [the following]: a fighter who must be killed; a [Jew] who is fleeing and can be left alone or be prosecuted for his crimes in the judicial arena; and a peaceful individual who gives himself up and can be [either] integrated or given time to leave...Educated Jews and experts in the areas of medicine, engineering, technology, and civilian and military industry should be retained [in Palestine] for some time and should not be allowed to leave..." The Middle East Media Research Institute , October 4, 2021
I’m guessing a Hamas-run Palestine would rate a GRIP score of ‘0’ on their human rights scorecard. Nope, that’s not what I want for either the current residents of Israel or the hypothetical residents of a future State of Palestine. A peace plan should not allow this possibility.
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References
Global Rights Project, 2023 Annual Report: Trends in human rights practices worldwide. Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, University of Rhode Island. https://web.uri.edu/artsci/wp-content/uploads/sites/1132/2023-Human-Rights-report-PDF-Final.pdf
Mark, Skip and Cingranelli, David and Filippov, Mikhail and Richards, David L., The CIRIGHTS Data Project Scoring Manual V2.11.06.23 (November 6, 2023). https://cirights.com/
“The Global RIghts Project: Creating an annual human rights report card for all countries of the world.” https://web.uri.edu/artsci/global-rights-project-annual-report/
“The September 30, 2021 ‘Promise of the Hereafter – Post-Liberation Palestine’ conference, sponsored by Hamas leader in Gaza Yahyah Al-Sinwar and attended by senior officials from Hamas and other Palestinian factions, discussed preparations for the future administration of the state of Palestine following its "liberation" from Israel after the latter ‘disappears’..” The Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch No. 9575, October 4, 2021 https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-sponsored-promise-hereafter-conference-phase-following-liberation-palestine-and