This thesis is an analytical study of the League of Arab States regional human rights system. It involves an examination of the League's concept of human rights as represented in the League's two draft instruments - the draft Arab Declaration of Human Rights and the draft Arab Convention on Human Rights - as well as its machinery of implementation as represented in the Permanent Arab Commission on Human Rights. Our analysis of the League's human rights is conducted in the light of the political, cultural and ideological factors prevailing in the Arab world. The League's failure to establish an effective regional human rights system is due largely to its inherent limitations and to the constant negative attitudes of Arab States toward human rights protection. Unless some drastic changes in these determinate factors take place, the situation is likely to remain the same in years to come. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate