PeaceInTheStreets is a body of work aimed at advancing human rights, more often than not using arguments based in international law.

I have noticed over the years that in more comfortable contexts, the subject of human rights can attract a degree of eye-rolling, while international law is largely viewed as impossible to implement in the face of realpolitik, or worse, an infringement on national sovereignty. However, for the less fortunate, in places where even the most basic human rights are not fulfilled, international law is appealed to as a means of betterment and sometimes as a means of defense.

Article 1 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted by the United Nations in 1948) begins, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. This is obviously not true. It an ideal, and that is what human rights are: a set of ideals. The Article goes on to state that humans are “endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”. Again, this is idealistic, but when this is not the case, I believe international law can come in and help guide us.

The articles published on this site so far pertain to the Middle East, in particular, Iraq, Israel-Palestine and Syria. These are three contexts in which human rights are of acute importance and the would-be application of international law, in my opinion, is paramount. Of course, there are many other places in the world for which the same can be said. It is my belief that some of the lessons learnt from the Middle East can be applied to these other places and vise versa.

Apart from highlighting human rights issues and the associated international law, one of the main purposes of PeaceInTheStreets is to give a voice-to-the-voiceless in the face of hegemony, whether it be the West as a ‘moral’ superpower, Israel as an occupying force, the region’s leaders, Arab nationalism as a form of imperialism, or Middle Eastern society with regards women’s rights. These are just some subjects that I have addressed so far and I hope my work goes some way to help diminish the trope that the woes of the Middle East are solely down to the local culture.