Human rights in Muslim-majority countries

Human rights in Muslim-majority countries have been a subject of controversy for many decades. International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) such as Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) consistently find human rights violations in Muslim-majority countries. Amongst the human rights issues that are frequently under the spotlight are LGBT rights, the right to consensual sex outside of marriage, freedom of speech and political opinion.^[1] The issue of women's rights is also the subject of fierce debate.^[1]

When the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, Saudi Arabia refused to sign it as they were of the view that sharia law had already set out the rights of men and women,^[1] and that to sign the UDHR would be unnecessary.^[2] The adoption of the UDHR started a debate on human rights in the Islamic world. Following years of deliberation, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) adopted the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam.