Only half of the publics in Tunisia, Iraq, Palestine and Yemen view the human rights conditions in their countries positively. Yet representative surveys in all four countries show that public perception of human rights conditions is strongly correlated with public trust in security services and the justice system. Clearly, those who care about state building in these countries need to care just as much about human rights. But do they?
Four Arab research centers recently issued a report on public perception of security sector reform and the justice system in their countries. This policy research aims to determine the level of progress achieved in security sector reform in the Arab world, as well as the standing of the security services and the justice systems. Part of the research was aimed particularly at diagnosing strengths and weaknesses in performance of these systems.
