PART I: PROBLEMS WITH THE CURRENT FRAMEWORKS Framing the Human Rights Discourse: The Role of Natural Localism and the Power of Paradigm; L.Davidson Islam and Human Rights: Ideals and Practices; M.Dorraj Human Rights through the Lens of Legal Thought; H.Rane Defamation of Religious and Incitement to Religious Hatred in International Human Rights; T.Kayaoglu PART II: COMMON GOALS AND CASE STUDIES Human Rights and the Kurdish Question in the Middle East; N.Entessar The Janus Nature of Human Rights in Iran: Limited Progress on Human Rights since the Revolution; B.Rieffer-Flanagan From Omission to Reluctant Recognition: Political Parties' Approach to Women's Rights in Turkey; Z.F.K.Arat Minority Rights and Marginalized Communities in the Middle East; M.Monshipouri & J. Whooley Sexual Rights, the Muslim World, and Why Pushing the Envelope is Essential to Human Rights Global Resonance; A.T.Chase PART III: STRATEGIES Which Strategies to Improve Human Rights in the Arab World?; B.E.Hassan Shrinking Islamist-Secular Divides on Human Rights in the Post-September 11 Era; S.Mokhtari Migrant Workers and Their Rights in the United Arab Emirates; M.Monshipouri & A.Assareh Health and Human Rights in Palestine: The Siege and Invasion of Gaza and the Role of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement; J.Ghannam