The report cited six Arab countries, without naming them, for strictly banning political parties. Other Arab countries restrict political activities and civic organisations. The imposition for security reasons of emergency law has become a pretext to suspend basic rights.

'The civil state ruled by laws that respect human rights is the best guarantor of human security,' said Madawi al-Rasheed, a professor of religious anthropology at London's Kings College.

The report called for the protection of the environment in Arab regions where desertification is threatening roughly one-fifth of the entire region and its population of 330 million.

It called for safeguarding women's rights, tackling poverty and ending hunger, and boosting public health.

The report called for ending military occupation, armed conflict, and military intervention, events which resulted in human suffering and destruction of economic development. Violent conflict has forced over 17 million people in the Arab region to become refugees.

The report called for a more diversified economy in the Arab region because countries there are exposed to the fluctuations of oil prices. Oil accounts for 70 per cent of the region's exports to the world.

The unemployment rate in Arab states stood at 14.4 percent compared with the world's average of 6.3 percent, the report said. It said Arab countries need to create 50 million jobs by 2020 to accommodate the growing workforce as a result of increased population, which is expected to be 385 million by 2015, from the current 330 million.