Barack Obama ticks off Middle East on human rights

US President Barack Obama says governments across the Middle East that make a “commitment to justice and human rights” will continue to have a friend in America.

Mr Obama also noted the ongoing strife shaking the Mideast in the years following the 2011 Arab Spring.

Mr Obama said: “As we’ve seen in the tumult across the Middle East and North Africa, when governments do not lift up their citizens, it’s a recipe for instability and strife.”

Yet since the 2011 Arab Spring began, turmoil grips large sections of the Middle East, including portions of Iraq and Syria under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

Mr Obama made the comments in a video address shown Monday at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

World leaders are gathered in this city-state in the United Arab Emirates for several days of talks about the future of governance.

Other world leaders also called for governments to be responsive to and inclusive of their citizens, especially as the unrest of the Arab Spring still reverberates across the Middle East.

Those gathered for the summit offered no immediate solutions to the crises gripping the region, like low global oil prices, global warming and the rise of violent extremism. But all acknowledged that keeping government responsive to its citizens remains crucial.

Governments across the region that rely on global oil sales have begun cutting their spending as crude prices now stand around $30 a barrel, down from $107 over the last 19 months.