News

Ladies European Tour community should #StandWithSaudiHeroes

MENA Rights Group and 18 NGOs are urging organisers, participants and sponsors of the Ladies European Tour, which will hold its first golf tournament in Saudi Arabia in November, to reconsider their participation and denounce human rights violations against women in the Kingdom.

ALQST and MENA Rights Group urge Saudi authorities to heed UN chief’s call to end intimidation and reprisals

  A new report by the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) records “multiple allegations” of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, torture and harassment by the Saudi authorities targeting individuals for cooperating, or seeking to cooperate, with the United Nations. It gives details on 11 individual cases – three women and eight men – and refers to others not being […]

NGO coalition welcomes step towards ending enforced disappearances in Africa

An NGO coalition comprising the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL), MENA Rights Group, REDRESS and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) welcome a resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) calling for guidelines aimed at ending enforced disappearances in Africa. In Resolution […]

NGOs denounce Saudi Arabia’s human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council’s 45th session

On September 24th, during the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council, ALQST, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), MENA Rights Group, and the Right Livelihood Foundation delivered a statement denouncing Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record. In particular, we condemned the arbitrary detention of Right Livelihood Laureates Mohammed al-Qahtani and […]

MENA Rights Group joins several NGOs calling on mayors to withdraw from Saudi Arabia’s Urban 20 mayors summit

Sent to: Berlin Mayor Michael Müller Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner London Mayor Sadiq Khan Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi September 18, 2020 Dear Mayor, We are a global coalition of human […]

Algeria: Arbitrary detention of journalist Khaled Drareni another blow to democratic transition, discrediting the Presidency’s promise of reform

The undersigned civil society groups are alarmed at the continued and escalating attacks on civic space in Algeria and call on the government to end their crackdown on journalistic and other public freedoms. Despite President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announcing his desire to break with previous repressive practices, freedom of expression especially has come under severe attack since March 2020, with several journalists facing arbitrary arrest and prosecution for conducting their work in the country.

End enforced disappearances in Africa now

27.08.2020 – Ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on 30 August, an NGO coalition is calling on African States to end this practice immediately, hold perpetrators to account, search for the disappeared and provide reparations to the victims and their families. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (Sudan), […]

Il y a urgence à mettre fin aux disparitions forcées en Afrique

27 août 2020 – À l’occasion de la Journée internationale des victimes de disparitions forcées, le 30 août, une coalition d’ONG appelle les États africains à mettre fin immédiatement à cette pratique, à contraindre les personnes responsables à rendre des comptes, à rechercher les disparu·e·s et à accorder des réparations aux victimes et à leurs […]

World Trade Organization urged to reject Saudi Arabia’s nominee for WTO Director General

MENA Rights Group and 18 organizations are urging the member nations of the World Trade Organization to reject Saudi Arabia’s nominee for Director General of the WTO. August 17, 2020 Dear World Trade Organization Members, We write to urge you to reject Saudi Arabia’s nominee, Mr. Mohammad Maziad al-Tuwaijri, for Director General of the World […]

Bahrain: NGOs appeal to King to commute death sentences

On August 11, 2020, MENA Rights Group, Amnesty International, Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, World Organisation against Torture and Salam for Democracy and Human Rights, sent a letter to the King of Bahrain urging him to commute all death sentences and establish a moratorium on executions.

Urgent Appeal: Civil society groups call for Moroccan authorities to cease intimidation of journalist Omar Radi

The undersigned civil society organizations call for an immediate and unconditional end to the intimidation and harassment of independent Moroccan journalist, Omar Radi, who has been summoned by police to appear for interrogation seven times over the past several weeks. Radi has been targeted by the authorities for his critical investigations and reporting, as one […]

As a Human Rights Council candidate, Saudi Arabia should make concrete commitments to promote and protect human rights

On July 28, 2020, MENA Rights Group and 10 NGOs sent a letter to the Permanent Missions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in New York and Geneva, with a list of concrete measures the authorities should commit to implement when seeking election with the UN Human Rights Council.