News

ALQST, ACAT-France, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and MENA Rights Group have welcomed Germany’s decision to extend its arms embargo on Saudi Arabia and call on other governments to follow suit, as the Yemen war marks its fifth year. Furthermore, the organisations urge the German authorities to expand it […]

MENA Rights Group and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), joined by 38 organizations from around the world, have issued a statement calling on governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to take a number of urgent measures to protect their prison populations, and in doing so, their populations as a whole. The statement also calls on international and regional bodies, including the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations special procedures, to issue guidance around detention amid pandemic.

On March 5, 2020, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, ALQST and MENA Rights Group delivered a joint oral statement before the Human Rights Council (HRC) during the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. The NGOs expressed concern over the crackdown on […]

Durant la 43ème session du Conseil, une résolution proposant la prolongation du mandat du Rapporteur spécial de trois ans sera soumise aux Etats. Il s’agit d’une opportunité majeure pour que les Etats et le Conseil affirment leur soutien aux défenseurs des droits humains et reconnaissent le rôle indispensable qu’ils jouent pour chacun jouisse de la […]

At the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council, States will consider a resolution extending for three years the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders. Civil society organisations from across the world are calling on all States to support the consensus renewal of the mandate, and to resist any […]

As the Hay Festival Abu Dhabi opens on 25-28 February 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), we the undersigned call on the Emirati authorities to demonstrate their respect for the right to freedom of expression by freeing all human rights defenders imprisoned for expressing themselves peacefully online, including academics, writers, a poet and lawyers. […]

Riyadh has gone to great lengths to improve its image through sporting events, while human rights abuses continue unchecked

As Amaury Sport Race Proceeds, Women Activists Sit in Prison The Amaury Sport Organisation should use its decision to move the Dakar Rally to Saudi Arabia to denounce the persecution of women’s rights advocates in the country, Human Rights Watch, MENA Rights Group, and 11 other international human rights organizations said today. The 2020 Dakar […]

The Dakar Rally (formerly known as the Paris-Dakar Rally) is an annual off-road endurance rally organized by the French company Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O). In April 2019, it was announced that the upcoming 2020 rally would be held throughout Saudi Arabia. The announcement, which outlined the race route from January 5-17, 2020, also promised a […]

Six years ago, the joint office of the VDC, LDSPS and Rising for Freedom in Douma in Eastern Ghouta (north of Damascus) was raided by armed men who abducted four human rights defenders, Razan ZAITOUNEH, Wael HAMADA, Samira ALKHALIL and Nazim HAMMADI. The parties controlling the region have changed and tens of thousands of people […]

On December 31, 2019, the mandates of the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore and Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour will come to an end. Considering the importance of these roles for the work of civil society, over 50 NGOs wrote to the UN Secretary-General, asking him to take into consideration candidates with demonstrated commitment and significant experience and expertise in the field of human rights.

On October 29, 2019, MENA Rights Group’s director Inès Osman participated in a panel discussion, “Taking a Stand to Protect Human Rights Defenders”, organised by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) in New York.  The discussion, moderated by Chris Jochnik, President and CEO of Landesa, focused on the challenges faced by companies in ensuring […]