“My Country”: How Saudi Arabia is Undermining Women’s Newfound Right to Vote

Saudi women have begun registering to vote for December’s municipal elections, a development that the international press has greeted with extensive, and mostly positive, coverage. Yet, while the Saudi government welcomes glowing descriptions of its slow yet steady progress in advancing women’s rights, its actual reforms remain superficial. Saudi authorities are doing everything within their[…]

NGOs Condemn Arrest of Former al-Wefaq MP Sheikh Hasan Isa

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) express concern over the recent arrest of Sheikh Hasan Isa, a prominent member of the opposition political group al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. His arrest is the latest in a series[…]

The Trial of the 94

Although the UAE is rarely mentioned in relation to the Arab Spring, Emiratis did not remain silent in 2011. A group of activists petitioned the president to call for democracy, an elected parliamentary body, and legislative powers for the Federal National Council. A majority of the petitioners belonged to an Islamist organization called al-Islah, which[…]

ADHRB Sends Report on Kuwaiti Human Rights to UN

20 August 2015 – Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, along with the Kuwait Watch for Human Rights Organization, submitted a report to the United Nations Committee on Civil and Political Rights (UN-CCPR) concerning Kuwait’s failure to implement key provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Kuwait acceded to[…]

Newsletter #117

Senators Offer Reality Check on Bahrain Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain’s Kate Kizer and Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy’s Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei published an op-ed commenting on Senate resolution S.2009, co-sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), that was introduced 6 August 2015. The resolution would prohibit the U.S. from selling certain arms and[…]