Five years ago this week, hundreds of thousands of people rose up in support of democracy and human rights in Bahrain. After enduring decades of structural inequalities, corruption, and repression, nearly half the country’s citizen population gathered to demand reform. The government responded swiftly, and severely. Riot police flooded the streets, employing excessive and indiscriminate[…]
Since October 2013, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) has regularly received complaints regarding individual allegations of human rights abuses in Bahrain. Generally, these complaints contain information communicated directly from the victim or the victim’s family, and concern the victim’s treatment at the time of arrest, during detention, and – in some[…]
With the FIFA World Cup approaching, Qatar is seeking to hire 300,000 more workers from Bangladesh within the next three years. Overpopulation, environmental degradation, widespread poverty, and underemployment are all motivating factors for the high numbers of mostly male migrants who leave Bangladesh to look for employment abroad. Qatar reportedly plans to hire Bangladeshi nationals[…]
Although Saudi women were permitted to vote and run for political positions in December 2015, the government has required the 17 women who gained elected seats in municipal councils (out of 978 candidates) to sit in separate rooms and only communicate electronically with their male counterparts. This move upset women activists, but government ministers quickly[…]
A UAE court has once again postponed the trial of Omani blogger Muawiya al-Rawahi on Sunday. A writer and human rights defender, al-Rawahi has been accused of insulting the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed bin Zayed. UAE authorities originally arrested al-Rawahi at the border with Oman almost a year ago, preventing him from returning[…]