Historically, Gulf Cooperation Countries have used a strategy of repression by imposing state control of the media or through broad laws and strict censorship. Often, the governments justify this control by referring to social values like cohesiveness and harmony in society. However, this strategy poses journalists in the Gulf at extreme risk. They are harassed,[…]
01
Dec
Dec
Last month, FIFA announced that Saudi Arabia will host the next 2034 World Cup. Their announcement highlights unsolved issues from the 2022 Qatar edition. FIFA and Qatar did not uphold the respect of migrant workers’ rights involved in building the necessary infrastructures for the most important football competition. This negligence convinced different members of the[…]
22
Nov
Nov
On the 31st of October, FIFA announced that Saudi Arabia had become the sole bidder of the 2034 World Cup. The decision certainly does not come as a surprise. FIFA has regularly been criticized for bribery scandals and its nonchalance in sponsoring World Cups in states with poor human rights standards (Russia, China, Qatar). Nonetheless,[…]
07
Nov
Nov
On the 21st of August, 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on the mass killings of Ethiopians at the Yemen-Saudi border. The research indicates that the indiscriminate use of force by Saudi authorities started in March 2022 and is still ongoing. This crisis is of the utmost importance as, according to the International[…]
03
Nov
Nov
On 22 November 2022, Mohammed al-Qahtani had to be released after the ten years of questionable sentence he received. However, since October 2022, Saudi Arabian authorities have refused to give information about him despite the expiration of his sentence. The refusal of Saudi authorities to release him makes this a case of enforced disappearance for[…]
