The Fight for Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia Must Go On

The lifting of Saudi Arabia’s infamous driving ban last week leaves much to be celebrated throughout the kingdom, but the Saudi government still leaves a considerable amount to be desired where women’s rights are concerned. The Saudi government’s minimal step in promoting gender equality is an undeniable accomplishment for women’s rights activists, but only serves[…]

ADHRB Welcomes UN Rights Experts’ Call for Release of Saudi Women’s Rights Activists

29 June 2018 – Two days ago, nine United Nations Special Rapporteurs released a joint statement urging Saudi Arabia to immediately release several women’s right defenders arrested for their activism throughout the kingdom in late May 2018. In their statement, these independent human rights experts condemned the arrests and iterated their concerns over the continued[…]

ADHRB at HRC38 Raises Concerns about Women’s Rights and Executions in Saudi Arabia

On Thursday 28 June, at the 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ali Adubisi delivered an oral intervention on behalf of ADHRB and the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights under Agenda Item 5. The Director of the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR), he spoke about the ongoing human rights[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Fatema Dawood Juma & Zakeya Isa AlBarboori

Zakeya Isa AlBarboori, a 30-year-old chemical engineer, and her niece Fatema Dawood Juma, a 19-year-old student at Bahrain University, were recently subjected to an enforced disappearance of more than three weeks, as they were detained by government officials who failed to disclose their fate and whereabouts. Only after this period of nearly a month were[…]

Saudi Arabia lifts ban on women’s right to drive, guardianship restrictions remain

24 June 2018 – Today the Saudi government lifted the ban on women driving, a ban dating from the founding of the kingdom in 1932. Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) cautiously welcomes the lifting of the ban. While it represents a step forward for Saudi women, we remain deeply concerned about[…]