Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

The Egyptian government is repressing civil society organisations’ right to freely carry out their activities by introducing a law that requires government approval of all foreign funding of domestic NGOs.

Once every four years the UN Human Rights Council holds a public review of each of the 193 member states of the UN to examine their human rights records. The second such review for the UAE since the process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was instituted in 2006 took place on 28 January 2013 and highlighted severe human rights challenges that the country still faces.

After more than 6 months without any judicial proceeding for some of the detainees, 94 Emirati nationals accused of plotting to seize power have been charged.

In a letter to the US President, 40 human rights organisations called for US support to release 13 Bahrainis, unjustly jailed by the Bahraini government, one of the strongest allies of the US in the region.

Oman has been the site of a major crackdown since the end of May 2012, which has included arrests of dozens of writers, human rights defenders, judges, and pro-democracy activists.

Polarized reactions within Egypt to Morsi’s recent decree and the proposed Constitution indicate a deepening divide between seculars and liberals on one side and Islamist supporters of Morsi on the other.

Libyan and Arab human rights organizations are concerned that many aspects of the new law in Libya on the right to free assembly fail to uphold international human rights standards.

While welcoming moves to implement measures that guarantee media independence, IFEX-TMG calls on the Tunisian government to fully respect free expression in the new Constitution and put an end to attacks on journalists and artists.