In October of 2019, Iraq witnessed the launch of a mass protest movement known as the "October Revolution," with the slogan “We Want a Homeland” (نريد وطن ), which has become the movement’s online hashtag and raison d’être. This slogan must...
Lebanon’s commitment to its human rights obligations will be assessed on January 18 during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Every five years, the UPR is carried out for member states to review and...
When the Lebanese government hired the New-York-based consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal in July to conduct a forensic audit of the country’s Central Bank and study the scale of Lebanon’s economic and financial crisis, many were skeptical. The forensic audit...
By the end of 2018, the influx of human rights defenders from Libya and Egypt in particular—but also Maghreb countries—coming to Tunis became more prominent, something that cannot be said for any other capital in North Africa. While COVID-19 restrictions...
In October, Tunisian Parliament withdrew the newest version of a police protection law that it has repeatedly attempted to adopt in the past despite fierce opposition. The new draft law on the “protection of security forces” would impose disproportionate criminal...
In 2011, on a wall near the Ministry of Interior in Tunis, protestors sprayed the graffiti “Thank you, Facebook” in recognition of how social media platforms helped activists organize, cover the protests, and disseminate information globally. While this has often...
A decade after the 2010 eruption of Tunisia’s revolution, which led to the overthrow of a 23-year-old one-party regime, Tunisians are still unable to translate their political achievements into social and economic gains. This December 17, on the ten-year anniversary...
Nearly 5.6 million Syrians have been forcibly displaced from Syria to neighboring countries in the Middle Eastern region, and millions more are considered internally displaced within Syria or have sought refuge in other countries across the globe. This has resulted...
In this final piece of the series, we provide solution-oriented recommendations to address some of the challenges facing Syrian refugees in neighboring host countries as well as those inside Syria. The displacement of over 5.6 million Syrian refugees in the...
Since 2011, Syrian survivors, human rights defenders, and others have filed over 20 complaints in legal and judicial systems outside of Syria against Syrian regime officials for war crimes and other violations of international law. These complaints have been filed...
