The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR; ) is an independent non-profit charity that defends human rights among Middle Eastern states including,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. The GCHR is funded by the

Sigrid Rausing Trust Sigrid Maria Elisabet Rausing FRSL (born 29 January 1962) is a Swedish philanthropist, anthropologist and publisher. She is the founder of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, one of the United Kingdom's largest philanthropic foundations, and owner of ''G ...

. Its vision is "To develop and protect a sustainable network of human rights defenders in the Gulf region." They are based in

. The organisation was co-founded by Khalid Ibrahim along with Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and

Nabeel Rajab Nabeel Rajab (; born 1 September 1964) is a Bahraini human rights activist and opposition figure. He is the president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch's Middle East Divi ...

, Bahraini activists who have both been jailed in Bahrain. Bahraini activist Maryam Al-Khawaja is a co-director of the organisation. In June 2021, the organisation filled a complaint in France against UAE's official candidate for

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

's presidency,

Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi (; also romanised as Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi) is a high ranking police officer of Abu Dhabi Police, United Arab Emirates. He currently serves as the 30th president of Interpol and the Major general of the United Arab Emirates' ...

. The organisation accuses him of being responsible for “torture and barbaric acts” against UAE dissident

Ahmed Mansoor Ahmed Mansoor Al Shehhi () is an Emirati blogger, human rights and reform activist arrested in 2011 for defamation and insults to the heads of state and tried in the UAE Five trial. He was pardoned by UAE's president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al ...

Activities and Campaigns

On 5 August 2022, GCHR expressed its concern over the safety of four journalists facing death sentence in

. GCHR demanded the immediate release of the journalists named Abdulkhaleq Ahmed Amran, Akram Saleh Al-Walidi, Al-Hareth Saleh Hamid, and Tawfiq Mohammed Al-Mansouri. On 16 August 2022, GCHR called for the immediate release of a journalist Younis Abdulsalam Ahmed Abdulrahman who was detained over a year ago in

References

Human rights organizations International non-profit organizations Human rights organisations based in Lebanon Non-profit organisations based in Lebanon {{nonprofit-org-stub