News

On June 18, 2026, MENA Rights Group, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and ALQST for Human Rights delivered a joint oral statement at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council, during the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on summary, extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, highlighting the grave human rights violations and severe suffering that result from the continued and arbitrary use of the death penalty in the Gulf region, Iran, and Iraq.

At its 30th session, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances reviewed Iraq’s implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and issued its observations highlighting serious shortcomings.

MENA Rights Group welcomes the recommendations made by the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) to downgrade the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) to “B” status following its special review during the SCA’s 46th session, held from October 20 to 31, 2025.

Following its fourth Universal Periodic Review in January 2025, Iraq accepted approximately 70% of the received recommendations. However, genuine progress will depend on their effective implementation.

MENA Rights Group joins NGOs in calling for the release of Iraqi Kurdish journalist Sherwani, who has been arbitrarily detained for five years.

MENA Rights Group provides a summary of the UNSG's main concerns over reprisals against human rights defenders in the MENA region, particularly in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen.

During its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on January 27, 2025, Iraq received 263 recommendations from 93 States on various issues including its human rights framework, the right to freedom of expression, and the death penalty.

MENA Rights Group welcomes the conclusions and recommendations made by the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) to downgrade the national human rights institutions (NHRIs) of Egypt and Iraq to status B, and to maintain the status B of the Bahraini NHRI. These recommendations echo our concerns over the three […]

MENA Rights Group provides a summary of the UNSG's main concerns over reprisals against human rights defenders in the MENA region, particularly in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen.

Ahead of the accreditation process in in 2024, MENA Rights Group has urged the Sub-Committee on Accreditation not to increase the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights' status given its lack of compliance with the principles of effectiveness, independence and pluralism.

Led by MENA Rights Group, 14 civil society organisations mark the four-year anniversary of the "Tishreen Movement" by calling on Iraqi authorities to address the widespread practice of enforced disappearance and to clarify the fate of disappeared protesters.

MENA Rights Group joins 70+ organisations in urging the Iraqi government to tackle the issue of enforced disappearance. We co-organised an event at the UN in Geneva, which brought grassroots Iraqi voices to react to the report issued by the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and present their ideas to tackle the crisis of enforced disappearance in Iraq.*