Blog Post Jan 12, 2024 Fueling Ambition: Aramco’s pivotal role in Saudi Arabia’s sports expansion In November 2023, news broke that Aramco—Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil and energy giant—was set to complete a “significant sponsorship” deal with FIFA that would make it the football governing body’s biggest sponsor over the coming decade.
Blog Post Oct 24, 2023 The Silent Chains of Saudi Arabia: My Fight for My Daughter and Our Freedom In 2011, while working in Tunisia, my life completely changed. I witnessed the start of the Arab Spring and fall of Tunisia’s dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, due to a popular uprising against injustice.
Announcement Aug 31, 2023 Human Trafficking & Authoritarianism: Read HRF’s Latest Reports Human trafficking, considered a modern form of slavery, impacts tens of millions and exists in every region of the world. In 2023, an estimated 28 million individuals were trapped in modern slavery and 22 million trapped in forced marriage globally.
Reports Aug 25, 2023 New HRF Report: Human Trafficking in Saudi Arabia Today, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) published a new report, “Saudi Arabia’s Human Trafficking Mechanisms,” as part of its ongoing series exploring the links between human trafficking and authoritarianism.
Blog Post Aug 4, 2023 How Authoritarianism Fuels the Middle East’s Captagon Problem Captagon, commonly known as the “poor man’s cocaine,” has recently re-emerged as a popular recreational drug and is rapidly spreading throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Reports Aug 1, 2023 Human Trafficking in Saudi Arabia Report Saudi Arabia has a vast and varied track record of human rights violations. As an absolute monarchy, the King- dom has established laws and practices that serve to maintain the ruling family’s hold on power.
Reports Aug 1, 2023 Arabic Edition of “Human Trafficking in Saudi Arabia” Saudi Arabia has a vast and varied track record of human rights violations. As an absolute monarchy, the Kingdom has established laws and practices that serve to maintain the ruling family’s hold on power.
Press Release Jul 10, 2023 UN Calls For Release Of Saudi Women’s Rights Activists Last Friday, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) released a decision on the cases of Salma al-Shehab and Nourah al-Qahtani. It finds their detention to be arbitrary and calls for their immediate release.
Blog Post Apr 7, 2023 Like, Tweet, & Torment: Authoritarian Troll Farms “They were attacking him basically every single day, threatening him, trying to silence him. So Jamal felt the whole country was against him – and that was hurting. He said sometimes ‘I feel like I don’t want to talk about anything, I don’t want to expose my opinion.’ “
Blog Post Mar 28, 2023 Women at the Forefront of Democracy: Combatting Oppressive Laws in Saudi Arabia As authoritarianism persists throughout the Middle East and North Africa, it’s crucial to recognize the women’s rights activists who have stood up against these dictators despite severe repercussions. In Saudi Arabia, one of the region’s most repressive regimes, advocating for human rights comes with a high risk.
Press Release Oct 28, 2022 HRF Submits Joint Petition on Saudi Activist Salma Al-Shehab This week, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), MENA Rights Group, The Freedom Initiative, and ALQST for Human Rights submitted a joint petition to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) on behalf of the Ph.D. student and women’s rights activist Salma Al-Shehab.
Press Release Aug 24, 2022 HRF to Saudi Arabia: Let American Mother & Daughter Return Home The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) calls on Saudi Arabia to repeal its oppressive male guardianship laws and to allow women to exercise basic civil rights without the permission of their male guardians.
News Jul 14, 2022 President Biden to Meet with Saudi Dictator Tomorrow Tomorrow, July 15th, United States President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Blog Post Mar 12, 2022 HRF Welcomes Release of Saudi Writer and Activist Raif Badawi NEW YORK (March 11, 2022) — The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) welcomes the release of Raif Badawi, a Saudi writer and creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals.
Blog Post Mar 12, 2022 Four Years Since the Arbitrary Detention of Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan Today marks the four-year anniversary of the arbitrary detention and forced disappearance of Saudi humanitarian aid worker and online activist Abdulrahman al-Sadhan.
Publication Nov 9, 2021 Justin Bieber Slammed by Human Rights Activists Ahead of Saudi Arabia Concert Justin Bieber is being accused by a human rights organization chaired by former chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov of becoming a “pawn” of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman if he performs in Saudi Arabia next month.
Publication Jul 9, 2019 Nicki Minaj pulls out of Saudi Arabia performance following backlash from human rights activists Hip-hop star Nicki Minaj said that she is no longer headlining a concert in Saudi Arabia this month after her decision to perform in the staunchly conservative nation generated backlash from human rights groups.