The Gulf Center for Human Rights, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Human Rights Watch, and the CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, have scheduled panel discussion on June 15, 2023.
With the theme “The Impact of Counter-Terrorism Policies on Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa,” the discussion will hold on 730 3rd Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York.
Counter-terrorism policies and laws adopted by governments of the Middle East and North Africa region have been used extensively in ways that undermine the rule of law and restrict basic rights and freedoms.
Under the pretext of protecting national security and fighting terrorism, these governments have directly targeted civil society.
Human rights defenders, including women, as well as religious groups, journalists, political opponents, and others, have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, tortured, and sentenced to prison on fabricated charges.
They have faced travel bans, denial of their rights to free expression, and reprisals for their work, including with the United Nations and other international organizations.
Repressive counter-terrorism policies not only erode the rule of law and international human rights standards.
They are also counterproductive, as they risk contributing to instability and conditions conducive to political violence and terrorism.
Part of the run up to the General Assembly’s bi-annual review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, as well as the third UN High-Level Conference on Counter-Terrorism, the panel is designed to shine a light on the terrible human cost of counter-terrorism policies used by many regional governments to strengthen their grip on power and suppress dissent.
The panel will provide first-hand accounts from human rights defenders from the region, as well as analysis on how counter-terrorism abuses in the Middle East and North Africa are part of broader trends.
Panelists will recommend steps that UN bodies and Member States can take to help forge counter-terrorism responses in which rights and security go hand in hand.
Speakers include Khalid Ibrahim, Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), while the moderator is Dr. Hala Al-Dosari, Saudi human rights defender and gender scholar.
others include Neil Hicks, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Solafa Magdy, Egyptian journalist, human rights defender and former prisoner, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, Human rights lawyer and Letta Tayler, Human Rights Watch (HRW)
