Saudi Arabia Announces Women’s Driving Reforms, Delays Implementation

On Tuesday 26 September 2017, Saudi Arabia announced that it would allow women to drive for the first time in the history of the kingdom. The policy change, which was announced over state television, will reportedly go into effect in June 2018. Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on Saudi Arabia[…]

Manal al-Sharif and the Struggle of WHRDs in Saudi

On June 8, Saudi women’s rights activist Manal al Sharif gave an interview with NPR and the next day she wrote an op-ed for the New York Times. In both pieces, she discusses how women cannot drive in the kingdom, the guardianship system that underpins such restrictions, and her activism challenging the societal norm. She[…]

HRC35 Item 3 Oral Intervention: Targeting WHRDs and the Empowerment of Military Courts in Bahrain

On 12 June 2017, Michael Payne, ADHRB’s international advocacy officer delivered an oral intervention under the Item 3 Interactive Dialogue with the Rapporteur on independence of judges and lawyers and the Rapporteur on violence against women. In his intervention, Payne raised the cases of Loujain al-Hathloul and Ebtisam al-Saegh in the context of targeting women[…]

HRC35 Item 3 Oral Intervention: Discrimination Against Women in the GCC

On 9 June 2017, Jawad Fairooz, Director of Salam for Democracy and Human Rights, delivered an oral intervention on behalf of ADHRB and BIRD during the 35th session of the Human Rights Council’s Item 3 addressing the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women’s visit to Kuwait and the issues facing women around the GCC. Please[…]

ADHRB at HRC35: Event Summary on Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia

On 8 June 2017, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) organized a side event during the UN Human Rights Council’s 35th Session in Geneva. Entitled “Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia – Civil society, development, and the UN Commission on Women,” the event addressed the potential future role of women in the country’s[…]