Founded | October 2013 in London |
---|---|
Type | Non-profit NGO |
Location |
|
Services | Protecting human rights |
Fields | Human rights, non-violence, research, advocacy |
Key people | Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei |
Website | birdbh.org |
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) is a non-profit human rights organisation based in London which promotes democratisation and human rights in Bahrain. [1] It was founded by Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Alaa Shehabi and Hussain Abdullah in 2013, and is funded by the Sigrid Rausing Trust [2] for the years 2016-2019. The National Endowment for Democracy approved a grant for the year 2015. [3]
One of the founders of BIRD, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, received attention for his advocacy work [4] and for protesting against visits by members of the Bahraini Royal Family to the United Kingdom. As a fugitive from Bahrain, he subsequently had his Bahraini citizenship revoked in January 2015 and has applied for asylum in the United Kingdom. In 2020, he was co-winner of the Index on Censorship "campaigning" award, for "[continuing] his work as a prominent critic of the Bahraini government ... despite the danger faced by him and his family." [5]
BIRD has led a number of campaigns to raise awareness about what they view as the political repression of the Bahraini pro-democracy movement. These have included campaigns around the Bahrain Formula 1 [6] race and the candidacy of Sheikh Salman Alkhalifa for President of FIFA in 2016. [7]
BIRD has been active in campaigning for the release of Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who has been repeatedly imprisoned in Bahrain after criticising the Bahraini government. [8] [9]
BIRD has worked closely with regional and international human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch, Reprieve, Amnesty International, UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade, the Stop The War Coalition, Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), and Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB). [10] [11]
Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to the protection of human rights. It was presumably named after the Helsinki Accords. It was formerly organized into the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), based in Vienna.
The Bahrain Grand Prix, officially known as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, is a Formula One motor racing event in Bahrain. The first race took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on 4 April 2004. It made history as the first Formula One Grand Prix to be held in the Middle East, and was given the award for the "Best Organised Grand Prix" by the FIA. The race has in the past been the third race of the Formula One calendar. However, in the 2006 season, Bahrain swapped places with the traditional opener, the Australian Grand Prix, which was pushed back to avoid a clash with the Commonwealth Games. In 2010, Bahrain staged the opening race of the 2010 season and the cars drove the full 6.299 km (3.914 mi) "Endurance Circuit" to celebrate F1's 'diamond jubilee'. In 2021, the Bahrain Grand Prix was the season opener again because the 2021 Australian Grand Prix was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, sometimes shortened to simply Al-Wefaq, was a Shi'a Bahraini political party, that operates clandestinely after being ordered by the highest court in Bahrain to be dissolved and liquidated. Although from 2006 to 2011 it was by far the single largest party in the Bahraini legislature, with 18 representatives in the 40-member Bahraini parliament, it was often outvoted by coalition blocs of opposition Sunni parties and independent MPs reflecting gerrymandering of electoral districts. On 27 February 2011, the 18 Al-Wefaq members of parliament submitted letters of resignation to protest regime violence against pro-reform Bahraini protestors.
Human rights in the Middle East have been shaped by the legal and political development of international human rights law after the Second World War, and their application to the Middle East. The 2004 United Nations Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) claimed that although Arab-Islamic tradition does hold unique importance for ideas of human welfare, History has proven that "they were not sufficiently prevalent in society to foster a culture based on a political contract, and allow for the legitimacy of differences of opinion, dialogue and transfer of power." Issues of the validity of democracy in the region and human rights are at the very centre of the challenges facing Middle Eastern society today.
Bahrain's record on human rights has been described by Human Rights Watch as "dismal", and having "deteriorated sharply in the latter half of 2010". Their subsequent report in 2020 noted that the human rights situation in the country had not improved.
Sigrid Maria Elisabet Rausing 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 Granta magazine and Granta Books.
Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa is a Bahraini football administrator. As of 2023 he is Senior Vice-President of the FIFA Council. He has been president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since 2 May 2013. Before becoming president of the AFC, he had been president of Bahrain Football Association (2002–13) and also chairman of the AFC Disciplinary Committee and deputy chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
Internet freedom is an umbrella term that encompasses digital rights, freedom of information, the right to Internet access, freedom from Internet censorship, and net neutrality.
The 2011Bahraini uprising was a series of anti-government protests in Bahrain led by the Shia-dominant and some Sunni minority Bahraini opposition from 2011 until 2014. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring and protests in Tunisia and Egypt and escalated to daily clashes after the Bahraini government repressed the revolt with the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Peninsula Shield Force. The Bahraini protests were a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of non-violent civil disobedience and some violent resistance in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain. As part of the revolutionary wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, the Bahraini protests were initially aimed at achieving greater political freedom and equality for the 70% Shia population.
Nabeel Ahmed Abdulrasool Rajab is a Bahraini human rights activist and opposition leader. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch's Middle East Division, Deputy Secretary General for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), former chairman of CARAM Asia, member of the Advisory Board of the Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), and Founding Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR).
Maryam Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights activist. She is the daughter of the Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and former co-director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR). She is currently the Special Advisor on Advocacy with the GCHR, and works as a consultant with NGOs. She's a board member of the International Service for Human Rights and No Hiding Place. She serves as the Vice Chair on the Board of the Urgent Action Fund.
Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim is Bahrain's leading Shia cleric and a politician. He is the spiritual leader of Al Wefaq, Bahrain's biggest opposition society. He is the founder and leader of the Islamic Enlightenment Institution.
The following is an incomplete timeline of events that followed the Bahraini uprising of 2011 from July to December 2011. This phase saw many popular protests, escalation in violence and the establishment of an independent government commission to look into the previous events.
Ahmed Ismael Hassan al-Samadi, also known as Ahmed Ismail Hassan and incorrectly identified as Ahmed Ismail Abdulsamad, was a Bahraini citizen journalist and videographer who died after covering anti-government protests of the Formula One Gand Prix in Salmabad, Bahrain, where he was shot in the thigh and later died from the gunshot wound.
Bahrain Watch is a "research and advocacy organisation" devoted to issues related to Bahrain. The group was founded in 2011 by several people, including journalist Ala'a Shehabi.
Hossein Rajabian is an Iranian filmmaker, writer and photographer who was imprisoned as a political prisoner in 2015 on charges related to his filmmaking. He as an anti-censorship filmmaker and defender of freedom of speech for the arts, has been elected as an honorary member of the SRF in France in 2021.
Ebtisam al Saegh is a human rights defender from Bahrain with the organisation SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights. She is considered a "vital human rights advocate" at a time when freedom of expression is increasingly dangerous in Bahrain.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) is an independent non-profit charity that defends human rights in the Persian Gulf and neighbouring states that include, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, UAE, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon.
Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi is a high ranking police officer in the United Arab Emirates. He currently serves as the 30th president of Interpol and the Major general of the United Arab Emirates' interior ministry.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei is director of advocacy at the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD). Alwadaei fled Bahrain and the regime of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in approximately 2012, establishing refugee status in the UK. In 2015, the Bahrain government stripped him of his nationality rendering him and his UK-born daughter stateless.
{{cite news}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)