Global Network for Rights and Development

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Global Network for Rights and Development
AbbreviationGNRD
Headquarters Stavanger, Norway
President
 Loai Deeb
Website www.gnrd.net

Global Network for Rights and Development (commonly known as GNRD) is a Norwegian non-governmental human rights organization established in June 2008. [1] It was declared bankrupt in 2016. [2] While operational, the organization focused on advancing the rights of refugees, poverty eradication, women's empowerment, and good governance, most notably in the Middle East and North Africa. [3]

Contents

Organization

GNRD operated as a research and advocacy organization that worked to advance the rights of disadvantaged and vulnerable persons, primarily by organizing roundtables, debates, and exhibitions at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, and at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. After establishing its office in Brussels in 2013, GNRD organized of a series of roundtables with Members of the European Parliament focusing on poverty eradication, the rights of children in conflict zones, the role of women in democracy, and the impact of counterterrorism policy on human rights.

According to the European Parliament register, the Brussels office implemented the following consultative committee meetings: [4]

GNRD's headquarters were located in Stavanger, Norway, on Kvalaberg Road in the borough Hillevåg. [5] More than 20 employees, mostly of foreign origin, worked in the Stavanger office. [5] In addition to its offices in Norway and Belgium, GNRD also had offices in Amman, Jordan; Dubai, UAE; Geneva, Switzerland; and Valencia, Spain.[ citation needed ]

The board of directors consisted of Hassan Mousa, Ali Ahmad Abdalla Alananzeh, Shawqi Abdelmajid Issa, Tamam Khalil M J Abushammala, Magdy Elsayed Aly Salim Kaoud, Vice Chairman Abozer Elmana Mohamed Elligai, and Chairman Loai Deeb. In 2014 the website levant.tv claimed that GNRD's Goodwill Ambassador is Carole Samaha. [6]

Funding

It is "funded – to the tune of 3.5 million euros a year". [7] According to the European Parliament transparency register, the operational costs of the Brussels office were between €200,000 and €299,999 for the year 1 January 2014 - 1 December 2014.

In 2014 Brian Whitaker said that "GNRD says most of its funding comes from donations, and its website includes the logos of five "sponsors" who presumably provide at least some of this money. The first of these sponsors is an Emirates-based business called Deeb Consulting and the company's website says its sole proprietor is Loai Mohammed Deeb. It is difficult to identify the four other sponsors since no details are given – only the logos. The logos say "Advance Security Technology", "Kaoud Law", "My Dream" (with the words transliterated into Russian beneath) and "Action Design". Attempts to trace these companies through a Google image search have so far drawn a blank.But as its knowon, 34 % only of UAE companies have website." [7]

Controversy

In 2015 The Jerusalem Post said that "The Palestinian Authority has plans to use an international human rights organization [GNRD] as a front for intelligence gathering and discrediting Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, according to documents leaked to a number of Palestinian news websites". [8]

In August 2014, two British men of Nepalese origin were arrested in Qatar after travelling there on behalf of GNRD to investigate the living and working conditions of Nepalese migrant workers. The men, Krishna Upadhyaya, a researcher, and Gundev Ghimire, a photographer, were detained without charge for nine days and had to wait a further 11 days for permission to leave Qatar. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Some reports suggested the Qatari authorities had arrested the men because Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were engaged in a dispute at the time and the Qataris believed GNRD was funded by the government of the UAE. In al-bab's online blog Brian Whitaker wrote "While it's possible the men were arrested because Qatar wanted to suppress their findings, it's also possible (and perhaps more likely) that they became unwittingly caught up in a squabble between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in which their employer, GNRD, is suspected by the Qataris of playing a part". The blog further goes on to criticise GNRD's activities and its leader in detail. [13]

2015 police raid and criminal charges in Norway

On May 27, 2015, Norwegian police raided the headquarters of GNRD in Stavanger, Norway. The same day Loai Deeb was arrested and held for interrogation for 48 hours. [14]

Following this Økokrim charged both GNRD and Deeb with money laundering and receiving stolen goods. [15] The vice president of GNRD, Abozer Elmana Elligai, denied the charges. [16]

Following the police raid GNRD and Deeb said they would sue the Norwegian state for financial compensation. [17]

Claims regarding publishing of a fake human rights index

In a 2014 The World Post article James M. Dorsey said that "an Emirati human rights activist told Middle East Eye: They are supported by the UAE government for public relations purposes. The GNRD published a fake human rights index last year that wrongly praised the UAE". [18]

Cooperation with other organizations

On 13 December 2013 the African Union Commission and GNRD signed a Memorandum of Understanding "to strengthen co-operation and integration". [19]

GNRD is registered with the Transparency Register of the European Parliament and the European Commission. [20] (The website of Gender Concerns International says that on 17 March 2014 at the European Parliament, Eija-Riitta Korhola MEP and GNRD hosted "a roundtable and an interactive dialogue on “International Observation of Egypt’s Referendum - Challenges Ahead". [21] )

In 2015 media said that GNRD "has also entered into agreements with the University of Tromsø and the University of Stavanger, but that now both agreements have been cancelled". [22]

Conferences

International observer at elections

GNRD was officially accredited to monitor the following elections and referendums as an international observer:

Staff

GNRD's "founder and president, Loai Deeb, previously set up a fake university in Norway [29] which closed under threats of legal action from the Norwegian authorities. Deeb also uses hundreds of fake Twitter accounts to promote himself and his activities.[ citation needed ]

In 2012 at the NGO Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council the Israeli delegate pointed out that "Dr. Loai Deeb had provided answers to questions posed to three organizations: GNRD, in which he is listed as President; International Coalition against War Criminals (ICAWC), in which he is registered as Executive Director; and The Scandinavian Institute for Human Rights. The groups GNRD and ICAWC were registered with the same address. He asked for an explanation for the relationship between those three organizations and how one individual could manage all three groups".Deeb answered that he cofounded the Scandinavian Institute as a Norwegian citizen, but resigned from the Institute in Nov 2014, and ICAWS had nominated another President in 2011 after the Arab Spring [30] [31]

Anne-Marie Lizin, (d. October 2015) GNRD's "High Commissioner for Europe" was "a discredited Belgian politician" with a March 2015 conviction in appeals court in Liège for electoral malpractice. [32] She appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court; in 2009 she was expelled from the Socialist Party. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Qatar</span> Statistical data relating to the population of Qatar

Natives of the Arabian Peninsula, many Qataris are descended from a number of migratory Arab tribes that came to Qatar in the 18th century from mainly the neighboring areas of Nejd and Al-Hasa. Some are descended from Omani tribes. Qatar has about 2.6 million inhabitants as of early 2017, the vast majority of whom live in Doha, the capital. Foreign workers amount to around 88% of the population, the largest of which comprise South Asians, with those from India alone estimated to be around 700,000. Egyptians and Filipinos are the largest non-South Asian migrant group in Qatar. The treatment of these foreign workers has been heavily criticized with conditions suggested to be modern slavery. However the International Labour Organization published report in November 2022 that contained multiple reforms by Qatar for its migrant workers. The reforms included the establishment of the minimum wage, wage protection regulations, improved access for workers to justice, etc. It included data from last 4 years of progress in workers conditions of Qatar. The report also revealed that the freedom to change jobs was initiated, implementation of Occupational safety and health & labor inspection, and also the required effort from the nation's side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Qatar</span>

The political system of Qatar runs under an authoritarian semi-constitutional monarchy with the emir as head of state and chief executive, and the prime minister as the head of government. Under the Constitution of Qatar, the partially-elected Consultative Assembly has a limited ability to reject legislation and dismiss ministers. The second general election was held in 2021; political parties are banned and all candidates have to run as independents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eija-Riitta Korhola</span> Finnish politician (born 1959)

Eija-Riitta Korhola is a Finnish politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP). She served three terms, first with the Finnish Christian Democrats between 1999–2003 and then with the National Coalition Party from 2004 to 2014, being part of the European People's Party the whole time. During her years as a MEP, Korhola served on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. She was also a member of the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and acted as a deputy both in the Committee on Budgetary Control and in the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani</span> Emir of Qatar since 2013

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is Emir of Qatar, reigning since 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bent Høie</span> Norwegian politician (born 1971)

Bent Høie is a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party who has served as county governor of Rogaland since 2021. He previously served as Minister of Health and Care Services from 2013 to 2021, and a member of the Storting from Rogaland from 2000 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Arena</span> Belgian politician (born 1966)

Marie Arena is a Belgian politician who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2014. She is a member of the Socialist Party (PS), part of the Party of European Socialists (PES).

The state of human rights in Qatar is a concern for several non-governmental organisations, such as the Human Rights Watch (HRW), which reported in 2012 that hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant workers in construction in Qatar risk serious exploitation and abuse, sometimes amounting to forced labour. Qatar is an authoritarian and de facto absolute monarchy under the House of Thani. Qatari law also does not permit the establishment of political bodies or trade unions. Awareness of human rights abuses in Qatar grew internationally after Qatar's controversial selection to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Qatar relations</span> Bilateral relations

Qatar established unofficial trade relations with the State of Israel in 1996, the first amongst all nations of the Arabian Peninsula after Oman reportedly did, concurrently with Israel–Jordan peace treaty. Until 2009, Qatar and Israel maintained trade relations, but due to Operation Cast Lead, Qatar broke the trade with Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qatar–United Arab Emirates relations</span> Bilateral relations

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates share a naval border and are part of the Arabic-speaking Persian Gulf region. They are both members of the GCC.

Qatar News Agency is a state-run Qatari news agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kafala system</span> System used to monitor migrant laborers in Arab countries

The kafala system is a system that exists in many Arab countries in the Middle East, including most of the nations on the Arabian Peninsula, which involves binding migrant workers to a specific employer throughout the period of their residence in a country. The same system existed in Israel under the label "binding labour", until that country's supreme court eliminated it in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bahrain–Qatar relations</span> Bilateral relations

Bilateral relations exist between the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Bahrain. They first began in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt–Qatar relations</span> Bilateral relations

Egypt–Qatar relations are the bilateral relations between the State of Qatar and the Arab Republic of Egypt. They first began in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loai Deeb</span>

Loai Mohammed Deeb is a Palestinian who is the leader of Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) and a former member of the municipal council of Sola, Norway.

Qatar has been accused of allowing terror financiers to operate within its borders, which has been one of the justifications for the Qatar diplomatic crisis that started in 2017 and ended in 2021. In 2014, David S. Cohen, then United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, accused Qatari authorities of allowing financiers who were on international blacklists to live freely in the country: "There are U.S.- and UN-designated terrorist financiers in Qatar that have not been acted against under Qatari law." Accusations come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports, government officials, and journalists.

<i>The New Arab</i> A Pan-Arab media outlet headquartered in London

The New Arab or Al-Araby Al-Jadeed is a London-based pan-Arab news outlet owned by Qatari company Fadaat Media. It launched an Arabic-language website in March 2014 and an Arabic language daily newspaper in September 2014. The English version of its website is The New Arab.

The Qatari Center of Social Cultural for the Deaf is the national organisation representing deaf people in Qatar. It is a member of the World Federation of the Deaf. As of 2015, it is chaired by Ali Al-Sennari.

The Qatar diplomatic crisis was a high-profile incident involving the deterioration of ties between Qatar and the Arab League between 2017 and 2021. It began when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt simultaneously severed their bilateral relations with Qatar and subsequently banned Qatar-registered aircraft and Qatari ships from utilizing their sovereign territory by air, land, and sea; this involved the Saudis' closure of Qatar's only land crossing, initiating a de facto blockade of the country. Tensions between the two sides came to a close in January 2021, following a resolution between the Saudis and the Qataris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treatment of South Asian labourers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region</span> Human rights concern

The treatment of South Asian labourers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is an ongoing issue between members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations and the wealthy oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council. The current large number of migrants from South Asia to the Persian Gulf began in the 1960s, when the oil boom in the Gulf Arab countries resulted in migrant labourers. This further increased with the development of large mega-cities. With the growth of megacities of Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, the need for construction labourers grew. Migrants from Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Maldives were contracted to develop the mushrooming skyscrapers. Many of these migrants were brought into the GCC under the kafala system, a sponsor-based system used in the GCC, which is seen by many human rights groups as highly exploitative, since their passports are confiscated and they are forced to work in low-level conditions, within cramped living quarters, for a low salary, and sometimes even without their due pay; when exploitation is brought up or exposed by media or the labourers, their employers are rarely punished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali bin Samikh Al Marri</span> Qatar politician; Minister of Labour

Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al-Marri is a Qatari human rights figure and politician born on November 30, 1972. He was appointed Minister of Labour of the State of Qatar on October 19, 2021, and was re-appointed Minister of Labor by an Amiri order in March 2023. Before taking up the ministerial portfolio, he had chaired the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) for State of Qatar since 2009. He also served as acting president and secretary-general of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and as president of the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions. In 2012 he was elected chairman of the Permanent Arab Committee on Human Rights of the Arab League and chairman of the Asia Pacific Forum for the session 2013 to 2015. He was re-elected as chairman of the NHRC of the State of Qatar in 2019. In June 2023, Al-Marri was elected as president of the United Nation's annual International Labour Conference.

References

  1. ↑ "Registration on Norwegian authority". Brønnøysundregistrene. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  2. ↑ "Menneskerettighetsorganisasjon slått konkurs". Hegnar.no. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. ↑ "Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) | LobbyFacts Database". lobbyfacts.eu. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
  4. ↑ "Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) | LobbyFacts Database". lobbyfacts.eu. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
  5. 1 2 "Siktet for hvitvasking av 100 millioner - har reist til Dubai på møtevirksomhet". Aftenbladet.no. Archived from the original on 2015-06-18. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
  6. ↑ "GNRD Goodwill Ambassador Carole Samaha". Levant TV - Middle Eastern Entertainment in English. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  7. 1 2 An odd organisation Archived 2014-09-10 at the Wayback Machine . al-bab.com
  8. ↑ "PA plans to use human rights group for espionage". The Jerusalem Post - JPost.com.
  9. ↑ "Qatar returns detained human rights researchers to UK". BBC . Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  10. ↑ "Human rights workers go missing in Qatar". CNN . Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Qatar returns detained human rights researchers to UK". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "British human rights investigator detained by Qatari authorities for two weeks speaks out". The Independent . Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  13. ↑ "an odd organisation". al-bab.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  14. ↑ Sæter, Kjetil; Madsen, Lars Backe (2015-06-17). "Truer Norge med milliardsøksmål". www.dn.no. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  15. ↑ Madsen, Lars Backe (June 12, 2015). "Den mystiske rettighetsforkjemperen" [The Mysterious Human Rights Activist]. DN.no. Dagens Næringsliv. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  16. ↑ Magnus, Anders (June 18, 2015). "Får ikke inn penger fra kriminalitet" [Do not receive money from crime]. NRK.no. Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  17. ↑ Svendsen, Christine (June 17, 2015). "Hvitvaskingssiktet organisasjon saksøker Norge for milliarder" [Organization charged with money laundering sues Norway for billions]. NRK.no. Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Brits' Disappearance Casts Shadow Over Qatari World Cup Efforts and Shines Light on UAE". The Huffington Post.
  19. ↑ "GNRD AUC Cooperation-2". African Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  20. ↑ "GNRD EU Cooperation". European Union Transparency. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  21. ↑ "GNRD Event at EP". Gender Concerns International. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  22. ↑ NRK. "GNDR forsøkte å rekruttere forsker". NRK.
  23. ↑ "Egypt return Conference". Al-Ahram. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  24. ↑ "Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) International Conference in Geneva Introduces a New Convention on Collective Cooperation in Counter-Terrorism". CNBC. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  25. ↑ "Geneva observers to monitor Egyptian elections - Constitutional Referendum 2014". Le News. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  26. ↑ "Global Network For Rights And Development: Presidential Election in line with international standards". Algeria press service. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  27. ↑ "GNRD observation mission to Egypt - Presidential Elections 2014". Daily News Egypt. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  28. ↑ "POLLS IN TUNISIA STARTED THIS MORNING WITHOUT INCIDENT". NAM News Network. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  29. ↑ "'University' moves under threat". newsinenglish.no.
  30. ↑ "NGO Committee Recommends 11 Organizations for Special Consultative Status with Economic and Social Council, Postpones Consideration of 19 Others | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  31. 1 2 GNRD's 'High Commissioner' sentenced Archived 2016-04-10 at the Wayback Machine . al-bab.com
  32. ↑ Madsen, Lars Backe (2015-06-15). "GNRD-topp dømt for valgjuks". www.dn.no. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
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