Campaigning for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Democracy, the Rule of Law and International Justice

Campaign against silencing dissent and impunity for human rights violations in the Gulf Region
At a time of global attention on the Gulf Region and the catastrophic conflict and humanitarian situation in Yemen, this campaign aims at promoting human rights compliance and accountability in challenging times.
In this framework, since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, NPWJ has been supporting the awareness campaign called “Justice for Jamal” launched by his fiancée Hatice Cengiz to keep the international community's attention high, to obtain truth and justice about the circumstances surrounding his killing and to identify and hold accountable moral and material perpetrators.
NPWJ believes that this scandalous murder - which was an affront to freedom of speech and human dignity - is not an isolated case but is part of a model of widespread repression against important human rights defenders and activists, women, lawyers, journalists, writers and bloggers that has intensified since Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman came to power in June 2017. The murder dramatically demonstrates that the Saudi regime’s ambitious claims of reform are pure rhetoric and part of a smokescreen strategy used to cover the real face of an escalating and systematic campaign of repression to silence independent, dissenting or even dissonant voices by all means deemed necessary.
In the framework of this campaign, priority is also given to address accountability for crimes committed in Yemen by the military coalition led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This means enacting specific actions and measures, such as: banning exports of weapons any military equipment to the parties involved in the conflict; ensuring accountability for KSA and UAE’s war crimes in front of the International Criminal Court, as well as through other EU Mechanisms (via the new EU Global Human Rights Sanction Regime) which includes implementing targeted sanctions, travel bans and asset freezes for individuals, on officials of all parties to the conflict involved in grave human rights violations; supporting the gathering of evidence of such alleged crimes and atrocities with a view to using them in future prosecutions, and to consider the establishment of an independent commission to oversee this process; providing support to victims and their families to ensure their right to justice and redress.
List of statements and activities
- "Behind bars: when the law is turned into repression. The cases of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates", Online parliamentary briefing, 8 November 2022
- All that glitters is not gold: soon the UAE in the black list for money laundering and as a high risk country for the evasion of sanctions to Russia, 31 October 2022
- NPWJ submits recommendations on the UAE judicial system for consideration at the 43rd Session of the UPR Working Group, 11 October 2022
- Saudi Arabia: NPWJ firmly condemns extreme prison sentences against women’s rights activists for using social media to express their opinion, 2 September 2022
- Saudi Arabia: NPWJ strongly condemns the mass application of death penalty, 14 March 2022
- 2 October: Three years of impunity for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, 2 October 2021
- Saudi Arabia: NPWJ welcomes European Parliament’s resolution condemning use of death penalty in a context of widespread human rights violations, 9 July 2021
- Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: NPWJ welcomes criminal complaint filed by RSF in Germany against MBS and other high-ranking Saudi officials, 2 March 2021
- Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: how much longer will MBS benefit from the impunity he enjoyed so far?, 26 February 2021
- Yemen: NPWJ strongly welcomes European Parliament’s call to address accountability for crimes committed by the military coalition led by KSA and UA, 12 February 2021
- "Silent Complicity: the Saudi G20 as Normalisation of Violence », Virtual UK Parliament briefing, 18 November 2020
- Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: Hatice Cengiz files a lawsuit in the US against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, 19 October 2020
- Violation of human rights in Saudi Arabia: NPWJ welcomes EP’s call to downgrade EU’s participation in the G20 summit, 8 October 2020
- Commemoration of the second anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, European Parliament, 2 October 2020
- NPWJ welcomes European Parliament’s call for weapons export ban on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, 17 September 2020
- Sport is the winner in the collapse of attempted Saudi takeover of Newcastle United, 30 July 2020
- NPWJ supports European Parliament’s call for weapons export ban on Saudi Arabia, 14 July 2020
- Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: NPWJ looks forward to Turkish legal proceedings finally bringing truth and justice, 3 July 2020
- “Beyond Covid-19: The struggle for justice for Jamal Khashoggi”, Friday 8 May 2020
- Ending Impunity: Now Is the Time for a UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Saudi Arabia, Niccoló Figa-Talamanca, Secretary General of NPWJ, Just Security, 8 April 2020
- Hatice Cengiz and others call for United Nations Special Rapporteur on Saudi Arabia, citing need for human rights scrutiny and justice, Geneva, 10 March 2020
- NPWJ and FIFDH convene panel discussion on "Human Rights Crisis in Saudi Arabia", Geneva Press Club, 10 March 2020
- Khashoggi murder: Saudi death sentences a travesty of justice, 23 December 2019
- "Verità e giustizia per il giornalista Jamal Khashoggi", 16 dicembre 2019, Roma
- Visit to Brussels of Agnès Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, 3 December 2019
- Lotta senza confini all’impunità. Il contributo di No Peace Without Jusitce a quattro eventi a Bruxelles, 3 dicembre 2019
- Human Rights and Freedom Under Siege, United Nations HG, New York, 26 September 2019
- Kuwait: NPWJ submits recommendations on the case of Marsha Lazareva for consideration at the 35th Session of the UPR Working Group, 18 July 2019
- NPWJ organises side event on "Silencing Dissent", Geneva, UNHRC, 41th Session, Palais des Nations, 25 June 2019
- European Parliament to hold hearing on the human rights situation in the Arab Peninsula, European Parliament, DROI Subcommittee, 19 February 201
- European Parliament to hold hearing on the current human rights and humanitarian situation in Yemen, 24 January 2019
- Peninsular Perspectives: Human rights and accountability in the UAE and the region, Washington DC, USA, 15 January 2019
- Saudi Arabia: Over 160 groups call for accountability following murder of journalist and widespread arrest of women’s rights defenders, 26 October 2018
- Saudi Arabia: NPWJ welcomes European Parliament’s clear, strong stand on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, 25 October 2018