About HuMENA
About
We are for the journalist who keeps writing when the law forbids it.
For the lawyer who defends those detained for gathering.
For the woman defender threatened for organizing.
For the queer voice whose existence is criminalized.
For the organizer who carries her country’s struggle into exile.
For the witness who refuses to look away.
HuMENA
Brussels
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Beirut
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Across the region and in exile
Who we are
HuMENA is a regional human rights organisation working across the Middle East and North Africa, and with communities in exile. We defend civic space, the room where people gather, speak and organise. We protect those who do that work: journalists, lawyers, women human rights defenders, LGBTQI+ voices, social movements, and the researchers who carry their stories forward.
Civic space is shrinking. Across the region, the laws that once protected protest, association and expression have been bent, suspended, or rewritten. Defenders are arrested, exiled, surveilled. Where the public square has been emptied, we work to keep its memory alive and to rebuild it with those who refuse to leave it.
We document with witnesses, verify with partners, and publish jointly with our coalitions. We carry the work to the UN, the EU and governments, and we stay with cases after the news cycle has moved on.
What we do
HuMENA works in five areas. Each has its own page with the cases, publications and campaigns behind it.
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Civic Space & Freedoms
The freedoms of assembly, association and expression that keep civic space open. Our work
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Protection of Defenders
Standing with human rights defenders at risk through protection, advocacy and solidarity. Our work
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Digital Rights & Civic Tech
Privacy, free expression and online safety, against surveillance and digital repression. Our work
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Inclusive Governance & Justice
Inclusive governance, accountability and access to justice for communities. Our work
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Diaspora & Exile Engagement
Connecting exiled and diaspora communities to the movement for rights and dignity. Our work
How we work
Five practices behind what we publish.
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We follow people by name
A case does not end with the first statement. We stay with it through the hearing, the sentence and the release, and we publish again when the story has gone quiet.
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We read the law behind the arrest
Most cases rest on a law written to punish speech or assembly. We publish legal readings of those laws and of the verdicts built on them.
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We follow repression across borders
Leaving the country is not always safety. We document how governments reach critics abroad: through their families at home, their embassies and trials held in absentia.
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We go where decisions are made
The UN Human Rights Council and treaty bodies, the UPR, the African Commission, the EU, and governments with influence in the region.
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We equip defenders
Guides, toolkits and training for defenders, including those working from exile, on advocacy, safety and creative expression.
Where we work
Across the Middle East and North Africa, and in exile.
Researchers, lawyers and contributors work in the region and in the diaspora, with offices in Brussels and Beirut. The lines are our own work: wherever one publication covered two places, they are joined.
Brussels and Beirut offices Publications covering both places Diaspora and cross-border work
Our team
Staff
Mostafa Fouad
Executive Director
Oumaima Hammami
Programs Lead
Sana T.
Communication Lead
Lujain K.
Research & Analysis Officer
Nissaf Slama
Research & Analysis Officer
Amin M.
Creative and Digital Media Lead
Lubna A.
Finance & HR Officer
Board of Trustees
Mai El-Saadany
Board Member
Dima Samaro
Board Member
Muzna Duraid
Board Member
Contributors
Researchers, writers, lawyers, and defenders whose work appears in our publications.
Ahmed AbdelHalim
Anas Younes
Elham Barjas
Elssy Karaoghlanian
Falah Sayed
Ghias Aljundi
Ibrahim Ezzeldin
Ichraq Ghdiri
Louay Ghanjati
Maya Al Jarf
Mostafa Al-A’sar
Nawres Hammedi
Nour (pseudonym)
Nour Halabi
Omar Mahdy
Rawan Natsheh
Ritaj Ibrahim
Sarah Sheikh Ali
W.N
Shorouk Sallam
Sarra Zidi
Accountability and transparency
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Registered in Belgium and Lebanon
Non-profit, based in Belgium and Lebanon with offices in both, and teams across the region and in exile. Independent and non-partisan.
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Answers to a Board of Trustees
A Board of Trustees with regional and international representation. The board members are listed with the team.
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Works to a stated method
Five practices, from following cases by name to equipping defenders. How we work.
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Keeps a public record
Every publication is dated and citable in the Resources archive.
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Publishes its policies
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Has an Equivalency Determination
On file with NGOsource: HuMENA is equivalent to a US public charity, for grants from US foundations.
Last updated October 2026.
Contact
Journalists, researchers, defenders and partners can reach the team through the contact form or at [email protected]. Organisations that want to work with HuMENA can read how partnerships work.