Brussels, 26 June 2025
Amid escalating, systematic crackdowns on civil society across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the continued arbitrary detention of human rights defenders under harsh conditions, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), the Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF), HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement, and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) organized a solidarity gathering outside the European Parliament in Brussels on 25 June 2025.
Held under the banner:
“Free All Detained Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa – The UN and EU Must Act Now!”
the gathering brought together activists and rights groups from across Europe and the Arab region. Speakers representing independent civil society and human rights defenders delivered unified messages, calling on repressive MENA governments to unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience, and urging international mechanisms—especially the United Nations and the European Union—to go beyond rhetorical condemnations and take concrete, coordinated action.
During the gathering, participants held up photos of detained human rights defenders from Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others, underscoring that the plight of the detained is not a domestic matter, but a shared human rights responsibility that demands an urgent international response.
A segment of the event also highlighted the fate of human rights defenders forcibly disappeared in Syria for over a decade, whose circumstances and whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Despite the partial collapse of the country’s security apparatus, these disappearances persist in total opacity, without accountability or justice.
Coinciding with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the action served as a symbolic reminder of the suffering endured by thousands of detainees and disappeared persons in the region’s prisons, punished simply for daring to stand up for freedom and dignity.
Participants stressed that symbolic solidarity is not enough. Only real political pressure can make a difference. They called on the European Union—especially Members of the European Parliament and the European External Action Service—to place the issue of detained human rights defenders high on their political and human rights agendas, and to work toward genuine accountability and release.
The silence of the international community is no longer acceptable.
Freedom for human rights defenders is not only a moral demand, it is a prerequisite for any meaningful stability or democratic transition in the region.
