Founded in 2012, Salam for Democracy & Human Rights (SALAM DHR) is a human rights NGO. It is registered in France, the United Kingdom (UK) & Switzerland. We undertake research and advocacy in relation to the Gulf, the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. SALAM DHR generally focuses on freedom of expression, association and assembly; human rights defenders; the administration of justice, including torture; and on thematic issues, notably deprivation of citizenship, statelessness and the right to take part in public affairs.
We engage with partner NGOs and frequently act in coalition to achieve specific targets or outcomes. We engage with intergovernmental organisations and states in order to bring about socio-political reform and ever-improving adherence by states to international human rights standards and practices. The organisation is not, in effect, allowed to register in the Gulf, notably Bahrain or Kuwait.
The organisation broadly promotes generally understood and accepted principles of democracy as the most effective model for advancing adherence to international human rights standards.
SALAM DHR’s team is geographically distributed. Our members and contributors are based in the UK and Lebanon; Bahrain, Germany, France and Sweden. We recruit and provide capacity building to interns to advance our work and provide them with valuable skills on human rights practices. Many produce outputs to which they can refer as they embark upon their careers.
SALAM DHR receives institutional, project-based funding and is also crowd funded, notably by philanthropically-minded people & firms in Bahrain & the Gulf.
SALAM DHR’s members and supporters in Bahrain provide the organisation with grassroots engagement. They provide accurate and safe research contacts as well as an advocacy base. Through them, SALAM DHR convenes in-person, participatory engagement and conveys, to the extent possible, support, notably to the families of those arbitrarily imprisoned.
SALAM DHR frequently shares findings and engagement with partners. Together, we will jointly issue statements, briefings and reports, including United Nations (UN) ‘shadow’ reports and submissions, say, to its Special Procedures Branch.
To shape discourse and policy, SALAM DHR emphasises partnerships and engages, often jointly, with regional, national, and intergovernmental legislative bodies. We engage national parliamentarians as well as those in the European Parliament and members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). We undertake advocacy with a range of national governments and intergovernmental bodies.
Building on nearly a decade of work focusing on Bahrain, SALAM DHR’s output in 2024 has addressed, amongst other human rights challenges, the right of citizens and residents to partake in public affairs in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. This intersectional right is set out in Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as other articles, to which each of these Gulf states are parties. In-depth work at the time of writing in 2025 focuses on Kuwait and statelessness, but we have been and will address a wide range of human rights challenges across the Gulf and region.
SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights (SALAM DHR) is an NGO that endeavours to preserve universal principles of dignity and respect by shielding democracy and human rights.
In the pursuit of this vision, SALAM DHR aims to influence British, European and UN representatives to improve the situation in the Middle East, and foster awareness of human rights and democracy.
To accomplish these goals, SALAM DHR conducts monitoring and analysis, produces reports, develops recommendations on policy and legislation, organises advocacy campaigns, conducts trainings, and builds effective coalitions. SALAM DHR is actively involved in international cooperation for human rights and democracy, including the production of alternative reports on key human rights topics, coordinating coalitions, lobbying for reform of flawed institutions, and articulating NGO positions at the UN Human Rights Council, the European Parliament, and various domestic bodies.
We welcome enquiries and interactions on a broad range of topics and issues.
Your contributions will make a real difference and help us demand justice and end impunity wherever human rights violations occur.
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For international payments
Bank Name: SEB
Bank Account number: SE94 5000 0000 0562 4106 7958
Bic-Kod: ESSESESS
For Payment within Sweden:
Bankgiro number: 535 – 5979
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