Middle East

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Security Over Identity: Iran’s Suppression of Ahwazi Arab Identity

This article examines the systemic discrimination faced by Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, focusing on the criminalisation of cultural identity, restrictions on language and expression, violent repression of protests, and the misuse of national security laws. It argues that these practices violate Iran’s obligations under international human rights law, including protections for minority rights, freedom of expression, fair trial guarantees, and the right to life.

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Enforced Disappearance: The Case of Sayed Mohamed Almosawi

Enforced disappearance remains a brutal tool of state terror despite robust international laws. This article explores the global legal frameworks designed to combat this crime and examines the tragic 2026 case of Sayed Mohamed Almosawi, whose torture and death in Bahraini custody expose the deadly reality of state-sponsored impunity.

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Deprivation of Liberty in Times of Occupation: What Treatment Should Palestinian Detainees Receive Under International Law?

Israel enforces a differentiated justice systems in Occupied Palestinian Territories for Israeli settlers and Palestinian nationals. Palestinian nationals are subject to deprivation of liberty grounded in criminal and security offences that can only be reviewed by Military Courts. While such distinction is, to a very limited extent, compatible with the Fourth Geneva Convention, the treatment and procedural safeguards that Israel provide to Palestinian detainees contravenes various obligations of Israel under such convention.

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The Yazidi Survivors Law and Iraq’s Unmet Obligations Under International Human Rights Law

This article examines Iraq’s Yazidi Survivors Law and the gap between its legal promises and practical implementation for survivors of ISIL atrocities. It analyses how the criminal complaint requirement, the exclusion of children born of sexual violence, and the failure to establish rehabilitation services undermine Iraq’s obligations under international human rights law. The piece argues that these shortcomings deny Yazidi survivors effective reparations, protection, and long-term justice.

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Abandoned Twice: How the World Is Failing the Yazidis – Again

More than 11 years after ISIS launched a genocide against the Yazidi people of northern Iraq, the survivors are still waiting. Thousands remain missing. Hundreds of thousands remain displaced. Their homeland lies largely in ruins. And the international mechanisms built to deliver justice, protection, and reconstruction are being dismantled one by one, not because the work is done, but because the world has moved on. The Yazidis have not failed to recover; they have been failed.

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Targeting Schools as a Method of Warfare

This article examines the targeting and militarisation of schools during armed conflict and the protections granted to educational facilities under International Humanitarian Law. It highlights how attacks on schools violate the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution, while exposing children to death, trauma, displacement, and loss of education. The piece argues that stronger accountability is urgently needed to ensure schools remain protected civilian spaces during war.

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Caught in the Crossfire: Iran’s Minorities in Times of War

On June 25, 2025, the execution of Kurdish porter Edris Ali exposed a deeper pattern at the heart of Iran’s current crisis. As war with Israel and the United States escalates, longstanding structures of marginalisation are not paused but intensified, with ethnic and religious minorities facing most of the harm, seen both as internal threats and as groups that can be easily sacrificed.

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Iraq is Losing its Fiercest Female Voices

This article examines how Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities, especially Kurds, Baluchis, and Arabs, face intensified repression during times of war and political crisis. It highlights patterns of executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, and structural discrimination that deepen during conflict. The piece argues that external war has served as a pretext for expanding long-standing state violence against minority communities.

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State Business: Israel’s Misappropriation of Land Through Settler Violence

This article examines how settler violence in the occupied West Bank functions as a tool of dispossession and territorial consolidation. It argues that repeated attacks, lack of accountability, and state-backed infrastructure expansion are creating coercive conditions that force Palestinians from their land. The piece highlights how violence and governance together sustain ongoing displacement and settlement growth.

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Egypt’s Asylum Laws Fail to Protect Refugees From Mass Arbitrary Detentions 

This article examines how Egypt’s new asylum framework is failing to protect refugees and asylum seekers from arbitrary detention and deportation. It highlights serious concerns over violations of non-refoulement, lack of due process, and the erosion of protections previously linked to UNHCR oversight. The piece argues that Egypt’s current approach undermines both international refugee law and basic human rights safeguards.

6th GHRD International Film Festival: Human Trafficking Edition
Submission Deadline: 9th August 2026
Submission Form