The Middle East-North Africa (MENA) Regional Office of the International Secretariat was established in Beirut in 1999.  The office bases its strategies and activities on the vision of Amnesty International, which is: All human beings should have access to and be able to enjoy their rights and all human beings should be able to live in dignity. No one should be penalized for their opinions or for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression or related rights, or because of their religion, race or ethnicity, or their gender, sexuality or other identity; and no one should be imprisoned arbitrarily, tortured, disappeared or executed.

The MENA Regional Office is inspired by the goals of AI’s International Human Rights Education Strategy and works towards achieving them. The office’s work focuses on human rights education and awareness raising, aiming to contribute effectively to the development of a human rights culture in the Arab countries of the MENA region, particularly, by supporting and strengthening the capacity of human rights defenders and supporting local, national and regional non-governmental organizations working for the promotion and protection of human rights.

The staff of the MENA Regional Office work to develop and implement strategies to promote human rights knowledge and awareness in the region, build the capacity of activists and human rights defenders, including AI members. In doing so, they conduct and contribute to workshops and other training events, as well as produce and disseminate Arabic-language and other resources, and specialized human rights training and awareness-raising materials, including the Arabic human rights publication Mawared.

For more information please contact the MENA Regional Office team.