Throughout the Middle East there are many such reminders of repression characterized by notorious prisons where political detainees languish, death sentences of prisoners of conscience, censored newspapers and exiled writers. Everywhere, the rights of citizens are respected mainly in the breach, and transitional justice, accountability, and rule of law have become the anomaly. In the limelight, there is lack of due process, religious tolerance, democratic rights, freedom of assembly and expression. Ironically, most countries in the region have constitutions, formal legal systems, nominally independent judiciaries; however, the contradiction between these formal systems and the actual on-the-ground practice is striking. We are deeply concerned by the ongoing deterioration of human rights and the humanitarian situation in the region. Countries across the MENA region are increasingly associated with armed conflict and insecurity, coupled with violations of the right to life, physical integrity, and economic and social rights. Crimes against humanity, serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law are common, and more often than not civilians are the main victims. Bahrain’s human rights climate remains highly problematic where the government has imposed harsh censorship and sharply curtailed political life, and has jailed and tortured thousands, imposing capital punishments. Specifically dozens have been stripped of their citizenship, members of the political opposition and human rights activists face arbitrary arrest and prosecution. To illustrate, amongst other things, numerous Shia scholarly figures are currently detained and imprisoned, and all have complained of direct insults against their sect and beliefs, Shia Bahrainis are prevented from building mosques in Shia majority cities and not allowed to build hussainiyat (Shia Muslim religious centres) in close proximity to public roads, diplomatic areas or business districts, continued torture operations in JO prison remain to be the norm. Further, despite several call from the international community to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation, the Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny human rights defenders and others of their liberty, and deprive them their basic right to freedoms of expression, association and assembly. James Lynch, Deputy Director at Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme pointed out “The Saudi Arabian authorities appear intent on continuing a bloody execution spree which has seen at least 151 people put to death so far this year - an average of one person every two days,” likewise, the UN Working Group rapport stresses on the fact that “the Saudi Arabian authorities are consistently abusing the country’s vague laws to deprive human rights defenders and others of their liberty.” After years of pro-democracy movement and recent military intervention by Saudi-led coalition against a large segment of the population, Yemen is heading for a major human rights and humanitarian crisis. Recent statistics show that almost 80 percent of the Yemeni population are in need of humanitarian aid, and over 4000 have been killed. Of substance, the targeting of camps which provide shelter for uprooted civilians, as well as hospitals, schools and other public buildings by the Saudi-led coalition, which is a clear violation of the Law of the War, has exacerbated the situation of civilians. As well, the current security situation has hampered response to the humanitarian need which is leaving countless civilians in extremely dangerous and vulnerable situations. In the West Bank, Gaza, Palestinians live as a subject people, under siege and threatened by mass expulsions. Else, the Israeli Knesset approved a controversial measure bill allowing Israel to begin force-feeding hunger-striking Palestinian detainees’. Although this measure has been derided by human rights groups and medical organizations including Israeli doctors, this act of torture has not been stopped. Moreover, in spite of the adoption of several international human rights and humanitarian instruments, the precarious security situation in Lebanon has led to widespread human rights abuses such as, torture, arbitrary detention and forced disappearance. In consideration of these horrendous human rights violations in the region, we call up on the international community to urge States to reaffirm their commitment to respect the rights of everyone, in particular the right to freedom of religion and to freedom of opinion and expression, which is enshrined in the fundamental international human rights instruments. Most importantly, we call upon the international community, in particular the United Nations, to intensify its efforts to prevent further executions and vile human rights abuses in the above mentioned countries. Accordingly we call for the establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry on Yemen to investigate the documented human rights and international humanitarian law violations of the Saudi-led collation forces and duly bring the authors of these violations to justice. We urge the governments to establish a national mechanism to reform the criminal justice system as per international standards. We also call up on the states to establish a viable, non-cosmetic, national multi-stakeholder follow up mechanism to forge measurable improvement in the human rights front, and raise accountability and implementation. Lastly we strongly urge states across the MENA region to mainstream human rights through partnerships with United Nations and regional mechanisms, and put in place mechanisms to raise monitoring and accountability efforts that are aimed at promoting and protecting human rights.