Help promote human rights in the Middle East and North Africa

Donate Today
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube Envelope
Search
Close
  • English
  • العربية
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
  • Experts
  • Latest
Menu
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
  • Experts
  • Latest
Donate

DAWN's 2021 Annual Report

January 12, 2022
in Feature, Press Releases, Uncategorized
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

DAWN celebrates its first year of achievements and growth.

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to share with you our annual report, reflecting our first full year of operation at DAWN.
 
Over 10 years since the Arab Spring uprisings, the abusive governance that sparked them continues to plague the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). But despite what prevailing media and policy narratives may have you believe, the people of the region continue to aspire to democratization and respect for human rights. Two key forces stand in their way: the tyrannies that rule their countries, and the foreign governments that aid and abet their rulers.

My friend Jamal Khashoggi knew this. That's why a few months before his brutal state-sponsored murder, he founded Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)—an organization dedicated to making our vision of a MENA region led by democratic, rights-respecting governments a reality.

Click here to download the full report.

Through rigorous research and analysis, relentless media outreach targeted advocacy with policymakers, and convenings of leading human rights and foreign policy experts, DAWN challenges conventional wisdom about the MENA region and the U.S. role in it, rallies support for policies that uphold rather than hinder human rights, and leads the brainstorming of new solutions to long-standing regional problems. Our online journal, Democracy in Exile, provides a platform through which MENA exile and activist voices can not only speak freely, but be heard by those in power. And our signature research projects document emblematic cases of unjust prosecutions in the region; expose and pursue accountability for the government officials who perpetrate violations; and target the U.S.-based lobbyists paid to keep U.S. support flowing to abusive regional governments. 

DAWN knows that achieving our objectives won't be easy. We are up against the most powerful lobbying interests in the world: the American defense industry and the abusive regional governments themselves. We also face an uphill battle with the U.S. government, which has long provided political and military support to some of the most repressive governments in the region.

 
"The time is now to seize upon the openings for change we have helped create—both in the Middle East and North Africa, and here in the United States—and pave the way for a more just and equitable future for the people of the region. "

- Sarah Leah Whitson

Yet despite the challenges, we are already having an impact. As reflected in this report, in a little over a year we have gone from a little-known nonprofit with two staff, to a prominent, respected organization of over a dozen experts pushing for change in the MENA region. Our rising profile has paved the way for a series of advocacy successes.
 
Examples include pushing a U.S.-based lobbying firm to drop its contract with a Saudi government agency implicated in our founder's murder, persuading the D.C. City Council to designate the street outside the Saudi Embassy as "Khashoggi Way," and spearheading the creation of the Khashoggi Ban Working Group to bar abusers from traveling to the U.S. We were also thrilled to see three of the political prisoners whose plight we documented released from prison. And while we still have a long way to go to realize our mission, I believe that with dedication, creativity, and persistence, our impact will only grow.
 
The time is now to seize upon the openings for change we have helped create—both in the Middle East and North Africa, and here in the United States—and pave the way for a more just and equitable future for the people of the region. I hope you will join us in this effort.
Sarah Leah Whitson
Tags: Annual Report
Previous Post

Assad's Normalization and the Politics of Erasure in Syria

Next Post

Intern

Related Posts

A picture taken during a guided tour organised by Egypt's State Information Service on February 11, 2020, shows an Egyptian policeman near watch towers at Tora prison on the southern outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
DAWN

Egypt: Mother of Teenager Sentenced for Peaceful 2019 Protests Commits Suicide

Egyptian authorities should immediately release those imprisoned by a terrorism’s court’s arbitrary mass sentence of 82 people, including 22...

DAWN
February 1, 2023
JERUSALEM - JULY 04: Israeli security forces intervene Palestinians as Palestinians try to prevent them to destroy their tents and sheds with bulldozers in Khan al-Ahmar village of eastern Jerusalem on July 04, 2018. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
DAWN

U.S.: Destruction of Khan al-Ahmar Should be Tipping Point for 'Special Relationship' with Israel

The Biden Administration should reevaluate its “special relationship” with Israel if the Israeli government advances its plans to forcibly...

DAWN
January 31, 2023
Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hassan Abdalla leaves after speaking at the 2022 Annual Meetings Plenary during the 2022 IMF/World Bank annual meeting October 14, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
DAWN

Egypt: IMF Bailout Highlights Risks of Austerity, Corruption

The International Monetary Fund’s new US$3 billion loan agreement with Egypt largely continues an economic approach that leaves the economic rights of millions...

DAWN
January 31, 2023
VIENNA, AUSTRIA - OCTOBER 25: King Abdullah of Jordan arrives for his meeting with Austrian chancellor Alexander Schallenberg at the chancellery on October 25, 2021 in Vienna, Austria. The Jordanian king is visiting several European countries this week, culminating with his participation in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, that starts on Sunday. (Photo by Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images)
DAWN

Jordan: Six Questions U.S. Congress Members Should Ask King Abdullah During D.C. Visit

Ahead of the visit by King Abdullah of Jordan to Washington D.C. for meetings in Congress, Democracy for the...

DAWN
January 27, 2023
Next Post
Video conference concept. Teleconference. Telemeeting. Webinar. Online seminar. e-Learning.

Intern

The Case for Reparations to the Victims of Yemen's War

February 2, 2023

We Are All Alaa Abdel Fattah

February 1, 2023
A picture taken during a guided tour organised by Egypt's State Information Service on February 11, 2020, shows an Egyptian policeman near watch towers at Tora prison on the southern outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt: Mother of Teenager Sentenced for Peaceful 2019 Protests Commits Suicide

February 1, 2023

Categories

  • Advocacy
  • Aid Conditionality
  • Anonymous Interviews
  • Anonymous Interviews Egypt
  • Anonymous Interviews Saudi Arabia
  • Anonymous Interviews UAE
  • Cases
  • Cases Egypt
  • Cases Saudi Arabia
  • Cases UAE
  • Countries
  • Culprits
  • Culprits Egypt
  • Culprits Israel
  • Culprits Saudi Arabia
  • Culprits UAE
  • DAWN
  • Dawn's Advocacy
  • Democracy In Exile
  • Editor's Pick
  • Egypt
  • Feature
  • Fellows
  • Foreign Policy
  • Human Rights
  • Human Rights Go to War
  • International Actors
  • Israel-Palestine
  • Lobbyists
  • Lobbyists Israel Palestine
  • Palestine
  • Political prisoners
  • Press Release Egypt
  • Press Release Israel-Palestine
  • Press Release Saudi Arabia
  • Press Release UAE
  • Press Releases
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • Uncategorized
  • United Nations
  • US – Egypt
  • US – Saudi Arabia
  • US – UAE
  • USA

SUPPORT OUR MISSION

Donate Today

About Us

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy, the rule of law, and human rights for all of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Support Us

Donate Now

Newsletter

Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube

© DAWN All rights reserved. | Website Design by KRS Creative.

DONATE TODAY