General update
On 18th July 2025, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Omani Centre for Human Rights & Democracy (OCHRD) submitted a joint submission to the UN Periodic Review for Oman. The submission analysed the Government of Oman’s compliance with its international human rights obligations to create and maintain a safe and enabling environment for civil society.
During the 3rd UPR cycle, the Government of Oman received 48 recommendations relating to civic space and the death penalty. Of these recommendations, 28 were supported and 10 were noted, and six were partially supported. An evaluation of a range of sources and human rights documentation addressed in subsequent sections of this submission demonstrates that the Government of Oman has generally not implemented these recommendations. Acute implementation gaps were found with regard to the right to freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and issues relating to the right to a fair trial and due legal procedures. As a result of these gaps, civic space in Oman is rated as repressed by the CIVICUS Monitor, indicating particularly severe restrictions of the fundamental rights of civil society and high levels of risks for activists, at home and abroad.
Association
On 11th July 2025, GCHR reported that the Court of Appeal upheld an unfair verdict against prominent human rights defender Awad Al-Sawafi, dismissing him from his position as a legal affairs researcher at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, on security grounds. GCHR reports that his conviction is in fact in retaliation for his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.
Al-Sawafi, aged 48, is a well-known human rights activist. He graduated from Al-Buraimi University in law in 2019, and worked as a legal affairs researcher at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources. He has been continuously targeted by the Internal Security Service (ISS) for his independent human rights work.