Global Network for Rights and Development

2014 arrests in Qatar and claim of links to UAE government

In August 2014, two British men of Nepalese origin were arrested in Qatar after travelling there on behalf of GNRD to investigate the living and working conditions of Nepalese migrant workers. The men, Krishna Upadhyaya, a researcher, and Gundev Ghimire, a photographer, were detained without charge for nine days and had to wait a further 11 days for permission to leave Qatar.

Some reports suggested the Qatari authorities had arrested the men because Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were engaged in a dispute at the time and the Qataris believed GNRD was funded by the government of the UAE. In al-bab's online blog Brian Whitaker wrote "While it's possible the men were arrested because Qatar wanted to suppress their findings, it's also possible (and perhaps more likely) that they became unwittingly caught up in a squabble between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in which their employer, GNRD, is suspected by the Qataris of playing a part". The blog further goes on to criticise GNRD's activities and its leader in detail.

2015 police raid and criminal charges in Norway

On May 27, 2015, Norwegian police raided the headquarters of GNRD in Stavanger, Norway. The same day Loai Deeb was arrested and held for 48 hours—for interrogation.

Following this Økokrim charged both GNRD and Deeb with money laundering and receiving stolen goods. The vice president of GNRD, Abozer Elmana Elligai, denied the charges.

Following the police raid GNRD and Deeb said they would sue the Norwegian state for financial compensation.

Organization

GNRD's headquarters are located in Stavanger, Norway - at Kvalaberg Road in the borough Hillevåg. More than 20 employees work in Stavanger - mostly people of foreign origin.

GNRD has offices (Amman, Jordan; Brussels, Belgium; Dubai, UAE; Geneva, Switzerland; and Valencia, Spain).

The board of directors consists of Hassan Mousa, Ali Ahmad Abdalla Alananzeh, Shawqi Abdelmajid Issa, Tamam Khalil M J Abushammala, Magdy Elsayed Aly Salim Kaoud, vice chairman Abozer Elmana Mohamed Elligai, chairman Loai Deeb. In 2014 website levant.tv said that GNRD's Goodwill Ambassador is Carole Samaha.

Funding

It is "funded – to the tune of 3.5 million euros a year".

In 2014 Brian Whitaker said that "GNRD says most of its funding comes from donations, and its website includes the logos of five "sponsors" who presumably provide at least some of this money. The first of these sponsors is an Emirates-based business called Deeb Consulting and the company's website says its sole proprietor is Loai Mohammed Deeb. It is difficult to identify the four other sponsors since no details are given – only the logos. The logos say "Advance Security Technology", "Kaoud Law", "My Dream" (with the words transliterated into Russian beneath) and "Action Design". Attempts to trace these companies through a Google image search have so far drawn a blank."

Controversy

In 2015 The Jerusalem Post said that "The Palestinian Authority has plans to use an international human rights organization [GNRD] as a front for intelligence gathering and discrediting Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, according to documents leaked to a number of Palestinian news websites".

In 2015 "The Elder of Ziyon" website said that This "human rights NGO" is a scam - a scam that has fooled the EU, the UN and many NGOs.

Claims regarding publishing of a fake human rights index

In a 2014 The World Post article James M. Dorsey said that "an Emirati human rights activist told Middle East Eye: They are supported by the UAE government for public relations purposes. The GNRD published a fake human rights index last year that wrongly praised the UAE".

Cooperation with other organizations

On 13 December 2013 the African Union Commission and GNRD signed a Memorandum of Understanding "to strengthen co-operation and integration".

GNRD is registered with the Transparency Register of the European Parliament and the European Commission. (The website of Gender Concerns International says that on 17 March 2014 at the European Parliament, Eija-Riitta Korhola MEP and GNRD hosted "a roundtable and an interactive dialogue on “International Observation of Egypt’s Referendum - Challenges Ahead".)

In 2015 media said that GNRD "has also entered into agreements with the University of Tromsø and the University of Stavanger, but that now both agreements have been cancelled".

Conferences

International observer at elections

GNRD was officially accredited to monitor the following elections and referendums as an international observer:

Staff

In 2015 the Elder of Ziyon website said that GNRD's "founder and president, Loai Deeb, previously set up a fake university in Norway which closed under threats of legal action from the Norwegian authorities. Deeb also uses hundreds of fake Twitter accounts to promote himself and his activities".

In 2012 at the NGO Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council the Israeli delegate pointed out that "Dr. Loai Deeb had provided answers to questions posed to three organizations: GNRD, in which he is listed as President; International Coalition against War Criminals (ICAWC), in which he is registered as Executive Director; and The Scandinavian Institute for Human Rights (SIHR). The groups GNRD and ICAWC were registered with the same address. He asked for an explanation for the relationship between those three organizations and how one individual could manage all three groups".

Anne-Marie Lizin, GNRD's "High Commissioner for Europe" is "a discredited Belgian politician" with a March 2015 conviction in appeals court in Liege for electoral malpractice. She has appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court; in 2009 she was expelled from the Socialist Party.