Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Geneva Office

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) was established in 1993 as a regional NGO dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights.  Its mission is to strengthen the human rights movement within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). For more than 20 years, CIHRS has played a unique and central role in identifying and responding to the challenges and needs of this movement and helping to shape its development.   CIHRS enjoys consultative status with the United Nations  and observer status with the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights.  CIHRS has received numerous awards for its work including the French Republic Award for Human Rights in December 2007, and an award from the Library of Alexandria (2010). 

CIHRS has its main offices in Cairo, Egypt, a regional office in Tunis, Tunisia and its international office in Geneva, Switzerland. 

The Geneva office of CIHRS acts as a hub for the engagement of human rights defenders from throughout the MENA region at Geneva-based UN mechanisms and in strategic capitals around the world. It also works to promote the advocacy goals of CIHRS.