The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) congratulates its Advisory Board member Brian Dooley for being honoured with the University of Oslo’s (UiO) Human Rights Award for 2025 “for having dedicated his career to advocating human rights and bringing greater global attention to less visible issues.”

“GCHR is thrilled that a dedicated member of its Advisory Board has won such a prestigious award,” said GCHR’s Executive Director Khalid Ibrahim. “Brian is one of the main pillars of GCHR who joined the Advisory Board since its establishment back in 2011. He has carried out several missions to countries in our region including Lebanon, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and joined us at UN consultations and workshops, in addition to still being an active member of our team.”

Dooley said, “GCHR has given me the chance to meet and learn from so many great human rights defenders across the region. I’m very grateful to Khalid and the team, and look forward to working with GCHR for a long time to come.”

Dooley recently carried out a mission to Lebanon and wrote a report published in December 2024 entitled, “Attacked from all directions: Media workers under fire in Lebanon’s war”.

He is also Senior Advisor at Human Rights First, and has worked with work with Amnesty International, and Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders 

UiO’s Human Rights Award is given out annually during Oslo Peace Days as a recognition of personal efforts and active involvement in one or more areas related to human rights issues in a broad sense.