Human Rights Watch recognizes that it's a human rights violation when countries restrict citizens of one sex from leaving (at least when it's women in the Middle East) (summary in comments; bold mine)

TheMuttOfMainStreet · 2023-11-14T01:53:54+00:00

Ukraine………………

Grow_peace_in_Bedlam · 2023-11-14T01:55:11+00:00

Obviously what's going on in this HRW article is wrong too, and I'm glad they're highlighting it. However, it would be nice to see them highlight the egregious emigration restrictions imposed on men in Ukraine as well. The closest thing I could find from them was about restricting foreign men who found themselves in the country at the outbreak of war from leaving.

Below is the official summary of the shared link (bold mine):

Summary

In September 2020, airport officials in Qatar stopped a 30-year-old mother of five children, demanding to contact her male guardian to confirm she had obtained his permission to travel. She told officials that her husband had dropped her at the airport, “but they wouldn’t accept that. They said ‘no, we have to call your father,’” a relative of the woman told Human Rights Watch. The officials “treated her like a minor, like a child… she is not property,” the relative said.

Women across the Middle East and North Africa region face varying restrictions preventing them from moving freely in their own country and from traveling abroad without the permission of their male guardians—typically their fathers or brothers, and when married, their husbands. The following report examines 20 countries in the Middle East and North African region and describes the different country requirements imposed on women to get their male guardians’ permission for their mobility within their country, to obtain a passport, and to travel abroad. It also examines whether women can travel abroad with their children as guardians on an equal basis with men.

Those who defend such patriarchal rules in the Middle East and North Africa often claim it is for women’s own protection but these rules are inherently demeaning and in fact expose them to domestic violence. Women have pointed to how men have used such rules to extort, exploit, punish or degrade them, and harm their rights.

These travel and mobility restrictions on women contradict many states’ own laws and constitutions which guarantee women’s equality and the freedom to reside in and leave one’s own country. They also violate international human rights law which guarantees equality and non-discrimination and freedom of movement for everyone, including to enter one’s own country, and to leave any country, including their own. Any restrictions on freedom of movement must be necessary in a democratic society, clearly provided by law, proportionate to protect the rights and freedoms of others, and consistent with all other rights such as equality and non-discrimination. Discriminatory movement restrictions also breach women’s right to equality before the law as well as their related rights including to work, study, marry, access health care, provide care to their children in their child’s best interests on an equal basis with men, and be free of violence. Almost all states in the Middle East and North Africa are states parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

This report provides governments, policymakers, and civil society including women’s rights activists and organizations a resource outlining the current status of women’s freedom of movement including male guardianship requirements in each state.

ERiC_693 · 2023-11-14T04:26:56+00:00

They're not doing it with men in mind tho.

SpicyTigerPrawn · 2023-11-14T06:05:51+00:00

Looking over the HRW website I did see men covered when they were imprisoned for human rights activism or investigative journalism, but many of the articles seemed to focus primarily or entirely on women and children with little consideration for the plight of working age men.

Steelsword06 · 2023-11-14T09:21:54+00:00

Who exactly are these organizations to tell countries that are probably run by religious laws how they should operate?

SpicyTigerPrawn · 2023-11-14T06:01:21+00:00

Have you considered asking Tirana Hassan what she thinks of men exclusively forced to remain and fight in Ukraine and why it's not at the top of the list of HRW's gender injustices? Looking over the HRW website I did see men covered when they were arrested for human rights activism or investigative journalism but many of the articles seemed to focus on women and children with little consideration of men.

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