The UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, has criticised what he described as a “pervasive culture of silence and fear affecting anyone who wants to speak and work for reforms in Oman” and called on the government to adopt a “human rights and people-centred approach that can lead to the full enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms, including rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association”. Kiai, a Kenyan lawyer with a long career in human rights, said that Oman was the first country in the Middle East to extend an invitation under the mandate since it was established by the Human Rights Council in October 2010.