UAE should not have been reelected to the UN Human Rights Council

The United Nations has re-elected the United Arab Emirates to the Human Rights Council, despite the human rights abuses that have been widely reported in the country. The UAE joins Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries that have been criticised for their human rights record.

The UAE has been condemned on numerous occasions for its human rights record – not just by NGOs and human rights activists, but indeed by the United Nations itself. The human rights of Emirati citizens, residents and workers has come under increasing scrutiny as the authorities implement a more heavy handed and oppressive approach to ruling the country.

Authorities in the UAE have attempted to conceal their worrying human rights record with an aggressive positive pr campaign promoting the glamour and riches that the country has to offer. But behind this facade lies a worrying trend of increasing repression and the cost of these riches has been to ignore the human rights of many in the UAE.

Human rights abuses range from enforced disappearances, reports of torture in prison, a lack of migrant labour rights, lack of protection for children of human rights defenders and many more. At the UN Human Rights Council 29th Session the Special Rapportuer on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers said that the UAE should be made to feel that it will be held accountable for its transgressions of international human rights standards.

Despite the well recorded transgressions of human rights in the UAE they have been welcomed to join the body which should be protecting human rights across the world.