UN Session in Geneva Highlights Persistent Rights Abuses in UAE
The UAE's recent human rights record was placed under the spotlight yesterday morning at a Universal Periodical Review (UPR) session in Geneva. Member states called upon the UAE to end practices of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, and to uphold rights around freedom of expression and assembly, and guarantee rights to migrant workers, as well as to revoke the death penalty.
Every 5 years, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva reviews the human rights situation of every country around the world. Introduced by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, the UPR involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all UN member states.
On behalf of the UAE delegation, Emirati Foreign Minister, Anwar Gargash delivered an opening statement in which he sought to defend the UAE's recent rights record. Gargesh stated the he was proud of the UAE's recent record in this regard, stating that the “the level of protection of human rights achieved” in the UAE since that last review represented a “significant success.”
In his address, Gargesh focused heavily on the improvement of the conditions of migrant workers in the country. In its annual report, however, Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted the continued abuse and exploitation of the UAE's migrant workforce. Despite passing a domestic workers law in September 2017 which provided rights for migrant workers for the first time, the report argued that “some provisions are weaker than those provided to other workers under the country's labour law.”
In this regard, UN missions from Nepal, Norway, Myanmar, Morocco and the Philippines called on the UAE to take further measures to protect the rights of migrant workers and improve their working conditions.
In his opening statement, Gargesh proclaimed that the UAE is “committed to preserving freedom of expression.” According to recent estimates by the Geneva based International Campaign for Justice and Human Rights (ICJHR), there are approximately 200 'prisoners of conscience' imprisoned in the UAE on, what are essentially, 'speech charges'. Moreover, in 2016 alone, around 300 people were detained in the UAE for social media comments that were critical of the state.
In March of last year, Jordanian journalist Tayseer al-Najjar and the distinguished Emirati economist Dr. Nasser Bin Ghaith were sentenced to three and ten years respectively for comments made on social media that the authorities deemed damaged the “reputation of the state.” whilst the award-wining human rights defender, Ahmed Mansoor was disappeared by authorities as a result of his social media activity.
In response to this, many states, including Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Qatar and the United States called upon the UAE to take measures to protect human rights defenders and guarantee freedoms of opinion and expression within their borders.
According to UN bodies and rights organisations, in recent years there has been a substantial increase in practices of arbitrary detention in the UAE. However, despite overwhelming to the contrary, Anwar Gargesh denied the existence of any such practices in the UAE. This contravenes recent figures produced by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) who declared 100 arrests arbitrary in the UAE between 2013-2017, including that of Ahmed Mansoor. Furthermore, during the same period, 37 actions were sent to the Working Group on Enforced disappearances. Nasser Bin Ghaith and Tayseer Al-Najjar were held for over a year without charge before their sentencing last year.
Rebuking the UAE over such practices, the Italian mission called for an end to secret detentions in the country and Botswana recommended a limit to pre-trial detention.
Whilst referring explicitly to the continued detention of Ahmed Mansoor, the Austrian delegation called on the UAE to cooperate with the UN and promote legislation on freedom of expression. Mansoor's detention was heavily condemned by UN experts last year who described his arrest as a “direct attack” on human rights defenders everywhere. In this regard, the Belgian mission made recommendations to the UAE to ensure that human rights defenders can operate freely in the country without fear of judicial reprisals.
Furthermore, many states present at the session, including Switzerland, Finland and Italy, expressed concern about practices of torture in the UAE. At a UN side event last week, four UAE torture victims, including former MD of Leeds Utd F.C David Haigh, detailed the abuses they experienced at the hands of Emirati authorities. There have been a signifiant number of such cases in recent years, and despite numerous calls to do so, the Emirati authorities have refused to conduct independent investigations into any such allegations.
It is vital that in the coming period, the UAE authorities take substantive measures to implement the recommendations tabled at the UPR meeting. Yesterday's session further underlined the urgent need for reforms in the country. In this regard, it is imperative that the Emirati authorities use these recommendations as a framework to bring political, civil and judicial processes in line with international human rights legislation. If meaningful change is to take place in the country, the UAE government must start taking these kinds of sessions seriously. Rather than appeasing them, the Emirati authorities should engage meaningfully with UN mechanisms and working bodies to bring about the necessary changes required in the country.
- For more information or comments, please contact the ICFUAE team atjoe@icfuae.org.uk
