International Day in Support of Victims of Torture TORTURE IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture TORTURE IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Political context of the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirate’s violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms that are guaranteed under International covenants and declarations have grossly increased to include the prosecution and the trial of innocent dissidents and activists especially after the wave of Arab revolutions which formed the so-called "Arab Spring", during which the slogans of freedom, dignity and social justice have raised and emerged.

Indeed, Emirati authorities have arrested a number of human rights activists following their signature to the reform petition that was addressed to the rulers of UAE calling for the establishment of a solid and rational government and the reinforcing of the basic Rights and Freedoms.

On 3 March, 2011, the signatories of the well-known petition for reforms expressed their longings and aspirations for the election of the members of the Federal National Council by all citizens, as it is the case of democratic countries around the world and called for the modification of the constitutional articles related to the Federal National Council in order to ensure legislative and monitoring powers.

Some of the undersigned persons, including academics, lawyers, experts and women were stripped out their nationality and were subject to arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and unfair trials which violated their right to a proper defense.

They were also exposed to torture and other ill and degrading treatment, a fact that was neglected by Emirati authorities, who have intentionally delayed the detainees’ trial in breach to the right to obtain without delay a public and fair trial.

Families of the detainees have also faced many rights’ violations including their right to travel, to visit their sons in prison and to get a job and many of them were stripped out of their nationality and turned into stateless persons or what is known as “Al Bidoon” in addition to being denied the right to a judicial and administrative appeal against the decision.

In fact, AlSiddiq family were summoned to the police station and stripped out of their official documents and thus becoming foreigners after being Emirati citizens.

Indeed, Emirati authorities have deliberately tried dissidents and human rights activists on fabricated and baseless charges and crimes under inaccurate and repressing laws such as the Federal Law No. 2 of 2003 on the State Security Service, the Federal Decree No. 5 of 2012 on combating cyber-crimes information and the Federal law No. 7 of 2014 on combating terrorist crimes which are laws that do not respect the principle of the Rule of Law and violate the principle of legality of offenses and penalties.

The legal framework of torture in the United Arab Emirates

 

1 Legislative license of torture and ill-treatment

The United Arab Emirates has reinforced, through its constitutional articles, the prohibition of torture (Article 26 of the Constitution "No one shall be subjected to torture or degrading treatment") and the protection of the physical and moral sanctity (Article 28: "to harm the accused physically or mentally”).

However, constitutionalizing the prohibition of torture and degrading treatment and criminalizing the fact of harming the accused persons physically and morally did not urge the authorities of the United Arab Emirates for the early accession to the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1984. Indeed, it has only become member of the Torture Convention on 19 July 2012 and refuses till today to join the Optional Protocol on the Convention against Torture.

 

2 UAE's refusal to join the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture 

The UAE has belatedly ratified the Convention against Torture on 19 July 2012 after it has pledged to do so in front of the Human Rights Council back in 2008, but it did not accept, until today, to join the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 18, 2002 and entered into force in June 22, 2006 to create the Subcommittee on prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (“SPT”) that receives and examines reports sent by individuals who are subject to legal jurisdiction and claiming to be victims of right’s violation. Therefore, the “SPT” Committee examines these reports, in accordance with the principles of confidentiality, impartiality, non-selectivity, universality and objectivity.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture has also called on countries to set national mechanisms for the prevention of torture in order to examine, on a regular basis, the treatment of the accused in places of detention as defined in Article 4, in order to carry out, if necessary, their protection from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The Protocol has also made recommendations to relevant authorities to improve the treatment and conditions of the persons deprived of their liberty and to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by taking into account the relevant standards set by the United Nations and presenting suggestions and observations concerning the existing legislation.

The UAE refused to join The Optional Protocol on the Convention against Torture in order to not be obliged to receive the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture that will investigate the complaints of torture and ill-treatment, and to not be bound by the Article 17, to set a national mechanism to prevent torture within a period of up to one year from the joining date.

 

3 The definition of torture in the UAE does not match with the one of the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

The UAE has merely criminalized and punished any officer who used torture, force or threat against the accused or the witness in order to get him to confess to a crime, to make a statement or to conceal a thing as part of Chapter 242 of the Emirati Penal Code.

Article I of the Convention against Torture has confirmed that torture means:

“Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

Indeed, the difference between the Emirati Penal Code’s definition of crime and torture and that of the articles of the Convention against Torture indicates the deliberate decision of UAE to narrow the definition to one that does not grasp all the UN elements and lacks the principle of responsibility which would lead to impunity from accountability and punishment for all the torturers and thus provide the safe havens for them.

Despite the intervention of the UAE Constitution, under the Articles 26 and 28 for the prohibition of torture and the prevention of the physical and moral abuse against the accused, Emirati laws are still lacking the Body of Principles for the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. 

 

4 The Body of Principles for the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment

- To not ignore the claims of torture over time.

- Ban on invoking superior orders to justify torture and ill-treatment or to not protest the duty of obedience to subordinate to his boss in accordance with Article 2 of the Convention against Torture.

- The exclusion of statements or confessions showing that they were extracted under torture in accordance with Article 15 of the Convention against Torture.

- The right of a victim of torture or of his dependants in case of death in full redress and reparation for the harm or damage to his family in accordance with Article 14 of the Convention against Torture.

 

5 The absence of a law that protects victims of torture and ill-treatment and provides all the rights guaranteed for them, including the protection and if necessary the change of residence and identity

Moreover, it is important to note that Emirati authorities’ refusal to join the two international covenants and the main conventions demonstrates the absence of the will of UAE rulers to provide all the necessary guarantees to prevent torture and to protect the personal dignity and security of the detainees.

 

6 United Arab Emirates’ unwillingness and rejection to join the two UN covenants represents a threat to the physical and psychological safety of the detainees

UAE did not join:

  • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in which the article 7 emphasized on the fact that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation. «It is important to note that the number of the States that have acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is 168.
  • International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
  • Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.

 

7 Absence of a national human rights body in accordance with the Paris Principles for the prevention of torture

The United Arab Emirates has already pledged during the Universal Periodic Review before the Human Rights Council in 2013 to set a National Commission for Human Rights in accordance with the requirements of the Paris Principles, however, it did not fulfill its promise and till today. We do not find in the UAE an independent national human rights institution, that has high powers and committed to protect and promote human rights and monitor all of the violations as well as to track, control and visit places of detention and abuse and to receive complaints and present them to competent authorities and help the complainants to take the right procedures.

It is known that national human rights institutions that are compatible with the Paris Principles play a crucial role in promoting and monitoring the effective implementation of international human rights standards at a national level and in ensuring the appropriate treatment for the detainees that protects their dignity and humanity and prevents the practice of torture and ill-treatment.

 

The practice of torture and ill-treatment in Emirati prisons: Torture inquests and pain answers

International human rights covenants, conventions and declarations have all agreed on the absolute prohibition of torture during war and peace time, and that this right is a solid right in international law.

The Article 2(2) of the Convention against Torture confirmed that:

“No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture”.

Despite UAE’s ratification of the Convention against Torture, the human rights situation in the country is not compatible with this Convention and other international conventions, covenants or declarations that prevent the violation of the physical and psychological sanctity of the detainees and defend their personal dignity and safety.

Indeed, the International Centre for Justice and Human Rights in Geneva has received credible and frequent information, from inside and outside the UAE, stating that the detainees, including dissidents and human rights activists, were exposed to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the prison authorities.

In fact, Emirati authorities have deliberately tortured and mistreated the detainees of the "UAE 5” and “UAE 94” Groups and violated their basic rights after convicting them on baseless and fabricated charges such as seeking to overthrow the government and threatening state security in addition to the fact that one of them was arrested because of his peaceful Tweets.

The ICJHR has already revealed some of the names of persons who have tortured and mistreated the detainees including a police officer named Ahmed Abdullah who chained the prisoners’ hands and legs from behind and made them with their hands bound, sit in the prison yard at noon under the scorching sun, which hurt and harmed them with marks in their hands and legs. Afterwards, he searched the luggage of the detainees, accompanied by the rest of the guards, and purposely started to scatter the prisoners’ luggage, throw chairs, and squeeze shampoo and toothpaste on room floors in front of them.

 

To read the full report, click here: INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SUPPORT OF VICTIMS OF TORTURE : INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SUPPORT OF VICTIMS OF TORTURE : TORTURE IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

- Published on June 2016

- By International Centre for Justice and Human Rights 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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