Event: Review of the Human Rights Condition in the UAE
The Washington Center for Human Rights is hosting a congressional briefing titled “Review of the Human Rights Condition in the UAE.” The event, led by Rep. Joe Wilson, is scheduled for February 15th from 3 to 4 p.m. in Room Cannon 454 at 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC. Nussaiba Mubarak, the Government Relations Manager for the Institute for Middle East Understanding, will be the moderator. Panelists include Saif Al Mothana, Advocacy Relations Director at the Washington Center for Human Rights; Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Gulf State Analytics and Adjunct Assistant Professor at George Washington University; and Raed Jarrar, Advocacy Director at Democracy for the Arab World Now. The speakers will critically analyze and review the human rights conditions in the UAE.
According to human rights organizations, the oil-rich monarchy of the UAE violates several fundamental human rights. Emirates do not have democratically elected institutions, and citizens do not have the privilege to elect their government or create political parties. Activists and academics who condemn the regime are detained and imprisoned, and the state security instrument constantly harasses their families.
There are also reports of forced disappearances in the country; many foreign nationals and Emirati citizens have been seized by the UAE government and illegally detained and tortured in unrevealed locations. In multiple instances, the UAE government has tortured people in custody, specifically expatriates and political dissidents. It has restricted their citizen’s right to a quick trial and access to lawyers during official investigations.
As per the Human Rights Watch Report, In 2022, UAE authorities introduced amendments to a vast range of laws yet continued a frightening campaign of repression and censorship against dissidents.
The UAE has also extended its surveillance capabilities, both online and through drone surveillance in public areas. UAE management continues to blockade representatives of international human rights organizations and UN experts from operating in-country research and visiting prisons and detention buildings.
Moreover, Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent Emirati human rights defender, remained detained in an isolation cell for a seventh year. Facts of UAE authorities’ persecution of Mansoor appeared in 2021, revealing severe violations of his rights that confirmed the State Security Agency’s unchecked powers to perpetrate abuses. In July 2021, a private letter he documented detailing his unfairness in detention was revealed to regional media, sparking continued worry over his well-being and potential retaliation. An informed source reported that after the letter was publicized, authorities retaliated by dragging Mansour to a smaller and more solitary cell, denying him access to essential medical care, and confiscating his reading glasses.
Furthermore, Despite being part of the UN Council, the UAE has not signed most international human rights and labor-rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
