Today, the world celebrates the International Human Rights Day, to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Human Rights Day is another day to celebrate rights and freedoms while no effective measures are taken to improve the human rights situation in the country and implement the human rights instruments ratified by the UAE.
Last year, the Emirati government has declared 2019 as the Year of Tolerance. Human rights organisations have issued recommendations and urged the UAE to take effective steps towards tolerance, and effectively implement the stated values of tolerance and openness.
Over the past year, the government has taken many initiatives to glow the image of the UAE as a tolerant, open state. The visit of the Pope in February 2019 was a huge PR stunt, used by the UAE to get some credit and proclaim itself a tolerant State, open to other religions and cultures. An interfaith council, named the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, was created during the papal visit by a joint declaration signed by Pope Francis and the imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb. In September, the first initiative of the Committee was announced; the Abrahamic Family House, an interfaith compound including a synagogue, a church and a mosque, to be built by 2022.
The paradox is that, at the same time, prisoners of conscience languishing in Emirati jails have been harassed, subjected to discriminatory measures, and denied their right to freedom of conscience and worship. Rights NGOs have reported that detainees have been deprived of religious books and prevented from performing acts of worship. In May, the cell of two female detainees, Amina Al-Abdouli and Maryam Al-Ballushi, was searched after the death of a cancer-patient detainee, Alya Abdulnoor. The guards insulted and humiliated the two inmates, stepped on their Qurans and confiscated prayers books from them. Many other prisoners have also complained that they have been denied the right to pray or perform acts of worship.
Furthermore, the tolerance in the UAE appears to have too many restrictions. The authorities have restricted the right to freedom of opinion and expression and cracked down on all dissenting voices. Any criticism of the State’s policy and any opinion which is not in line with the official speech is repressed. So is reporting human rights violations and relaying any information on the UAE’s bad practices.
At the end of the Year of Tolerance, prisoners of conscience arrested for their peaceful exercise of free expression remain in jail. Not only are they kept in prison, but their detention conditions have worsened. There have been multiple reports of torture and ill-treatment. In April 2019, Ahmed Mekkaoui was placed in solitary confinement after his lawyer and his sister denounced his arbitrary detention and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion recognising the arbitrary nature of his detention and urged the UAE to immediately release him. He has been denied all contact with his family and no one has heard from him since.
The Association for Victims of Torture in the UAE (AVTUAE) is further concerned about the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of human rights defender and activist Ahmed Mansoor at Al-Sadr prison. Mansoor has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest in 2017 and has been systematically denied health care despite his poor health, weakened by the ill-treatment he is subjected to and his appalling detention conditions.
The Emirati authorities continue also to play a key role in the war in Yemen. The UAE armed forces are keeping control over strategic points in the country and provide active support to local armed groups and militias. Torture in UAE-run detention centres in Yemen is systematic. The ICRC and the UN have also reported that the UAE, among the Saudi-led coalition, has been responsible for bombing civilian facilities, executing civilians and committing other serious violations to the Geneva conventions.
With this deplorable human rights record, the UAE still claims to defend the values of tolerance and promote human rights. The AVTUAE is concerned to note the complete disregard for human rights and the boldness the authorities have gained in view of the international community’s indifference. We call upon the international community to take serious steps and put pressure on the government of the United Arab Emirates to immediately put an end to human rights violations and bring its practices into line with international human rights law.
For more information, please contact us at info@avtuae.org.
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