Human rights in the United Arab Emirates

Although authorised, the death penalty is rarely applied in the UAE as the law requires that a panel of three judges agree on the decision of a sentence to death, which can be commuted if the family of the victim forgives the convicted or accept a financial compensation for the crime. When a family accepts financial compensation, a court can jail a convict to a minimum of three years and a maximum of seven years.[10]

Since the law in the UAE is based on a dual system of Shari'a and civil courts execution, death by stoning may be ruled on only if confession and four witnesses are obtained which is legally binding for a stoning sentence to be carried out, however UAE has so far never carried out any death-by-stoning sentence.[11][12][13]

Execution in the UAE is applied mainly through a firing squad.[14]

The legal system in the UAE is based on a hard-line interpretation of Sharia law.[15]

In numerous instances, the UAE government has tortured people in custody (especially expats and political dissidents).[4][5][6][81][8] UAE authorities are known to be using torture as a means to extract forced confessions of guilt.[103][104] UAE has escaped the Arab Spring; however, more than 100 Emirati activists were jailed and tortured because they sought reforms.[105][106][107] Since 2011, the UAE government has increasingly carried out forced disappearances.[2][3][108][109][110][111] Many foreign nationals and Emirati citizens have been arrested and abducted by the state, the UAE government denies these people are being held (to conceal their whereabouts), placing these people outside the protection of the law.[2][106][112] According to Human Rights Watch, the reports of forced disappearance and torture in the UAE are of grave concern.[3]

The Arab Organisation of Human Rights has obtained testimonies from many defendants, for its report on "forced disappearance and Torture in the UAE", who reported that they had been kidnapped, tortured and abused in detention centres.[2][4][112] The report included 16 different methods of torture including severe beatings, threats with electrocution and denying access to medical care.[2][112]

In 2013, 94 Emirati activists were held in secret detention centres and put on trial for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government.[113] Human rights organisations have spoken out against the secrecy of the trial. An Emirati, whose father is among the defendants, was arrested for tweeting about the trial. In April 2013, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail.[114]

Repressive measures were also used against non-Emiratis in order to justify the UAE government's claim that there is an "international plot" in which UAE citizens and foreigners were working together to destabilise the country. Foreign nationals were also subjected to a campaign of deportations.[112] There are many documented cases of Egyptians and other foreign nationals who had spent years working in the UAE being given only a few days to leave the country.[112]

Foreign nationals subjected to forced disappearance include two Libyans[115] and two Qataris.[112][116] Amnesty reported that the Qatari men had been abducted by the UAE government that withheld information about the men's fate from their families.[112][116] Among the foreign nationals detained, imprisoned and expelled is Iyad El-Baghdadi, a popular blogger and Twitter personality.[112] He was arrested by UAE authorities, detained, imprisoned and then expelled from the country. Despite his lifetime residence in the UAE, as a Palestinian citizen, El-Baghdadi had no recourse to contest this order.[112] He could not be deported back to the Palestinian territories, therefore he was deported to Malaysia.[112]

In 2012, Dubai police subjected three British citizens to beatings and electric shocks after arresting them on drugs charges.[117] The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, expressed "concern" over the case and raised it with the UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during his 2013 state visit to Britain.[118] The three men were pardoned and released in July 2013.[119]

In April 2009, a video tape of torture was smuggled out of the UAE showed Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods, and wooden planks with protruding nails, and running him over repeatedly with a car.[120]

In December 2009, Issa appeared in court and proclaimed his innocence.[121] The trial ended on 10 January 2010, when Issa was cleared of the torture of Mohammed Shah Poor.[122] Human Rights Watch criticised the trial and called on the government to establish an independent body to investigate allegations of abuse by UAE security personnel and other persons of authority.[123] The US State Department expressed concern over the verdict and said all members of Emirati society "must stand equal before the law" and called for a careful review of the decision to ensure that the demands of justice are fully met in this case.[124]

According to Human Rights Watch annual report 2016, Emirates authorities forcibly disappeared and detained people who criticised the government or its allies. In February 2015, Human Rights Watch documented a case in which three Emirati sisters, Asma, Mariam, and Al Yazzyah al-Suweidi, were forcibly disappeared by Emirates authorities. They released them without charge after spending three months in incommunicado detention. The three sisters were arrested after posting comments criticising the government for arresting their brother Dr. Issa al-Suweidi. In August 2015, Emirati academic Nasser bin Ghaith was arrested after posting some comments on social media in which he criticised the mass killing of Rab'a protesters in Cairo in 2013. Bin Ghaith's fate was still unknown at time of writing.[125]

According to Amnesty International annual report (2016) on Human Rights in UAE, enforced disappearance has been widely practiced against citizen and foreign nationals in UAE. The international organisation said UAE government has forcibly disappeared dozens of people for months in secret and unacknowledged detention for interrogation. According to the report, Abdulrahman Bin Sobeih was subjected to enforced disappearance for three months by UAE authorities. In addition, Dr Nasser Bin Ghaith, an academic and economist, was forcibly disappeared by the authorities for more than 10 months. Bin Ghaith was subjected to torture and ill-treatment as he faced charges relating to his right to freedom of expression.[126]

November 2017, Abu Dhabi security forces arrested two journalists covering the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum for Swiss public broadcaster. The journalists were held for more than 50 hours, with no ability to communicate with the outside world. According to RTS, The journalists were interrogated for up to nine hours at a time, and were blindfolded as they were shuttled between different locations. Furthermore, their camera, computers, hard drives and other material were confiscated.[127]

In March 2018, an Emirati princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum II, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was seized by commandos from a yacht away from the Indian coast, after she fled from UAE.[128] A BBC documentary reported how the princess planned her escape from her residential palace.[129] In a video recorded by Latifa prior to her escape, she claimed to have tried escaping from the UAE previously. However, she was captured at the border and jailed for three years; beaten and tortured. In December, a statement released by her family quoted that the princess was "safe" at her home. Since early March, the whereabouts of the princess were unknown.[130] On 5 March 2020, a UK family court's 34-page ruling confirmed that Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum and Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum had been abducted and forcibly detained by their father and the Dubai ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.[131]

A number of UAEs royals have been charged for abusing and ill-treating servants in overseas countries.[132]

In 2019, a 42-year-old Emirati woman, who was arrested in 2015 by the UAE authorities, grabbed media attention due to the ill-treatment she received during her imprisonment in the UAE. While raising funds for Syrian refugees, Alia Abdel Nour was arrested on the accusations of funding terrorism. She has been imprisoned for 10 years, subjected to immense torture and solitary confinement, with no access to ventilation, toilet, mattress, blanket, proper food and medicine. Despite being diagnosed with cancer – shortly after her arrest - she did not receive any medical treatment. Emirati authorities claim that Nour herself declined the medical treatment, while her family claims she was forced to sign documents that forbid her access to the treatment.[133][134]

On 4 May 2019, Alia Abdel Nour died in the UAE prison following prolonged mistreatment and denial of medical care by the Emirati authorities. Since her arrest, her hands and feet were shackled to her hospital bed for long periods of time. The UAE authorities ignored requests by the international rights groups, European parliamentarians, and United Nations experts to release her on the grounds of her deteriorating health.[135]

In January 2019, the UAE police detained 26-year-old Ali Issa Ahmad for reportedly wearing a T-shirt with Qatar's flag on it after the Qatar vs Iraq AFC Asian Cup match in Abu Dhabi.[136] Ahmad complains that the FIFA "failed to protect" his human rights. Pictures of scars on Ahmad's body from the torture sustained during detention were released by BBC. The victim complained about racial discrimination and of being stabbed and deprived of food and water while inside the prison. Complaints have been registered against FIFA as well as directed to UAE authorities through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the UN Human Rights Council.[137] According to UAE authorities, the police took Ahmed to a hospital to be examined for signs of abuse, which he complained of to the police — as is customary in cases of assault in the UAE. A medical report revealed that his injuries were inconsistent with the account of events he gave to police, and that his wounds were self-inflicted. UAE embassy in Britain denied the news allegations that he was arrested for wearing a Qatari shirt, stating "He was categorically not arrested for wearing a Qatar football shirt". Ahmed was charged for wasting police time and filing a false report, which is an illegal act. During the AFC Asian Cup, fans were seen wearing the Qatari football shirt and waving Qatari flags without any instances of arrest.[138]

In June 2020, it was reported that the UAE had been holding captive a Turkish aid worker Mehmet Ali Ozturk, since 2018. Reportedly, Ali Ozturk has been detained on frivolous grounds and was tortured inside UAE's prison. He was arrested in Dubai, where he, alongside his wife Emine Ozturk, was participating in Dubai's food festival. "He lost 25kg after the torture they subjected him to, from denailing to strappado. They would do these things when he refused to take part in a video accusing Erdogan of some crimes," his wife quoted.[139] In 2017, a Yemen human rights activist Huda Al-Sarari exposed a UAE secret detention facility in Yemen where thousands of Emiratis were held and tortured. Al-Sarari was forced into exile.[140]

On 9 July 2020, reports claimed that the UAE authorities declined the requests of human rights organisations to provide information about an Omani man, Abdullah al-Shaamsi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2020 on a seriously unfair trial. Al-Shaamsi was arrested in 2018 at the age of 19, while attending high school in the UAE. The security forces subjected him to a sustained period of detention without communication, solitary confinement and torture, leaving him with kidney cancer and depression. Despite his health conditions, he was being held in an overcrowded prison known for unsanitary conditions and lack of access to adequate health care, during the COVID-19 crisis.[141]

Since October 2020, UAE authorities on basis of religious background have forcibly disappeared at least four Pakistani men and deported at least six others. Reports of UAE authorities arbitrarily targeting Shia residents, whether Lebanese, Iraqi, Afghan, Pakistani, or otherwise, often emerge at times of increased regional tensions.[142]

In March 2021, the US State Department released a report on the human rights practices in the UAE. It highlighted that while the disappearance cases and unlawful killings were not reported to media throughout 2020, there were cases of torture, arbitrary detentions, abuses, threats of rape, and beatings. The department reported the conditions of Emirati prisons, which remained overcrowded, had poor sanitary conditions and provided no easy access to medical care, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UAE prisons were described as extremely torturous, where prisoners were discriminated against and abused using various ways. The detainees were in most cases not provided with the details of their case for months, while many receive the charges written in Arabic with no translation and forced to sign such documents.[143]

In July 2021, a private letter written by prominent human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, detailing his mistreatment in detention and grossly unfair trial, was published by a London-based Arabic news site. Despite having ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2012, the UAE grossly violated the act's obligations by holding Mansoor in isolation for at least four years, amounting to physical and mental torture.[144]

In September 2021, the UAE sentenced an activist from Syria, Abdul Rahman Al-Nahhas, to ten years in prison. Founder of the Insan Watch Organization, the human rights activist was charged by the Public Prosecutor of terrorism for his alleged membership in a terrorist organization as he was linked with the Switzerland-based Al-Karama Organisation for Human Rights. Al-Nahhas was also charged for insulting the prestige of the state by approaching the French embassy seeking political asylum. He was arrested at the end of 2019 and was forcibly disappeared by the UAE authorities until the commencement of his trial in January 2021. During his detention, Al-Nahhas was threatened, tortured, and was not allowed to contact his family.[145]

On 1 October 2021, lawyers submitted a complaint to the French Prosecutor in Paris against Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi for the unlawful detention and torture of two British men, Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad. Al-Raisi has been a controversial candidate for the presidency of international policing body Interpol. The complaint against him was made under the principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing the French authorities to investigate and arrest foreign nationals for certain crimes even if they occurred outside France.[146]

In 2021, Ahmed Naser, a UAE senior Policeman was made the chief of Interpol. He has allegedly tortured a number of people in the UAE before.[147]

On 7 January 2022, the Human Rights Watch reported that Emirati authorities penalised human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor after he published a prison letter detailing his mistreatment in detention in July 2021. The UAE authorities held Mansoor largely incommunicado and denied him access to critical medical care. The UAE violated Mansoor's rights for many years with arbitrary arrest and detention, death threats, physical assault, government surveillance, and inhumane treatment in custody.[148]

A British businessman, Ryan Cornelius was being held arbitrarily by the authorities in the UAE since 2008. He was arrested from Dubai airport and was detained after some complicated business dealings with influential Emiratis. In 2010, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after charges of fraud. The UAE authorities sentenced him for additional 20 years, two months before his release date in 2018. Cornelius contracted tuberculosis in detention. He was subjected to human rights abuses, including aggressive interrogations in absence of legal representative and prolonged solitary confinement. In June 2022, the UN officials shed light on the issue and called on the UAE to immediately release Cornelius.[149]

In the UAE, there is no formal commitment to free speech.[156] It is not permitted to be in any way critical of the government, government officials, police and the royal families. Any attempt to also form a union in public and protest against any issue, will be met with severe action.[157] Free speech restrictions apply to critics, as well as to ordinary social media users.

On 16 November 2007 Tecom stopped broadcast of two major Pakistani satellite news channels, uplinked from Dubai Media City, which was initially marketed by Tecom under the tagline "Freedom to Create". The Dubai government had ordered Tecom to shut down the popular independent Pakistani news channels Geo News and ARY One World on the demand of Pakistan's military regime led by General Pervez Musharraf. This was implemented by Du Samacom disabling their SDI & ASI streams. Later, policy makers in Dubai permitted these channels to air their entertainment programs, but news, current affairs and political analysis were forbidden. Although subsequently the conditions were removed, marked differences have since been observed in their coverage. This incident has had a serious impact on all organisations in the media city with Geo TV and ARY OneWorld considering relocation.[158][159][160]

In 2013, the UAE arrested five men, including an American citizen for making a satirical video. The American, who had moved to Dubai for work, was sentenced to a year in prison.[161][162]

Andrew Ross, a professor at New York University was not allowed to enter the UAE (where the university has a campus), after he had commented on the treatment of workers who built the campus there. Airline staff at the airport informed him that the UAE authorities told them that they will refuse him entry.[163]

Amnesty International released a report about violating the right to freedom of expression in the United Arab Emirates. According to the report, a prominent economist, academic and human rights defender Dr Nasser bin Ghaith was sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Federal Appeal Court in Abu Dhabi. He was charged of posting false information on Twitter about UAE leaders and their policies; and the comments state that he had not been given a fair trial where he and four other Emirates prosecuted on charges of publicly insulting the countries' leaders over comments posted online. He was forcibly disappeared, held in secret detention for months and subjected to beatings and deliberate sleep deprivation.[164]

Amnesty International published a report about violating the human rights in the United Arab Emirates. According to the report, a prominent human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor was arrested at 3:15 by 10 male and two female uniformed security officials. They raided the family's apartment, carried out a lengthy room-by-room search, including of the children's bedroom, and confiscated electronic devices. He was detained for the peaceful expression of conscientiously held belief.[165]

Human Rights Watch issued a report regarding the violation of the rights to freedom of expression in the United Arab Emirates. On 15 March 2017, Tayseer Najjar, a Jordanian journalist, was sentenced to a three-year prison term and a fine of 500,000 UAE Dirhams by Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court. He was charged with insulting the state's symbols and criticising Egypt, Israel and Gulf countries through comments he made on Facebook during Israeli military operations in Gaza in 2014, before he moved to the UAE. Ten days after preventing him to travel to Jordan for his wife and children on 3 December 2015, UAE authorities summoned al-Najjar to a police station in Abu Dhabi and detained him. They also prevented him to contact with a lawyer for more than a year before bringing him to trial in January 2017.[166]

Najjar was set to be released on 13 December 2018, after completing a three-year prison sentence. However, his sentence was extended for another six months as he failed to pay the substantial fine. Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders urged Anwar Gargash, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, for an immediate release of the journalist. Sarah Leah Whitson, Director of Human Rights Watch said, "If the UAE were truly committed to its rhetoric of tolerance, it would not have ripped Najjar away from his wife and children for years-old innocuous Facebook posts."[167]

Amnesty International issued a report regarding the violation of the right to freedom of speech in the United Arab Emirates. Hussain al-Najjar has served an 11-year prison sentence; he is one of a number of prisoners convicted in 2013 following the grossly unfair mass trial of 94 government critics and reform advocates. Accordingly, on 17 March 2014, the activist Osama al-Najjar who is a 28-year-old son of Hussain, was sentenced to three years in prison after sending tweets to the Minister of Interior expressing concern about his father who had been ill-treated in jail. During the detention, he was denied access to a lawyer for over six months and held in solitary confinement at a secret detention facility for four days after his arrest.[168]

During the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, the Attorney-General of the United Arab Emirates announced on 7 June that publishing expressions of sympathy towards Qatar through social media, or any type of written, visual or verbal form is considered illegal under UAE's Federal Penal Code and the Federal law on Combating Information Technology Crimes. Violators of this offence face between 3 and 15 years imprisonment, a fine of up to 500,000 Emirati dirhams ($136,000) or both.[169][170]

In March 2017, UAE's prominent economist, academic and human rights defender Dr Nasser bin Ghaith was arrested and imprisoned for 10 years, for his comments on Twitter related to the treatment he received during his previous arrest. Amnesty International condemned and criticised the arrest, asking for his immediate release – which is still pending.[171] Ghaith went on a hunger strike in October 2018; his health has been deteriorating since then. Also, he was denied access to a lawyer during his trial period and still awaits justice.[172]

According to Amnesty International, Israeli company NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was used to target human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor.[173][174] citizen Lab's August 2016 report, "The Million Dollar Dissident", documents the attempts made to infect Mansoor's phone with Pegasus spyware.[175]

On 20 March 2020, Amnesty International and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights wrote a joint-letter and called for the immediate and unconditional release of rights activist Ahmed Mansoor. The groups also called the UAE as an "incubator of tolerance".[176]

In April 2020, the authorities in the United Arab Emirates introduced criminal penalties for the spread of misinformation and rumours related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates.[177] On 11 May 2020, a US-based gulf rights group, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain in its report said that "impunity in the United Arab Emirates is endemic." Their study documented tactics used by Emirati authorities to stifle dissidents, besides revealing use of torture against those recognised as imminent threat to national security. "This ‘threat' most commonly includes human rights defenders, political opposition, religious figures, and journalists," a statement from the report read.[178] In June 2020, International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE (ICFUAE) informed that the UAE continues to detain human rights activists who demanded democratic reform in the country. The campaign group stated Fahad al-Hijri, Abdallah Ali Alhajery, Oman Alharethy and Mahmoud Alhoseny, all have completed their sentences, but continued to remain imprisoned.[179]

Alaa al-Siddiq, a UAE dissident and critic of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, allegedly died in a car crash in Oxfordshire, South East England. However, campaigners and a close colleague of Ms al-Siddiq have demanded the British police to thoroughly investigate the incident, claiming that the activist's "life was at risk all the time", Khalid Ibrahim, executive-director of the GCHR. Al Siddiq was a human rights activist, who had been fighting for the release of her father Mohammad al-Siddiq, also an activist, who had been detained since 2013. According to Mr Ibrahim, threat to the life of Al Siddiq heightened since her commencing work for the Saudi human rights firm, ALQST. Other passengers in the BMW car, two adults and a child, received injuries and were taken to the hospital for treatment.[180]

On 16 September 2021, in a strongly worded resolution, European Union legislators condemned alleged human rights violations in the UAE and urged the government to free several prominent human rights activists and other "peaceful dissidents" imprisoned in the country.[181]

An American social media influencer, Tierra Young Allen was being trapped in Dubai for months, after she was arrested over possible charges of “shouting” at an employee of a car rental agency she hired a car from. Allen travelled to the UAE in April 2023. The incident occurred when she went back to get her personal items from the agency, after the car met with an accident. However, she was asked to pay “an undisclosed amount of money”. The car agent allegedly got aggressive and started “screaming at her”. Allen shouted back at the employee, and was also followed out of the building. Shouting is technically a crime under the Emirati laws, which strictly govern speech. Speaking loudly, raising middle finger in a dispute, or swearing in public are all considered offensive crimes. The UAE authorities held Allen’s passport. Radha Stirling, who was helping Allen to depart Dubai, approached the Texas lawmakers like Senator Ted Cruz and Sheila Jackson Lee to work with the US consulate in Dubai to stop her imprisonment.[182][183]

Human rights advocates were pushing the UK government to attain guarantee from the UAE that Britishers attending the COP28 summit should not face arrests if they protest. They wrote a letter to James Cleverly calling for him to ask for an undertaking from the UAE assuring the security and rights of the UK citizens travelling to the UAE for COP28. The human right activist said dissidents are often arrested in the country, and protests against the Emirati government are crushed. In April 2023, COP28 organizers asked the speakers attending the summit to not protest against the UAE laws.[184]

In August 2023, Human Rights Watch urged the Emirati authorities to release all those detained unlawfully before the COP28 event. The UAE continued to detain people who already completed their prison sentence, including the 55 dissidents, lawyers and others convicted in mass trial of the “UAE94” case. The “UAE94” detainees covered a majority of those held in prison beyond their sentences. The UAE was called for to release the imprisoned human rights activist, Ahmed Mansoor, who was being held in prolonged solitary confinement since his arrest in March 2017. The Emirates was also demanded to immediately release other rights defenders Dr Naseer bin ghai, Amina Al Abdouli and Maryam Al Balushi. HRW also called on the UAE to end the human rights violations, including monitoring through sophisticated surveillance, use of repressive laws to imprison human rights defenders, denying the right to freedom of expression, denying right to peaceful assembly, and denying the right to form union to the migrant workers.[185]

In recent years, a large number of Shia Muslim expatriates have been deported from the UAE,[194][195][196] Lebanese Shia families have been deported for their alleged sympathy for Hezbollah.[197][198][199][200][201][202] According to some organisations, more than 4,000 Shia expats have been deported from the UAE in recent years.[203][204]

The lack of religious freedom in China has led to Uyghur Muslims fleeing the country to take refuge in other parts of the world. However, the diplomatic relations of Beijing have resulted in the abuse and detention of Uyghur Muslims even abroad. The government of UAE was reportedly one of the three Arab nations to have detained and deported Uyghur Muslims living in asylum in Dubai, back to China. The decision received a lot of criticism due to China's poor human rights records and no extradition agreement shared between the two countries.[205]

The United Arab Emirates ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2004. This Convention regards violence against women as a form of discrimination and calls on participating governments to put measures in place to combat violence in all forms, be it domestic or public. The UAE regularly participates in and hosts international and GCC conferences on women's issues. The UAE has signed several other international treaties on protecting the rights of women. Among these are the Convention on the Rights of a Child, the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, the Equal Remuneration Convention, the Conventions Concerning Employment of Women During the Night and the Minimum Age Convention.

The 2015 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) status report on Millennium Development Goals noted that the state legislations in the UAE do not discriminate on the basis of gender with respect to education, employment or the quality of services provided.[206]

Through several initiatives women in the UAE are playing an increasingly important role in the economy, politics and technology and are viewed by some as leaders of gender equality in the Gulf region.[207]

There is an alternative for women to dissolve their marriage found under article 110 of the Personal Status Code, or khul', however this means a woman relinquishes her right to the mahr – or the dowry she received as part of the marriage contract.

As to custody of children, women are considered physical guardians, they have the right to custody up to the age of 13 for girls and 10 for boys. But if a woman chooses to remarry she automatically forfeits her right to custody of her children. Current laws gives custody of children to the who is suitable.

Furthermore, under article 71, women who leave their husbands can be ordered to return to their marital home.

In November 2021, a report by The Independent highlighted the lack of fundamental protection of women's rights in the UAE. British politicians — Sir Peter Bottomley, Debbie Abrahams and Helena Kennedy — generated a report based on the testimony of British women who experienced the UAE legal system. On the other side of the many reforms and PR experts laundering efforts, the Emirati laws still leave women vulnerable to serious abuses of their rights, with little legal recourse.[208][209]

Construction workers at the Burj Dubai

Migrants, particularly migrant workers, make up a majority (approximately 80%) of the resident population of the UAE, and account for 90% of its workforce.[236] They generally lack rights associated with citizenship and face a variety of restrictions on their rights as workers.[237][238] There are reports of undocumented Emiratis who, because of their inability to be recognised as full citizens, receive no government benefits and have no labour rights. These stateless Emiratis – also known as bidun – either migrated to the UAE before independence or were natives who failed to register as citizens.[239] In addition, there are various incidents where local individuals have ill-treated people from overseas, just on the basis of nationality or race.[240]

Emiratis receive favourability in employment via the Emiratisation programme forcing companies by law to limit the number of migrant workers in a company. This is done for the purposes of stabilising the labour market and protecting the rights of this group as a minority in their own country. At the same time, however, due to the welfare benefits of the UAE government, many Emiratis are reluctant to take up low paying jobs especially those in the private sector; private sector employers are also generally more inclined to hire overseas temporary workers as they are cheaper and can be retrenched for various reasons, for example, if they go on strike[241][242][243][244] Most UAE locals also prefer government jobs and consider private sector jobs to be below them.[245]

Migrants, mostly of South Asian origin, constitute 42.5% of the UAE's workforce[246] and have reportedly been subject to a range of human rights abuses. Workers have sometimes arrived in debt to recruitment agents from home countries and upon arrival were made to sign a new contract in English or Arabic that pays them less than had originally been agreed, although this is illegal under UAE law.[247] Further to this, some categories of workers have had their passports withheld by their employer. This practice, although illegal, is to ensure that workers do not abscond or leave the country on un-permitted trips.[248] In 2012, a workers' camp in Sonapur, Dubai, had their water cut for 20 days and electricity for 10 days, as well as no pay for three months. They were told that they had been forewarned that the lease was about to expire, and their option was to go to the Sharjah camp, which the workers did not want to do because it was "very dirty and [had] a foul smell.[249]

• In September 2003 the government was criticised by Human Rights Watch for its inaction in addressing the discrimination against Asian workers in the emirate.[250]
• In 2004, the United States Department of State has cited widespread instances of blue collar labour abuse in the general context of the United Arab Emirates.[251]
• The BBC reported in September 2004 that "local newspapers often carry stories of construction workers allegedly not being paid for months on end. They are not allowed to move jobs and if they leave the country to go home they will almost certainly lose the money they say they are owed. The names of the construction companies concerned are not published in the newspapers for fear of offending the often powerful individuals who own them."[252]
• In December 2005 the Indian consulate in Dubai submitted a report to the Government of India detailing labour problems faced by Indian expatriates in the emirate. The report highlighted delayed payment of wages, substitution of employment contracts, premature termination of services and excessive working hours as being some of the challenges faced by Indian workers in the city.[253] The consulate also reported that 109 Indian blue collar workers committed suicide in the UAE in 2006.[254]
• In March 2006, NPR reported that workers "typically live eight to a room, sending home a portion of their wage to their families, whom they don't see for years at a time." Others report that their wage has been withheld to pay back loans, making them little more than indentured servants.[255]
• In 2007, the falling dollar meant workers were unable to service debts and the incidence of suicides among Indian workers had reportedly been on the increase.^[Usurped!]

Construction workers from Asia on top floor of the Angsana Tower

• Human Rights Watch reported issues during construction of Louvre Abu Dhabi museum including the confiscation of workers passports resulting in forced labour conditions.[256] High "recruitment loans" paid by migrant workers to construction companies still had not been repaid as of 2019, according to government-paid monitors. 86% of these fees were over $2000.[257]
• In October 2020, Dubai witnessed a spike in number of homeless migrant workers. Blue collar workers from Asia and Africa claimed that they were trapped in the city after losing jobs, as the economy tightened due to COVID-19. Reports stated that many migrants gathered in the parks, as they were left abandoned with no money. It was also suggested that migrant workers from poorer countries were paid low wages, worked for long hours and often lived in cramped dormitories that were seen as coronavirus hotbeds in the UAE.[258]

According to the Ansar Burney Trust (ABT), an illegal sex industry thrives in the emirates, where a large number of the workers are victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, especially in Dubai. This complements the tourism and hospitality industry, a major part of Dubai's economy.[273]

Prostitution, though illegal by law, is conspicuously present in the emirate because of an economy that is largely based on tourism and trade. There is a high demand for women from Europe and Asia. According to the World Sex Guide, a website catering to sex tourists, Eastern European and Ethiopian women are the most common prostitutes, while Eastern European prostitutes are part of a well-organised trans-Oceanic prostitution network.[274] The government has been trying to curb prostitution. In March 2007, it was reported that the UAE has deported over 4,300 sex workers mainly from Dubai.[275][276]

The UAE government enshrines conservative values in its constitution and therefore has adopted significant measures to combat this regional problem. The government of the UAE has worked with law enforcement officials to build capacity and awareness through holding training workshops and implementing monitoring systems to report human rights violations. Despite this, the system led to registration of only ten human-trafficking related cases in 2007 and half as many penalised convictions.[277]

Businesses participating in exploiting women and conducting illegal activities have licenses revoked and operations are forced to close. In 2007, after just one year, the efforts led to prosecution of prostitution cases rose by 30 percent. A year later, an annual report on the UAE's progress on human trafficking measures was issued and campaigns to raise public awareness of the issue are also planned.[278] Internationally, the UAE has led various efforts in combating human trafficking, particularly with the main countries of origin. The state has signed numerous bilateral agreements meant to regulate the labour being sent abroad by ensuring transactions are conducted by labour ministries and not profiting recruitment agencies.

In 2020, International United Nations Watch released a report on trafficking to the Middle East from Europe. The documentation highlighted multiple patterns of trafficking and made a mention of how the number of Moldovan women and girls are being trafficked to the UAE. It also said that although the UAE has anti-trafficking measures in place, Dubai continues to be the "amusement park of the Arabian Peninsula".[279]

• Human rights in Dubai
• LGBT rights in the United Arab Emirates
• Freedom of religion in the United Arab Emirates
• Communications in the United Arab Emirates
• Emirates Centre for Human Rights
• Human rights in Islamic countries

• Women in the United Arab Emirates: A Portrait of Progress (PDF)