Human Rights Organizations expose violations against detainees in the UAE
International human rights organizations have exposed the UAE’s abuses of sick detainees in its prisons through neglect and lack of treatment at a time when Abu Dhabi claims to be tolerant and hosts international health conferences.
Treatment Action Group, Action Against Aids Germany, Human Rights Watch, and 37 human rights and public health organizations and networks working on HIV and TB said the UAE authorities should ensure that all prisoners in their custody have access to appropriate treatment and care for HIV.
In a letter to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the de facto ruler of Abu Dhabi, the organizations said independent international observers should be allowed regular access to prisons and detention facilities.
The letter of the human rights organizations coincided with the UAE’s hosting of a global health leaders’ forum in Abu Dhabi to share insights and best practices on eradicating infectious diseases.
“While the UAE hosts a global forum on eradicating infectious diseases, vulnerable prisoners living with HIV in its own detention facilities are being denied critical and lifesaving treatment,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “To show a genuine commitment to ending preventable diseases that affect the world’s most vulnerable communities, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan should first look to cleaning up his own backyard.”
On November 4, Human Rights Watch released a report that revealed that UAE prison authorities denied foreign HIV-positive prisoners in some prisons regular, life-saving treatment based on antiretroviral therapy. Human Rights Watch also found that the authorities at Al Aweer Central Prison and Al Wathba Central Prison separated HIV-infected prisoners from other prisoners and that they systematically discriminated against them.
A second letter was sent to Winnie Bayanema, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Achim Steiner, and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Program. The organizations urged these two UN agencies to intervene publicly and privately to pressure the UAE to take measures to end these abusive practices against foreign HIV-infected prisoners, including by allowing private visits to independent observers, in private with prisoners.
On November 5, Saeed al-Hebsi, director of human rights at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told the Guardian “The UAE rejects the allegations put forward by Human Rights Watch. Every person has a right to proper health care and we guarantee medical services to all inmates in the UAE prison system.”
However, Human Rights Watch documentation, as well as that of other international human rights groups, demonstrates that the denial of adequate medical care in UAE prisons and detention facilities extends beyond prisoners living with HIV and other communicable diseases and is most common in state security facilities, where torture is systemic.
In May, Human Rights Watch reported the death of a cancer-stricken detainee, Alia Abdel Nour, following years of mistreatment and denial of adequate medical care by security forces and prison authorities. UAE authorities ignored repeated calls by European Parliament members, UN experts, and members of her family for her release on health grounds.
Over the past year, there have also been increased concerns for the deteriorating health of two unjustly detained rights activists, Ahmed Mansoor and Nasser bin Ghaith, who are reportedly being held in dismal prison conditions and denied access to health care in Al Sadr and Al Razeen prisons, respectively.
“Allowing independent and international monitors to conduct private and regular visits with prisoners in the UAE would be a step toward demonstrating that the UAE is meeting its international obligation to provide adequate medical care to all prisoners without discrimination,” Page said.
