Emirate delegation failed to whitewash UAE crimes in the UK

The European Microscope for Middle East Issues revealed a massive failure in the mission of a parliamentary delegation from the United Arab Emirates to improve the image of Abu Dhabi during talks with the British House of Commons.

The European Microscope, a European institution concerned with monitoring the interactions of Middle Eastern issues in Europe, said that British parliamentarians informed the Emirati delegation of their strong dissatisfaction with the escalation of human rights violations in the UAE.

An Emirati parliamentary delegation headed by Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the Federal National Council, visited London over the past two days, which included a meeting with Sir Lindsey Hoyle, Speaker of the British House of Commons, Chairman of the Defense Affairs Committee of the Council and other members of it.

The Emirati delegation included Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federal National Council; Dr Tariq Hambad Al Tayer, Sarah Mohammed Falaknaz and Marwan Al Muhairi, members of the Council, and Omar Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi, Secretary-General of the Council.

An official British source told the European Microscope that discussions by members of the British House of Commons focused on Abu Dhabi’s demand to take more severe steps in addressing human rights violations and not be satisfied with the reputation-laundering policy and formal procedures.

The source explained that the Emirati parliamentary delegation, during its visit to London, tried to market Abu Dhabi’s recent steps to improve human rights in the country, including the formation of the National Human Rights Commission, amending laws allowing drinking and cohabitation outside marriage, and allowing civil marriage procedures.

However, the source indicated that this was not welcomed by the British parliamentarians, who confronted the Emirati delegation with demands related to releasing prisoners of conscience and opponents from Abu Dhabi prisons, including human rights activist Ahmed Mansour and academic Nasser bin Ghaith.

According to the source, during the meetings of the Emirati delegation, they discussed what a British official committee monitored last November about the “shocking” absence of standards for the protection of women, including foreign women in the UAE.

An inter-party fact-finding committee in Britain asserted that the UK had failed to support British women facing abuse and detention in the UAE.

The commission’s report was based on the testimony of a number of British women who were subjected to abuse, arbitrary detention and even sexual assault in the Emirates.

At the time, the commission of inquiry, consisting of Representatives Peter Bottomley and Debbie Abrahams and attorney Helena Kennedy QC, among other members, found that the UAE justice system was “open to abuse and capable of manipulation” and said that the evidence presented “demonstrated a pattern of international violations and standards in the UAE criminal justice system.”.

They added that the consular assistance provided by the United Kingdom, a close ally of the UAE, to women facing abuse and detention in the country “was far below expectations”.

According to the report, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) recorded more than 1,350 arrests of British women in the UAE from 2011 to 2016.

In this regard, the Emirati parliamentary delegation was asked to take the most severe steps to ensure the protection of women’s rights and gender equality in the UAE and to stop the grave violations of migrant workers, especially concerning domestic workers, as well as to guarantee freedom of opinion and expression in the country.