10 Recommendations to the UAE's New President

As Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) became UAE's new president after the death of his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, we hope that the new era will be the catalyst for change in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Our recommendations, addressed to the new Emirati president, call for achievable change regarding an extensive list of human rights abuses currently common practice in the Gulf state.

1- Release political prisoners who have been imprisoned purely on speech charges, unconditionally and with immediate effect, and abolish the practice of indefinite detention and release all prisoners currently held beyond their release date.

2- Allow every citizen to express their right to freedom of speech, including the right to peacefully voice opinions on all social and political matters, following article 30 of the UAE’s constitution.

3- Allow independent media outlets to operate freely, without censorship or reprisal.

4- Implement the right to freedom of association and assembly, without any governmental restrictions, to allow for human rights organisations, workers unions and political parties to be established and to operate freely and without reprisal.

5- Update Counter-Terrorism Laws in accordance with international standards, to ensure that political prisoners are no longer held in the pretence of terrorism.

6- Include gender as a category of discrimination by revising the 2015 Anti-discrimination Law, to bring it in line with international standards.

7- Reword the 2012 Cyber Crime Law bringing it in line with international standards and to ensure that free speech online is permitted without reprisals.  

8- Allow international Independent monitors access to all detention facilities to observe and report on and the conditions.

9- Ban the practice of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners; including both physical and psychological abuse, prolonged solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures and humiliating searches.

10- Provide for legal protection of all migrant workers and ensure that existing Labour Laws are more stringently implemented and enforced to stop the exploitation of foreign workers.