UAEG APPROVES COUNTRY'S FIRST FIRST HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000780

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR DRL, G/TIP, INL, NEA/RA AND NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV AE
SUBJECT: UAEG APPROVES COUNTRY'S FIRST FIRST HUMAN RIGHTS
NGO

REF: ABU DHABI 373

ABU DHABI 00000780 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: AMBASSADOR MICHELE J. SISON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (U) Summary: On February 18, the Ministry of Social
Affairs formally licensed the first human rights organization
in the UAE. The new Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA)
will be based in Abu Dhabi, and may have a future branch
office in Dubai. All members of the organization passed a
security screening, and several have strong UAEG ties. No
action has yet been taken regarding two other applications
for human rights organizations, both of which have been
pending for more than 18 months. Some human rights activists
in the country doubt the independence of the EHRA, and
question its legitimacy as an independent NGO. End Summary.


2. (U) The EHRA will operate under the UAE non-profit
organization law. The head of the organization's founding
committee, Mohammed Fahd al-Dehim, told PolOff that the goal
of the EHRA will be to raise awareness of human rights as
provided in the UAE Constitution and the UN Convention on
Human Rights. He stated that the organization will work and
have close contact with human rights organizations abroad,
but that the primary mission of the organization will be to
cooperate with the government in making life better for all
residents of the UAE. The Gulf News quoted one of the
founding members as saying that the role of this local
organization will be "important in responding to the foreign
reports on human rights practices in the UAE and in offering
the real facts".


3. (C) The 32 founding members of EHRA, comprised primarily
of intellectuals, university professors, and lawyers, will
meet next week to elect the board, chairperson and secretary
general, all of whom will serve three-year terms. The
members were apparently drawn from a list of "acceptable"
names from the other two human rights organizations that have
applications pending, and supplemented with other people of
"good reputation". Two of the EHRA founding members, Dr.
Ebtisam Al Kitbi and Dr. Mohammed Obaid Ghobash, political
science professors at UAE University, were also the founding
members of one of these other organizations. Al-Kitbi told
FSN Political Assistant that her group received "directions
from higher authorities", that if a third group was formed by
joining "certain" members from the first and second groups,
and eliminating "unwanted" names labeled as Islamist
ideologists, then the third group would get approval to
operate. Dr. Ghobash said the same to PolOff, hinting that
the directions came from a Cabinet-level contact. In earlier
conversations with PolOff, al-Dehim noted that he had been in
contact with UAEG officials "since the beginning," and had
received assurances from both the Ministries of Interior and
Justice that he will have their full cooperation in
monitoring and addressing human rights in the UAE.


4. (U) Membership in the EHRA will eventually be open to all
UAE nationals above 18 years of age with a clean record, and
as non-voting affiliate members -- expatriates &with good
reputations.8 Although al-Dehim told PolOff that the
members were "very independent minded, and (that) this gives
us credibility," he admitted that he, himself an MFA official
and former UAE ambassador to both Morocco and Italy, will be
retiring in order to devote his full time to this new
organization. He also noted that some of the other founding
members may have to leave the organization due to official
appointments in the recent Cabinet change. (Note: One member,
Hameed Mohamed al-Qatami, is the new Minister of Health. End
note.)


5. (C) Mohamed al-Roken, founding member of one of the other
unapproved human rights NGOs who is out of favor with the
UAEG, stated that five members from his group were asked to
join the new organization, but only one accepted--Samira
Ghurbash; the others refused because they felt that it lacked
independence and therefore legitimacy. Al-Roken stated that
the members of his group will wait to see how the new group
operates and if it will have an open membership before
deciding to join. He doubts that membership will be open to
join for some time since the new NGO has six months to elect
a permanent Board of Governors from its general membership,
and he doubts that membership will open until after the
permanent board has been elected. He added that initial
discussion within the existing Jurists Association indicates
that they will not endorse the new organization until it
proves its independence.


6. (C) Comment: We suspect that the approval of this
organization may preclude any further action on either of the
two outstanding human rights organization applications. It

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appears that the UAEG is strongly interested in having a
human rights organization in name, but that it is cautious
regarding the organization's membership, and the platform
that it could provide to radical elements of society to
criticize the government. The obvious ties of some of its
members to the government, and the fact that all the names
were pre-screened by the Ministry, calls the independence of
the organization into question. End Comment
SISON