The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the 19th country in the Middle East to establish a new national human rights institution (NHRI) when it passed Federal Law No. 12 in May 2021.
Maqsoud Kruse, who has been appointed chairman of the National Human Rights Institute, said the organization will strive to improve lives and ensure equality in society.
On February 3, Kruse outlined the six committees, each with their own issue topic, that will make up the institution: civil and political rights; economic, social, cultural and environmental rights; complaints, monitoring and field visits; international relations and non-governmental organizations; enhancement of culture of human rights; and legal and legislative affairs. Article 5 of Federal Law No. 12 outlines the scope of these committees.
Their duties include developing “a national action plan to promote and protect human rights in the state,” and hosting seminars and other conferences to “disseminate the culture of human rights and raise public awareness” of these critical issues. Importantly, the law also includes a mandate to check UAE laws and regulations for compatibility with “international treaties, covenants and conventions on human rights to which the UAE is a party.”
Of particular interest are the NHRI’s monitoring efforts and its power to check state authority on human rights, as these directly impact the institution’s ability to act upon its mandate.
More specifically, the NHRI’s ability to “monitor human rights abuses and violations, verify their authenticity and report them to the competent authorities” and “receive and consider individual rights complaints in accordance with the NHRI’s standards and refer them to the competent authorities .
"The National Human Rights Institution’s main objective is to enhance human rights within the UAE for all those who live in this country," Mr Kruse told state news agency Wam.
As part of its blueprint for the future, the institution provides information to authorities on whether national laws are aligned with international treaties and conventions on human rights to which the UAE is a signatory.
The institution is key to the UAE's wide-ranging strategy to develop firm foundations for its human-rights policies going forward. In developing the law, the UAE set out to follow best practices of other countries that have developed similar institutions.
The UAE also sought advice from international organisations, most notably the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which provided legal and technical assistance to draft the NHRI law.
The 1993 Paris Principles, adopted by the UN General Assembly, encourage countries to establish national human rights institutions based on an internationally recognised set of standards for credibility, independence and effectiveness.
President Sheikh Khalifa issued a federal law in August to establish the independent body. In April, the Federal National Council approved a law establishing the National Commission for Human Rights in the UAE.
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