United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) invests in a strategy to paint the country as progressive, tolerant, and rights-respecting while carrying out repression against dissent. Many activists and dissidents remain detained for exercising their rights to free expression and association. Prisons hold detainees in dismal conditions, including overcrowding and lack of adequate medical care. The UAE deploys advanced surveillance technologies to monitor public spaces, internet activity, and individuals’ phones and computers. The government blocks international human rights organizations and UN experts from independently conducting in-country research. The Saudi and UAE-led coalition continue their military campaign against the Houthi armed group in Yemen which has included unlawful airstrikes that have killed and wounded thousands of civilians.