The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has long sought to project an image of modernity, tolerance, and global engagement. In 2023 and 2024, this strategy was on full display as the UAE hosted COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and continued to invest in high-profile international partnerships. However, beneath this progressive façade, the UAE has maintained a zero-tolerance approach toward dissent, intensified repression of activists and critics, and perpetuated systemic abuses against migrant workers. These contradictions—between the UAE’s international image and its domestic realities—are at the heart of this analysis, which draws on recent human rights reports, legal reforms, and climate policy developments to assess the country’s trajectory.
The Illusion of Tolerance: Human Rights and Dissent
Detention of Activists and Dissidents
Despite its self-promotion as a rights-respecting state, the UAE continues to detain scores of activists, academics, and lawyers for exercising their rights to free expression and association. Many of these individuals, particularly those linked to the “UAE94” case—a mass trial of 69 government critics—remain imprisoned after unfair trials based on vague and sweeping charges. As of March 2023, at least 51 Emirati prisoners who had completed their sentences between one month and nearly four years earlier were still incarcerated, often under the guise of counterterrorism justifications.
The case of Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent human rights defender, is emblematic. Mansoor has spent six years in isolation, with international organizations like Human Rights Watch urging his immediate and unconditional release. The persistence of such arbitrary detentions, often incommunicado and without legal basis, underscores the state’s intolerance for dissent.
Official and Civil Society Responses
Ahead of COP28, Emirati civil society groups called for the release of all those detained solely for exercising their human rights, the end of abuse and harassment of critics, and the amendment of laws that violate fundamental freedoms. However, the government has largely ignored these appeals, continuing to use broad counterterrorism laws to silence opposition.
Surveillance and Online Censorship
The UAE is recognized as one of the world’s most surveilled societies. Authorities deploy advanced technologies to monitor public spaces, internet activity, and even private communications, infringing on privacy and stifling free association. The penal code and the Cybercrime Law further restrict dissent, imposing severe penalties for criticism of the government or “spreading rumors and false news.” Journalists and activists are particularly vulnerable, facing prison sentences and heavy fines for unauthorized information sharing or criticism.
Arbitrary Detention of Refugees
The UAE’s disregard for due process extends to refugees. As of March 2023, authorities had arbitrarily detained between 2,400 and 2,700 Afghans—evacuated from Afghanistan—in the “Emirates Humanitarian City” for over 15 months, without clear legal status or access to resettlement.
Migrant Workers: Exploitation and Climate Injustice
The Kafala System and Labor Abuses
Migrant workers constitute 88% of the UAE’s population and are essential to its economy. Yet, the kafala (sponsorship) system ties workers’ residency to their employers, making it nearly impossible to change jobs or escape abusive conditions without risking arrest or deportation. Employers routinely confiscate passports, delay or withhold wages, and charge illegal recruitment fees. Trade unions are banned, and there is no non-discriminatory minimum wage, leaving workers with little bargaining power or protection.
Health and Safety Risks
Migrant workers are especially vulnerable to extreme heat—a growing risk as climate change intensifies. Despite the government’s summer midday ban on outdoor work, Human Rights Watch has documented the ineffectiveness of these measures, with workers reporting chronic health conditions and heat-related deaths. Many workers also suffer from toxic air pollution, describing symptoms such as lung irritation, breathlessness, and skin problems.
Impact on Families and Climate-Vulnerable Countries
Labor abuses in the UAE have ripple effects in workers’ home countries, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Wage theft and recruitment debts limit workers’ ability to support families, especially during climate-related disasters—further entrenching cycles of poverty and vulnerability.
Domestic Workers: Partial Legal Reforms
The UAE updated its law on domestic workers in 2022, introducing some protections against discrimination and violence. However, the law remains weaker than the general labor law and falls short of international standards. Domestic workers continue to report confinement, wage theft, and abuse by employers and recruiters, with limited avenues for redress.
Climate Policy: Contradictions and Consequences
Fossil Fuel Expansion and COP28
In November and December 2023, the UAE hosted COP28, positioning itself as a climate leader. Yet, as one of the world’s top 10 oil producers, the UAE continues to expand fossil fuel operations, with government revenues heavily dependent on oil and gas. The appointment of Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber—CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)—as COP28 president highlighted the deep entanglement of state climate policy with fossil fuel interests.
The Climate Action Tracker has rated the UAE’s climate policies as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit warming to 1.5°C, citing ongoing fossil fuel expansion and insufficient emissions reduction plans.
Environmental Health and Human Rights
The UAE’s fossil fuel industry contributes to severe air pollution, impacting both citizens and migrant workers. Workers report respiratory and skin problems linked to poor air quality, while the broader population faces increased health risks from toxic emissions.
International Accountability
Despite its climate rhetoric, the UAE has not been held accountable for its role in exacerbating the climate crisis or for abuses in military operations abroad, such as in Yemen. The invitation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to COP28, despite his record of atrocities, further undermined the credibility of the UAE’s human rights commitments.
Women’s Rights: Incremental Change and Persistent Discrimination
The UAE has made minor amendments to its Personal Status Law, slightly improving women’s rights in marriage and divorce. However, significant discrimination remains: women are still required to maintain the home, can lose spousal maintenance for leaving the marital home, and cannot move with their children without the father’s permission. Emirati women cannot pass nationality to their children on equal terms with men.
State universities often require women students to obtain parental or male guardian permission for off-campus activities. The 2021 penal code criminalizes consensual sex outside marriage, disproportionately affecting women, and allows male relatives to initiate or forgive prosecution.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Criminalization and Stigma
The UAE’s penal code criminalizes same-sex relations, “flagrant indecency,” and gender nonconformity, imposing prison sentences and heavy fines. Transgender women have been arrested for entering women-only spaces, and public displays of affection or advocacy for LGBT rights are punishable offenses. These laws foster a climate of fear and discrimination, particularly for LGBT Emiratis and expatriates.
International Actors and Arms Transfers
The UAE’s international partnerships complicate efforts to hold it accountable for rights abuses. The United States, for example, has provided logistical and intelligence support to UAE-led military operations, despite documented violations in Yemen. A 2022 US Government Accountability Office report found significant gaps in US oversight of arms sales to the UAE.
The UAE’s 2024 landscape is defined by sharp contradictions. While the government invests in a global image of progress and tolerance, it continues to repress dissent, exploit migrant labor, and expand fossil fuel production—often at the expense of the most vulnerable. Legal reforms have been piecemeal and insufficient, and climate policy remains at odds with the country’s international commitments. As the world looks to the UAE for leadership on climate and economic development, it is essential to recognize and address these underlying human rights and justice challenges
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