House of Commons MPs laud UAE human rights record

The House of Commons received no complaints about violations of rights of construction workers in the UAE recently, an indication of the UAE's commitment to international labour standards, a delegation from the British Parliament said during a visit to the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA).

Members of the United Kingdom-United Arab Emirates All-Party Parliamentary Group of the House of Commons, Mr. Stephen Timms and Mrs Flick Drummond, were given an insight by EHRA Chairman Mohammed Salem Al Kaabi into the UAE human rights watchdog's programme of activities, mission, vision and mechanism for receiving and handling complaints, including those from workers, along with its mandate to promote the culture of upholding human rights in the local community.

Al Kaabi also informed them about the EHRA's engagement and co-operation with the government.

The British MPs valued the UAE's commitment to respecting human rights, noting that the UAE had the fewest human rights complaints among the Middle East countries.

''Since 2008, the government has been opening its doors to our observers who visited all prisons to inspect the conditions of the inmates. The authorities usually approve our request for a visit to any prisoner within 24 hours. We also attend state security trials. We are also one of the stakeholders in the national strategy for human rights 2017-2021,'' Al Kaabi said.

Mrs Flick Drummond said the EHRA was doing a good job, noting that the House of Commons had concerns about construction workers being subjected to violations but we had received no complaints so far in this regards.

This, she affirmed, proved that both the UAE and EHRA were moving on the right track.

She said that the visit's aim was to meet with the ministers and top government officials for discussions on the human rights conditions in the UAE.