Accusations levelled against UAE human rights board

Dubai: Members of the UAE Human Rights Association accused its board of directors of abusing their mandate, violating the group's charter, and sexism against women.

According to a letter, board members allegedly used "abusive and obscene language towards people, a behaviour that included defamation of honour, of especially women, who did not agree with their views, and threatened a member with imprisonment."

The letter went on to say that the director closed the headquarters for more than one month for no reason. It also cited "negligence of human rights complaints submitted by the public."

The letter was distributed by some of the association's members during the fourth annual general meeting held on Wednesday at the association's head quarter in Dubai. The meeting was held to endorse the financial and administrative report of the group for 2008. Those who wrote the protest letter included three members of the Board of Directors.

The association was established on March 2006 and was the first non-government human rights association in the UAE.

The three board members, Mohammad Musharbak, Al Anoud Bu Seem and Khowla Bel Houl, submitted a joint resignation from the board seven months ago to protest what they claim as "violations committed by the board". The status of their resignation is not known.

"We did not want to create chaos at the association and tried to solve the problem quietly but this didn't work. Therefore we wanted to bring the issue to the members' attention," the three board members said in the letter.

Mohammad Gobash, one of the members who submitted the allegations to the board, claimed that "one of the board members threatened to put a member in prison as he was in disagreement, citing his close connection with the Public Prosecution".

"We demand a transparent reply from the board. The board needs to either give us an evidence that these violations did not happen or you address the violations by holding those responsible accountable," Gobash added. However, the board of Directors called the allegations baseless.