Ali Jasem elected head of human rights watchdog

Abu Dhabi: A veteran member of the Federal National Council was elected head of its newly set up human rights watchdog during its first meeting in Dubai yesterday (Tuesday).

“The FNC Human Rights Committee will review international, bilateral and regional agreements on human rights, as well as draft laws presented to it by the council,” said Ali Jasem, the longest-serving member of the House.

Jasem, a representative from Umm Al Quwain, said that the panel will give opinions on whether these bills are in line with human rights enshrined in the UAE constitution and the country’s commitments as prescribed in international treaties.

The panel, he added, will contribute to reports regularly presented by the UAE to the United Nations, and explore ways of cooperation with other governmental and non-governmental organisations of human rights.

“The committee present an annual report on the status of human rights in the country at the end of each legislative term of the House and coordinate with authorities concerned to monitor human rights concerns raised by foreign human rights watchdogs,” said Jasem, who has been a member of the House sinace 1993.

The UAE’s watchdog was set up after a European Union resolution criticised the UAE over conditions for expatriate workers, the status of women and the death penalty.

The committee will discuss its plan until the end of this term and that of the third legislative term in the next meetings.

The Federal National Council (FNC) elected a seven-member human rights panel. The members are Sultan Al Shamsi, Ali Eisa Al Nuaimi, Abdul Aziz Al Za’abi, Noura Al Ka’abi, Ali Jasem, Dr Mohammad Bin Ham and Obaid Bin Rakad.

The House said in a statement the importance of this committee stems from the international and regional conventions ratified by the UAE, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) of 1974, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC) as well as six agreements with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI), declaration of the member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference adopted in Cairo in 1990, and the Arab Charter on Human Rights, adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States at the Arab Summit in Tunisia in 2004.