التسميات

الاثنين، 30 يناير 2012

Sawaseya Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Statement





Sawaseya: Nationality Withdrawal from 6 UAE Citizens Contravenes Global Conventions and Treaties

Sawaseya Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination expresses its deep surprise regarding the extreme decision of the UAE authorities to strip 6 Emirati citizens from their national citizenships. Those men are as follows: Hussein Munif Abdullah Hassan Al Jabri, Hassan Munif Abdullah Hassan Al Jabri, Ibrahim Hassan Ali Hassan Al Marzouqi, Shaheen Abdullah Mal-Allah Haidar Al Hosni , Ali Hussein Ahmed Ali Al Hammadi, and Mohamed Abdul-Raziq Mohammad Siddiq Al-Obaidli. The UAE government claimed that they represent a threat to the national security, as well as accusing them of having close links to regional and international organizations and figures who are included in the UN lists of Combating the Financing of Terrorism; punishing activists demanding political reform in their country in this way is considered as a rare and never-witnessed step in the Arab world for five decades ago.

The Centre adds that although the United Arab Emirates is regarded among the few Arab countries which have not experienced unrest and political turmoil and the Arab spring has not yet put a thumbprint there, it’s oddly noticed the government did not tolerate any opposition to the regime and issued deterrent penalties for those who advocate political reform in the country.
The centre asserts that the claim of the UAE authorities that the withdrawal of national citizenship was based on Article 16 of the Nationality Law No. 17/1972, which provides for the withdrawal of the nationality of those whosoever commits (or being involved or engaged in) an act endangers state security and safety is considered inharmonious with international norms and conventions on human rights which state – according to the Article VII of United Nations Convention regarding the Status of Stateless Persons issued in December 1954 - that "State shouldn’t withdraw the national citizenship of any person, unless the person concerned possesses or acquires the nationality of another country." The Article VIII of the same convention adds that "The Contacting countries shouldn’t use the authority of withdrawing citizenships but by the rule of the law, which guarantees the person concerned the right to a fair trial before an independent judiciary or any other body."
The Article IX of the same convention provides that the Contracting countries have not the right “to strip any person or any group of persons of their nationality due to racial, ethnic, religious or political reasons."
Added to this the Articles 15 and 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which stipulates that "Everyone has the right of national citizenship, as it’s not allowed to arbitrarily deprive anyone from his/her nationality nor enforce him/her to change nationality.”
In addition, the text of Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law."
In this regard, the local law should prohibit any kind of discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political and apolitical opinions, national and social origin, property, birth or any other reasons.
So, Sawaseya Centre stresses that comprehensive and common dialoguing over political crises is the best way to expel any likelihood of massive political crises which are considered the embers of revolutionary breakouts and give the masses a justification to topple authoritarian governments which monopolized the political arenas and blocked the doors of political competition for decades.
The Centre confirms that the great economic rise the UAE witnesses these days, which is considered a benchmark for pride of all the Arab peoples and societies, require political renaissance, so as the future generations being enabled to preserve and protect the UAE and participating in pushing the wheel of progress and prosperity ahead. Thereupon, the authorities have to absorb all patriotic political trends in the country, and not to resort to any emotional decisions, which would be detrimental to the march of security and stability of the UAE.
Therefore, the Center calls the UAE authorities to reconsider their own decisions decreeing the withdrawal of citizenship of those honest citizens, and to resort to legal customary methods in dealing with those issues when they are found guilty of any violations that harm the security of the homeland.
The Centre calls upon the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to talk to the authorities of the UAE, in terms of its regional role, to re-examine the issue and adopt a rational approach that preserves the UAE's security and stability.
    Finally, Sawaseya Centre calls upon the League of Arab States to intermediate with the UAE authorities to lift the injustice done to those good citizens who are contributing to the progress and development of UAE society by urging the Emirati government to re-think the decisions of stripping the national citizenships of those citizens.

Cairo
1st of Saffar  1433 AH
Monday, December 26, 2011 AC

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