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
Monday, December 26, 2011 AC
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق