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UAE Civil Society Crackdown

by Courtesy

UAE: Civil Society Crackdown Widens
Government Takes Over a Second Group’s Board
May 3, 2011

(London) – The United Arab Emirates expanded its crackdown on civil society on May 2, 2011, by dissolving the elected board of directors of the Teachers’ Association, Human Rights Watch said today. This was the second prominent civil society organization to face a hostile government takeover in less than two weeks.

“This attack on civil society is further proof that those in power in the UAE see anyone calling for reform as fair game,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “UAE authorities should immediately stop their hostile takeover of civil society and free the peaceful democracy activists.”

The decree, signed by Social Affairs Minister Mariam Mohammed Khalfan Al Roumi, dismissed the Teachers’ Association’s board and replaced its members with state appointees. The minister issued a similar decree issued on April 21, dissolving the board of the Jurist Association. On April 6, both associations, along with two other nongovernmental organizations, co-signed a public appeal calling for greater democracy in the country. Since April 8, the UAE has also detained at least five prominent democracy activists.

According to the decree, the Teachers’ Association violated section 16 of the UAE’s 2008 Law on Associations, which prohibits nongovernmental organizations and their members from interfering “in politics or in matters that impair state security and its ruling regime.” The ministerial decree against the Jurist Association cited the same infraction. The Law on Associations tightly controls nongovernmental organizations permitted to operate in the UAE. The Teachers’ Association was established in 1980 to represent and defend the rights of teachers and has more than 280 Emirate members. …more