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The government imposes restrictions on fundamental human rights and freedoms, severely shrinking the civic space. Many human rights defenders, journalists, and activists have been subjected to arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, prolonged isolation, torture and other ill-treatment. The State security agency (SSA) is also involved in several human rights abuses under the pretext of national security. The members of OMCT’s SOS-Torture Network advocate for the release of human rights activists arbitrarily detained in UAE prisons.
The OMCT submitted two reports with its partners, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and Mwatana for Human Rights, focusing mainly on the legislative framework and the practice of torture in prisons, as well as the involvement of the State in the conflict in Yemen. The CAT issued major recommendations on those subjects by enjoining the UAE to align its definition of torture with the Convention; to take any measures to prevent, investigate and punish acts of torture, including in those regions of Yemen where the UAE has control.