Our stakeholder report to the UAE’S Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr Amna Nazir, makes specific recommendations to the governments regarding the right to life and capital punishment.
Researchers
Consultancy background
This Stakeholder Report focuses upon capital punishment and makes recommendations to the government of the UAE on this key issue, implementation of which would also see the State under Review moving towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 16 which aims for peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Download the stakeholder report
On 06 February 2023, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for UAE, which cited the Stakeholder Report submitted by UPR Project at BCU:
“Concerns however were raised regarding its independence and recommended ensuring it was in line with the Paris Principles.” (Para 11)
“The UPR Project at BCU (UPR BCU) noted that the UAE continued to hand down death sentences every year and the death penalty remained a lawful punishment for several offences including conduct which contravened the evolving jurisprudence on the “most serious crimes” under international law...UPR BCU recommended ensuring that the death penalty complies with the “most serious crimes” principle under Article 6 of ICCPR, restricting punishment to crimes of intentional killing only.” (Para 15)
The outcome of the review was published on 29 June 2023 in the Report of the Working Group. The following relevant recommendations were made to the UAE:
Consider ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Recommending State: Albania (35.18); Estonia (35.20); Chad (35.21); Germany (35.22); Sierra Leone (35.42); Ukraine (35.51); Mexico (35.109); Portugal (35.110)
Move towards the abolition of the death penalty. Recommending state: Portugal (35.110); Spain (35.111); Costa Rica & Iceland (35.112); Austria (35.113)
Establish a moratorium on the death penalty, with a view to its abolition. Recommending State: Mexico (35.109); Chile (35.115); Latvia (35.116); France (35.117); Ireland (35.118); Italy (35.119); Norway (35.120); Montenegro (35.121)
These Member State recommendations are consistent with the categories of recommendations identified in the UPR Project at BCU’s Stakeholder Report for UAE’s UPR.
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through taking part in the UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help ensure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages with the UPR regularly as a stakeholder, having submitted numerous reports and been cited by the OHCHR.