On 24 September 2025, Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, presented the Secretary-General’s report on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives, and mechanisms in the field of human rights to the Human Rights Council during its 60th session. The report confirmed previous findings, highlighting numerous reported acts of intimidation and reprisals by both State and non-State actors against individuals or groups seeking to cooperate, or having cooperated, with the United Nations. It also found that many civil society actors continue to face significant restrictions on their activities.
In its conclusion, the report stressed that States continue to apply “laws and regulations concerning civil society, counter-terrorism and national security that have had the effect of deterring or hindering cooperation with the United Nations”. Such practices not only prevent individuals and groups from engaging with international organizations but also suppress dissent at the domestic level, stopping individuals from denouncing actions that violate international standards.
In the United Arab Emirates, counter-terrorism laws have been used to prosecute individuals who peacefully advocate for political reforms or criticize the government. Since the first mass trials in 2012, known as the UAE94, these laws have restricted and suppressed peaceful political discourse and association, criminalizing the exercise of fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association. Concerns over the misuse of these laws have been repeatedly raised by UN Special Rapporteurs, who expressed grave concern during the second mass trial, UAE84, when new charges were brought against members of civil society, including human rights defenders, activists, and political dissidents, in violation of international prohibitions on double jeopardy and retroactive criminal law.
In July 2024, following sentences pronounced against human rights defenders, UN Special Rapporteurs stated in a press release that targeting human rights defenders with long jail terms destroys lives, families, and communities. Ahmed Al-Nuaimi has experienced these harsh consequences firsthand. Now living in exile, Al-Nuaimi has been unable to return to the UAE since 2012. “Fearing arrest simply for exercising my rights to freedom of expression and association, I made the difficult decision not to return to my home country, although my family remained there at the time”, he said. He was later sentenced, in absentia, to 15 years in prison, adding: “This situation is particularly distressing, as it is unfolding in a country where I was raised, a place where many of us once envisioned a path towards democracy”.
At an event held at the Geneva Press Club on Thursday 2 October 2025 in collaboration with Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center (EDAC), CAP Freedom of Conscience, MENA Rights Group, and the Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF), Al-Nuaimi explained that the regime targeted not only him but also his family, imposing travel bans and complicating their daily lives by freezing bank accounts.
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