United Arab Emirates war crimes

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Roadblock of the Southern Transitional Council in the south of Socotra that was funded by the United Arab Emirates Southern Transitional Council - roadblock Socotra (2).jpg
Roadblock of the Southern Transitional Council in the south of Socotra that was funded by the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) war crimes are violations of international criminal law (including war crimes, crime against humanity and complicity in torture) which the Emirates has committed or is accused of committing, primarily in Yemen, Libya, and Syria. These accusations include arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, and cruel and inhuman treatment. [1] [2] Additionally, the Emirates has been complicit in civil wars by acting as a conduit for arms and supporting abusive local militias. [3]

Contents

Definition

War crimes, in the context of the UAE, are defined as serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during armed conflicts, These violations encompass acts that target civilians, employ prohibited weapons, and cause unnecessary suffering. The UAE is bound by the principles outlined in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, which mandate the protection of civilians and those out of combat, ensuring that even in times of conflict, basic human rights are upheld. The UAE legislation proclaims the sentences ranging from imprisonment to death penalty for those breaching provisions in context of the international or non-international armed conflict. [4]

Yemen

Yemeni Civil War

The United Arab Emirates was an influential member of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that intervened in the Yemen civil war in March 2015, when the Emirates deployed 30 aircraft to participate in the operations. [5] Since then, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented nearly 90 unlawful attacks, including multiple war crimes, conducted by the coalition. [6] The alliance indiscriminately attacked homes, schools, hospitals and markets in Yemen, widely used banned weapons (like cluster munitions), and obstructed aid. [7] The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held the UAE and Saudi-led coalition responsible for the grave violations against children in the Yemen conflict. [8]

In May 2017, the UAE backed the formation of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), under the leadership of Major General Aidarus al-Zoubaidi. [9] The council was declared illegitimate by the then-President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who alleged Abu Dhabi's Mohammed bin Zayed of acting as an occupier of Yemen. [10] [11] The Emirates’ proxy forces were discovered committing abuses, which is included excessive use of force during arrests, arbitrary detention, detention of family members of suspects, detention of children, and enforced disappearance. [6] A report by HRW claimed that the UAE was funding, training, as well as instructing the proxy forces, which have committed brutal abuses. It also stated that the UAE defies international regulations by detaining, threatening, harassing and condemning activists for criticizing the Emirates’ actions. [7]

In June 2017, an investigation by the Associated Press documented 18 secret prisons run by the UAE in southern Yemen. The secret prisons held several men, who were captured in a hunt for al-Qaeda militants, and committed grave human rights violations, including abuse and extreme torture. The report revealed that the prisons used a “grill” to tie victims to a rod, and were spun in a circle of fire. The investigation also revealed direct involvement of US forces, who were alleged of interrogating detainees. [12] [13] [14]

A report in October 2018 revealed that the UAE had hired American mercenaries to carry out an assassinations in 2015. The program targeted the Emirates’ political rivals in Yemen, majorly the member of Al-Islah. The first assassination operation took place in December 2015, involving the private US security firm, Spear Operations Group, and its chief operating officer, Isaac Gilmore. The company's founder Abraham Golan stated targeted assassination program was “sanctioned” by the Emirates. Between 2015 and 2018, a total of 160 killings were conducted, of which only 23 had links to terrorism. The firm deployed same tactics for all killings, for which a distraction is caused by detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) and then the targets are shot. [15] [16] The UAE, however, denied the reports claiming that it was behind the assassinations in southern Yemen. [17]

An investigation by the CNN in February 2019 revealed that the UAE and Saudi-led coalition were transferring the US-made weapons to the al-Qaeda, Salafi militants and other fighters in Yemen. The US Defense Department said it didn't authorized the Emirates and Saudi to re-transfer any equipment to the fighters in Yemen. The US was amongst the biggest arms suppliers to the Emirates and Saudi. Consequently, American weaponry was a crucial support for the coalition to continue the war, which led to deaths of tens of thousands people, including children. [18] The UN Panel of Experts on Yemen also claimed that the foreign weapons purchased by the UAE were being misused and were contributing to the violation of international laws, including the criminalizing of elements of the war. [2] [19]

Socotra

On 30 April 2018, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) deployed more than a hundred troops with artillery and armored vehicles to the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra in the Guardafui Channel without prior coordination with the Yemeni government, causing the relations of the two countries to deteriorate. The initial deployment consisted of UAE military aircraft carrying more than fifty UAE soldiers and two armored vehicles, followed by two more aircraft carrying more soldiers, tanks and other armored vehicles. [20] [21] Al Jazeera reported that shortly after landing, UAE forces dismissed Yemeni soldiers stationed at administrative installations such as Socotra Airport and seaports until further notice, and the flag of the United Arab Emirates was raised above at official government buildings in Hadibu. [22] On 14 May an agreement was reached between the UAE and Yemen which saw Yemen regain administrative control and Saudi Arabian troops also being deployed to the island.

Libya

The UAE intervened in the Libya civil war as a powerful supported of the military commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA). [23] Rights groups have accused the Emirates of committing multiple war crimes in Libya, citing direct air strikes on civilians and the human loss caused by them. [24] [25] A May 2020 UN report revealed that two Dubai-based firms, Lancaster 6 DMCC and Opus Capital Asset Limited FZE, supported Haftar’s mission by deploying Western mercenaries to Libya. [26]

Since 2019 till 2020, over 850 drone strikes and 170 strikes by fighter-bomber were conducted by the UAE in Libya on behalf of Haftar. [27] In January 2020, the “Antonov 124” aircraft, which is owned by Mohammed bin Zayed, was used for shipment of 3,000 tons of military supply to Haftar. [28] In April 2020, the UAE deployed secretly purchased advance Israeli-made missile system in Libya, through Haftar. [29] In the same month, 11,000 tonnes of jet fuel shipment worth nearly $5 million was sent to Haftar’s forces in violation of the UN arms embargo on Libya. [30] In September 2020, a UN report claimed that the Emirates of violating the Libyan arms embargo, as it intensified the supply of military equipment to Haftar. The UN arms embargo on Libya was signed by the Mohammed bin Zayed. The Emirati weaponry and strikes led to deaths of thousands of people and created a significant humanitarian catastrophe. [31] [32]

Amnesty International noted that arms supply by countries like the UAE led the warring sides disregard international laws. Attacks and air strikes struck multiple civilian properties, hospitals, a school, a migrant detention centre, and Tripoli’s Mitiga International Airport. The LNA used the Chinese Wing Loong drone, which was supplied by the Emirates, to conduct one of the deadliest attacks on a hospital in July 2019. [33] The UAE also supplied Haftar’s LNA the Chinese Wing loong II drone, and operated them from Libya’s al-Khadim airbase to attack unarmed cadets at Tripoli’s military academy, in January 2020. The strike killed 26 cadets, majority of which were teenagers. [34]

Apart from supplying weapons, the UAE also deployed armed Sudanese groups to the Libyan conflict to fight alongside Haftar’s forces. A report by the UN Panel of Experts revealed that the UAE had “direct relations” with these armed groups. [35] As per the US Pentagon, the UAE was a major financial supporter of the Russian Wagner Group’s mercenaries deployed to fight for Haftar against the US-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya. [36]

The UAE-backed LNA fighters were also involved in the beating, torture and electrocution of civilians in the Tarhuna region. Haftar aligned with the ruling Kaniyat militia of the region to carry out atrocities. In 2020, after the region was recaptured by the GNA, mass graves were discovered in Tarhuna. Nearly 120 bodies, with only 59 identified, were recovered from the mass graves. [37]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Arab Emirates Armed Forces</span> Military of the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates. They are also occasionally referred to as "Little Sparta", a nickname that was given by former United States Marine Corps General and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, due to their active and effective military role and power projection in the surrounding region compared to their relative size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CAIG Wing Loong</span> Unmanned aerial vehicle

The Chengdu GJ-1, also known as Wing Loong 1, is a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People's Republic of China. Intended for use as a surveillance and aerial reconnaissance platform, the Pterodactyl I is capable of being fitted with air-to-surface weapons for use in an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khalifa Haftar</span> Libyan Field Marshal leader of LNA (born 1943)

Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Omar Haftar is a Libyan politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). On 2 March 2015, he was appointed commander of the Armed forces loyal to the elected legislative body, the Libyan House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libyan National Army</span> Armed forces under the control of Khalifa Haftar mostly in the East of Libya

The Libyan National Army or the Libyan Arab Army is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar when he was nominated to the role on 2 March 2015 by the House of Representatives, consisting at the time of a ground force, an air force and a navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libyan civil war (2014–2020)</span> Armed conflict in Libya

The Libyan civil war (2014–2020), also known as the Second Libyan Civil War, was a multilateral civil war which was fought in Libya among a number of armed groups, but mainly the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Government of National Accord (GNA), for six years from 2014 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapid Support Forces</span> Sudanese paramilitary force formed in 2013

The Rapid Support Forces is a paramilitary force formerly operated by the government of Sudan. The RSF grew out of, and is primarily composed of, the Janjaweed militias which previously fought on behalf of the Sudanese government. Its actions in Darfur were deemed crimes against humanity by Human Rights Watch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yemeni civil war (2014–present)</span> Ongoing civil war in the state of Yemen

The Yemeni civil war is an ongoing multilateral civil war that began in late 2014 mainly between the Rashad al-Alimi-led Presidential Leadership Council and the Mahdi al-Mashat-led Supreme Political Council, along with their supporters and allies. Both claim to constitute the official government of Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war</span> Saudi war against Houthis in Yemen launched in 2015

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This is a detailed timeline of the Libyan civil war (2014–2020) which lasted from 2014 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War crimes in the Yemeni civil war (2014–present)</span> Aspect of the war

War crimes and human rights violations, committed by all warring parties, have been widespread throughout the Yemeni civil war. This includes the two main groups involved in the ongoing conflict: forces loyal to the current Yemeni president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and Houthis and other forces supporting Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former Yemeni president. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have also carried out attacks in Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition, backed by the United States and other nations, has also been accused of violating human rights and breaking international law, especially in regards to airstrikes that repeatedly hit civilian targets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Libya campaign</span> Military Campaign in Western Libya

The Western Libya campaign was a military campaign initiated on 4 April 2019 by the Operation Flood of Dignity of the Libyan National Army (LNA), which represents the Libyan House of Representatives, to capture the western region of Libya and eventually the capital Tripoli held by the United Nations Security Council-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). The GNA regained control over all of Tripoli in June 2020 and the LNA forces withdrew from the capital, after fourteen months of fighting.

On 2 July 2019 at 23:30, during the 2019–20 Western Libya campaign, an airstrike hit the Tajoura Detention Center outside Tripoli, Libya, while hundreds of people were inside the facility. The detention center was being used as a holding facility for migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe when a storage hangar that it used as a residential facility was destroyed in an aerial bombing. The United Nations Human Rights Council stated that "It was known that there were 600 people living inside" the facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libyan peace process</span> Attempts to resolve the crisis in Libya

The Libyan peace process was a series of meetings, agreements and actions that aimed to resolve the Second Libyan Civil War. Among these were the Skhirat agreement of December 2015 and the plans for the Libyan National Conference in April 2019 that were delayed because of the 2019–20 Western Libya campaign.

During the Yemeni civil war, Saudi Arabia led an Arab coalition of nine nations from the Middle East and parts of Africa in response to calls from the internationally recognized pro-Saudi president of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi for military support after he was ousted by the Houthi movement due to economic and political grievances, and fled to Saudi Arabia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkish intervention in Libya (2020–present)</span> Turkish military intervention in Libya

In January 2020, Turkey militarily intervened in support of the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya in the 2014–2020 Libyan civil war. Military intervention was approved by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 2 January 2020, which passed a one-year mandate to deploy troops to Libya. Turkish military deployments to Libya began on 5 January.

This is the order of battle for the Western Libya campaign, codenamed "Operation Flood of Dignity" by forces under Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The forces supporting Haftar and the House of Representatives, mainly the Libyan National Army, are opposed by the armed forces of the forces loyal to the Government of National Accord, including the Libyan Army and the Tripoli Protection Force.

Events in Libya in 2020

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Arab Emirates–Yemen relations</span> Bilateral relations

The UAE and Yemen have a complex and strained relationship, as the UAE has played a significant role in regional politics in Yemen, and has at various points been an adversary of the country, as the UAE's involvement in Yemen, for example the United Arab Emirates takeover of Socotra, and its support for the Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist organization in Southern Yemen, has been a source of tension between the two countries, and has contributed to the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in the country. Furthermore, the UAE has been involved in other efforts in Yemen that have been controversial. The country has been accused of backing local militias and separatist groups that have sought to gain more autonomy or independence from the central government. Some critics have accused the UAE of using these groups to further its own interests in the region, rather than working towards a broader peace and stability in Yemen.

The Wagner Group, also known as PMC Wagner, a Russian paramilitary organization also described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, and a de facto unit of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) or Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, has conducted operations in Libya since late 2018.

On January 4, 2020, the United Arab Emirates aiding the Libyan National Army launched an airstrike on a military school used by the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli, Libya. Twenty-six people were killed and thirty-three were wounded.

References

  1. ↑ "Time to Dust Off the War Crimes Act?–for an American ex-soldier now in command of UAE forces". Just Security. 9 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 "UAE & War Crimes: The Forgotten War Crimes That Must Be Remembered". Boycott Cop28. 15 March 2023.
  3. ↑ "United States: Embargo Arms to the United Arab Emirates". Human Rights Watch. 1 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "UAE: Federal Decree-Law on International Crimes". Government of United Arab Emirates. 18 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "UAE fighter jets strike Houthis, return safely to bases". Emirates News Agency-Wam. 28 March 2015.
  6. 1 2 "United Arab Emirates: Events of 2018". Human Rights Watch. 24 May 2019.
  7. 1 2 "UAE Continues To Flout International Law". Human Rights Watch. 29 June 2018.
  8. ↑ "The UN's Timid Responses to War Crimes Against Children". Human Rights Watch. 10 April 2020.
  9. ↑ "Threat Update: Yemen and Southern Secessionism". Critical Threats. 2 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "Hadi Rejects 'South Council,' Urges Members to Clarify their Stances". Asharq Al-Awsat. 12 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Yemen president says UAE acting like occupiers". Middle East Eye. 12 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "In Yemen's secret prisons, UAE tortures and US interrogates". The Associated Press. 22 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Inside a Yemeni prison". Associated Press. 22 June 2017.
  14. ↑ "She Helped Expose Secret UAE-Run Prisons in Yemen — and Paid a Steep Price". The Intercept. 31 December 2021.
  15. ↑ "UAE has funded political assassinations in Yemen, BBC finds". BBC. 23 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "A Middle East Monarchy Hired American Ex-Soldiers To Kill Its Political Enemies. This Could Be The Future Of War". Buzzfeed News. 16 October 2018.
  17. ↑ "UAE Denies Funding 'Political Assassinations' In Yemen". Barron’s. 23 January 2024.
  18. ↑ "Sold to an ally, lost to an enemy". CNN. 6 February 2019.
  19. ↑ "UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen Briefs the UN Security Council". UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. 3 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Anger in Yemen after UAE troops take over 'alien' island of Socotra". South China Morning Post . Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  21. ↑ "UAE deploys troops to Yemen's Socotra island". The Daily Star - Lebanon . 7 May 2018. Archived from the original on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  22. ↑ "Anger erupts on Yemen's Socotra as UAE deploys over 100 troops". Aljazeera.com . Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  23. ↑ "A former CIA asset has become a U.S. headache in Libya". The Washington Post. 17 August 2016.
  24. ↑ "UAE incriminated by human rights groups over war crimes in Libya". The Libya Observer. 28 September 2017.
  25. ↑ "Libyan rights groups accuse UAE of war crimes". Al Jazeera. 26 September 2017.
  26. ↑ "Western Team Went to Help Moscow's Man in Libya, UN Finds". Bloomberg. 14 May 2020.
  27. ↑ "Report of the UN Secretary-General: United Nations Support Mission in Libya" (PDF). United Nations Security Council. 15 January 2020.
  28. ↑ "French sources: UAE sent 3,000 tons of military support to Haftar". The Libya Observer. 1 February 2020.
  29. ↑ "UAE supplying Haftar with Israeli air defence system to counter Turkish drones in Libya". The New Arab. 10 April 2020.
  30. ↑ "UAE groups implicated in suspected violation of Libyan arms embargo". The Financial Times. 20 April 2020.
  31. ↑ "Russia Isn't the Only One Getting Its Hands Dirty in Libya". The Foreign Policy. 21 April 2020.
  32. ↑ "U.A.E. Boosted Arms Transfers to Libya to Salvage Warlord's Campaign, U.N. Panel Finds". The Wall Street Journal. 29 September 2020.
  33. ↑ "Libya: Civilians caught in the crossfire as militias battle for Tripoli". Amnesty International. 22 October 2019.
  34. ↑ "UAE implicated in lethal drone strike in Libya". BBC. 28 August 2020.
  35. ↑ "The Conflict in Libya Is Getting Even Messier". The Foreign Policy. 4 February 2021.
  36. ↑ "Arms Sale to UAE Goes Forward Even as U.S. Probes Tie Between UAE and Russian Mercenaries". The Intercept. 2 December 2020.
  37. ↑ "Mass murder and the sin of silence". The Washington Post. 8 May 2021.
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