UAE’s anti-discrimination legislation

If UAE really wants to tackle discrimination, it needs to do more to address other glaring forms of discrimination

The UAE government, this past month, has enacted an anti-discriminatory law with much fanfare. While the new law has been justified by the need to prevent hate speech, the context within which this legislation has been introduced also provides ample reason for concern. The UAE anti-discrimination law has made hate speech a legal offence punishable by a jail term of up to 10 years, as well as massive fines. The law not only prohibits blasphemy against any religion but also hate speech, or the promotion of violence or discrimination against any individual or groups on the basis of religion, caste, doctrine, race, colour or ethnicity. The law aims to curb such detrimental acts, be they expressed through verbal speech, broadcasted electronically, or published in print or through the internet.

Local newspapers within the region have lauded this law for laying a sound foundation to ensure an environment of tolerance. Public figures in the UAE have praised it as well, terming it a proactive attempt to curb intolerance and the resulting social upheaval that can be instigated, pointing towards, for example, the negative outfall of the caricaturisation of Islam in Western societies in the name of freedom of speech. The UAE, a country ruled by hereditary dynasties, like other Middle Eastern countries, is also becoming increasingly concerned about hardline militancy. It is weary of growing sectarian tensions in the Gulf, given the recent blasts at mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as threats by the Islamic State (IS) following its participation in US-led air strikes against the IS. Apparently, the new law would not only help curb hate speech against other religions, but also counter those hardline militants, who often label followers of other schools of Islam as being heretics or non-believers in order to justify violence against them. This scenario seems to provide reasonable cause for the anti-discriminatory law.

Moreover, the fact that the law claims to prevent hate speech against all religious beliefs, or other racial or ethnic differences, seems to lend it further legitimacy. However, such optimistic assessments do not adequately contend with the prevalent political environment within the UAE, which does not exhibit much tolerance for dissent. Thus, while the anti-discrimination law may seem to offer indiscriminate protection from hate speech and discrimination, its implementation remains prone to selective interpretation.

Human rights campaigners, in particular, view the new law with suspicion and think it will be used to curb free speech and criticism of the UAE government. Their fear seems substantiated by recent news items about a Saudi blogger being persecuted under the new anti-discrimination law. Mohammed al-Hadif, who has over half a million twitter followers, has been a vocal critic of the UAE’s support for Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen. The Dubai police have launched a case to arrest al-Hadif, who is thought to travel between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, for instigating hatred against the UAE. The use of this new anti-discrimination legislation against a political commentator is thus being cited as an example of stifling criticism under the guise of preventing hatred or discrimination. If the UAE really wants to tackle the problem of discrimination, it needs to also do more to address the other glaring forms of discrimination in its midst, including the second-class status of women, and the mistreatment of poor migrant workers. Whether this new law will be used to tackle varied forms of gender or ethnic discrimination at the workplace or in other situations remains to be seen.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th,  2015.

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