United Arab Emirates war crimes

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]

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]

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.

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]