A world-renowned human rights group has denounced the United Arab Emirates’s (UAE) Dubai Expo 2020 for covering up rights abuse committed by the Gulf country.
In its bid to position the Expo as the Middle East’s premier world fair, the UAE has long sought to “whitewash its image and obscure its abuses,” Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement.
He urged the countries that are participating in the Expo, which has been in development for eight years, not to cooperate in the deception. Page sent the scorching message following a request from the European Parliament to boycott the Expo on grounds of human rights.
“Expo 2020 is yet another opportunity for the UAE to falsely present itself on the world stage as open, tolerant, and rights-respecting while shutting down the space for politics, public discourse, and activism,” he said.
In spite of the event’s postponement due to the COVID-19 crisis, Expo’s organizers hope the Dubai World Expo will attract 25 million visitors to the Gulf country. Dubai Expo 2020’s theme is “connecting minds, creating the future,” announced the Bureau International des Expositions, the organization responsible for overseeing world fairs.
HRW’s statement described the Expo’s theme and message as being “at odds” with the UAE’s grim record on human rights.
According to the statement, the UAE has “carried out a sustained assault on freedom of expression and association, arresting and prosecuting hundreds of independent lawyers, judges, teachers, students, and activists, and shutting down key civil society associations and the offices of foreign organizations, effectively crushing any space for dissent.”
Other international organizations have criticized the UAE government for denying access to United Nations experts, human rights researchers, as well as critical academics and journalists.
According to various reports, UN human rights experts have not been permitted into the Gulf country since the UN special rapporteur on judicial independence visited the country in 2014 and issued a scathing report on the lack of judicial independence.
HRW also mentioned “the possible surveillance of the news media by the government.”During an opening ceremony on Thursday night, UAE Crown Prince and de facto ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan described the expo as reflecting “the ethos of this land” as a place of cross-cultural dialogue and tolerance.
192 nations are expected to participate in the event, which will take place over the course of 182 days.
