The State Department has accused the UAE government of violating human rights in its territory and in Yemen during the past years of war as part of a Saudi-led military coalition operation claiming to restore Yemeni legitimacy and end the Iranian-backed Houthi coup.
The State Department’s annual report on human rights in the world for 2020 states that UAE-backed security forces in Yemen used torture, sexual assault and ill-treatment of prisoners. But the UAE government has denied allegations that members of the Yemeni security forces committed human rights violations in Yemen.
The report noted that some coalition airstrikes were disproportionate or unregulated and did not appear to have sufficiently diminished their impact on civilians.
The report states that all actors in Yemen, including Houthis, al-Qaeda, Abu Dhabi-backed separatists and international parties to the conflict, such as Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have committed “grave violations” that have so far gone unpunished.
“All parties in Yemen have committed illegal killings, torture, arrests and other gross human rights violations,” he added.
The State Department confirmed in its report that repression and kidnapping and torture in prisons are the most prominent features in the UAE.
“It is natural that the United States should not mention in its report the role of the United States in initiating and providing intelligence and logistical support to the worst women of the century,” he wrote.