Despite steady progress over the past four decades, the UAE judicial system still faces challenges. Some of them were discussed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, on Wednesday. As The National reported yesterday, the UN legal expert said after concluding her nine-day official visit that the country needs to make more efforts to address some issues that "directly affect the delivery of justice, the enforcement of human rights and the public's confidence in the judiciary", providing recommendations on how to address them.
One of these is the Emiratisation of the court system to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. To achieve that, the country ought to have a comprehensive plan to attract, recruit and train more Emiratis as judges.
The development of the UAE judicial system is an ongoing process and the leadership already recognises this. “We are not perfect and we try to change it. Any mistakes, we go in and try to change it. We’re not perfect, but we are doing our best,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in a BBC interview, when asked about the case of Shezanne Cassim, who was detained on cybercrime charges after posting a video mocking youth culture. He also said that the treatment of the US citizen who spent nine months in jail was unsatisfactory, and suggested it was a mistake the UAE could learn from.
The country has already embarked on drafting a new federal law on the judiciary system and is committed to strengthening its human rights records. The UN’s comments and recommendations will be considered in the continuous process of assessing and improving the current system.
Yet the preliminary report of Ms Knaul had some drawbacks. Some of the comments made by the UN legal expert were based on information from undisclosed sources and appeared to be consistent with statements by anti-UAE groups. Given that the UAE welcomed the investigation, it would have been appropriate – and indeed diplomatic – for the UN rapporteur to have provided full disclosure.
Despite that, co-operation between the Government and the investigation will continue. In the end, the development of the country’s judiciary is too important to be sidetracked by a lack of diplomacy.