A coalition of civil society organizations charged on Wednesday of “heavy-handed restrictions” by the Emirati hosts of a World Trade Organization meeting, citing the detention of some of their members during the negotiations.
The WTO has received complaints from Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS), a coalition of over a dozen civil society organizations, about a number of incidents that occurred during the organization’s 13th ministerial session in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The “detainment, confiscation of materials, and heavy-handed restrictions on lobbying by civil society organizations… is putting the safety of civil society participants at risk,” the coalition said in a statement on Wednesday.
OWINFS facilitator Deborah James called the restrictions unprecedented.“This is my 11th MC (ministerial conference) and I’ve never seen anything like this level of repression,” she said.
The UAE government did not reply to a request for information.The WTO stated in a statement to AFP that Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala met with members of the Civil Society Advisory Group yesterday and that the organization “is firmly committed to its engagement with civil society organizations”.
Later, she had a meeting with the Emirati chair of the conference “to identify potential solutions to address issues raised.”
Following reports that several civil society organizers attending the WTO summit had been detained in various events since Sunday, the OWINFS statement was made public.
They include a 24-year-old member of a Norwegian organisation that works on fair and just trade who was allegedly held in a room for an hour on Tuesday for taking a picture inside the venue.
“I was taking a picture of a colleague inside the venue that showed a security person in the background,” said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns.
“I was stopped and told it was illegal to take pictures of security personnel in the UAE,” she said.
The activist claimed she repeatedly offered to delete the picture, but was not released until WTO organisers intervened. “We are all very scared,” she said.
The UAE bans unauthorised protests and limits forms of expression that it deems disruptive.
During the COP28 climate conference in Dubai last year, it permitted restricted protests in certain areas, but environmentalists still complained about harsh restrictions.
OWINFS alleged that mistreatment at the Abu Dhabi WTO discussions extended beyond incarceration.
It was forbidden for members of civil society to carry signs, distribute fliers with information, chant about the negotiations, or hang banners.
According to the group, there was one case where a member of civil society was refused entry to the site because they were wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh headscarf, while other participants were allowed entry while dressed in their national attire.
