United Arab Emirates

2015: Attended the state consultations on the SSD in Geneva – led by Norway.

May 2018: A representative of the embassy in Oslo attended the presentation of Education Under Attack 2018 in Oslo and approached GCPEA afterwards to ask for more information.

June 2018: Gisela had a brief and straightforward meeting with Ms. Maisoon Hassan Al Dah, expert, who had contacted GCPEA to seek a meeting after Amy met with the Ambassador in Oslo. This followed a meeting with Dr. Ahmed Aoued and Mr. Saeed Al Jarwan earlier that week in Geneva, who had also requested the meeting. In both meetings, they were receptive but did not have many questions. The New York expert seemed to baulk slightly at the mention of Qatar when she asked which countries in the Middle East had endorsed. (This makes sense in light of the news since shared by Peter concerning Qatar’s ICJ proceedings against the UAE.) One of the Crown Princes of Dubai as started following me on Twitter since the meeting. I followed up in writing, sharing a letter for the Foreign Minister. No reply.

September 2018: Ahead of the UN WPS open debate, GCPEA a letter addressed to Foreign Minister sent to the Mission in New York. The letter encourages the government to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and advocate for continued access to quality, conflict-sensitive education for women and girls.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

February 2020: GCPEA reequested a meeting to inform the UAE about the Safe Schools Declaration and engage further on UAE Human Rights Council priorities with respect to rights of the child and education.

June 2021: The meeting was quite positive. The representatives began the meeting by informing us that the UAE was thinking about endorsement and carefully reviewing the declaration and the guidelines. The legal adviser asked numerous questions about implications with IHL, which we promptly answered. They wanted to know more about monitoring, endorsement procedure, implementation examples, what the commitments mean in practice, and all of the legal aspects of the document. We argued it would be very powerful for them to endorse in advance of their UNSC term. We commended them for their work in the HRC resolution on the right to education for girls and shared recommendations for the CAAC debate. We followed up with a comprehensive email containing all of the relevant documents to assist them in their internal review. Yatasha and Apolline met with Ghasaq Yousif Shaheen and Eric Abrams from the UAE mission in NY. The meeting was very positive. They asked a lot of specific questions on endorsement and implementation. It was very clear that they were reviewing their position on endorsement. This sudden interest is related to their recent election at the UNSC for the next term 2022-23. They are also reviewing their position on the Paris and Vancouver Principles. It is a very good time for us to push for endorsement as they appear open to do it. We will closely monitor and follow up.

December 2021: On 14/12, Nevena and Apolline met with Mr. Rashed Azzam, lead expert on CAAC, and Mr. Brian Abrams, legal expert, from the UAE Permanent Mission in New York. GCPEA provided a comprehensive overview of recent developments, including the Abuja Conference, UNSCR 2601 and the Arria formula meeting on the protection of education. We asked about any updates from capital since the last meeting in June where they had told us they were doing an internal review on the SSD in advance of their tenure at the UNSC in 2022. The lead expert on CAAC explained that his government was supportive of the SSD agenda but was still exploring the topic before committing to endorsement. He was interested in the number of endorsing states in the Arab League (I.e. 11 representing half the league). He explained that he was preparing a comprehensive briefing for his capital to recommend if they should endorse. They asked for clarifications on reporting and monitoring commitments, examples of implementation, clarifications on the commitment to meet often, the relation between IHL and the Declaration, and updates on upcoming GCPEA publications, particularly regarding girls. GCPEA answered all of their questions in details. GCPEA followed up by email sharing a written explanation on their key concerns and stressing arguments for endorsement in 2022. The meeting was very positive. The representative said it was “eye opening” and promised to recommend endorsement to his capital.

March 2022: Ukraine humanitarian briefing to UNSC 7 March: UAE said schools should not be a target of attack.