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Expelled member to fight against human rights body
ABU DHABI — Mohammed Fahd Al Dehaim, founding member of the recently-formed UAE Human Rights Association (UAEHRA), who was allegedly removed from the body, has vowed to fight a battle to prove its illegality in terms of institutional procedures.
"I am not going to give up. I will do whatever it takes to contest the way the association was formed," Al Dehaim told Khaleej Times yesterday.
He said along with the six founding members who pulled out of the constitutional meeting of the association, he would hand over a memorandum to the Minister of the Social Affairs to support their case and correct the mistake which resulted in omission of his name from the list of the society's founders.
"I will also challenge the legitimacy of the election of the board of directors that was held recently," Al Dehaim vowed.
He was informed that his name was not being included in the list.
"Dr Ali Shokr, Muhammad Ghubash and Abdul Ghafar Hussain did not inform me that my name was not registered in the list of the society's founders although they followed up the registration procedures with the ministry as they confirmed that everything was ok," he complained.
He said he was astonished by the way that the representative of the Ministry of Labour treated him. "All were upset and angry about the way he treated me. He dealt with me as if I was a school student," he added.
According to him, the representative of the ministry refused even to discuss the issue of omitting his name from the list.
Al Dehaim affirmed that founding of such association should be based upon some system. Otherwise it will have no future.
Khaleej Times also spoke to a number of members of the association and intellectuals to acquaint its readers with its future plans.
The association's president-elect Abdul Al Ghafar Hussain announced that a detailed plan would be worked out to activate the role of the association in cooperation with various government and non-government bodies.
He thanked all those who voted for him and against him although three or four founding members did not give him their votes.
Dr Nisrin Abdul Rahman Fuoad, a professor at the UAE University, said that the next step is to forge relations with Arab and international human rights organisations.
The articles of association of the body, she said, define a set of objectives the association will seek to achieve.
''The association will function as per the applied laws and constitution of the UAE to defend the rights of any person in the country,'' she maintained.
Commenting on reluctance of men to cast their votes in favour of women during the election, Dr Mariam Sultan said, ''Everybody here is handling the matter on the fact that we are all members and not men or women."
Legitimacy of the Association
Before the election process was completed on Wednesday, observer Abdullah Nasser of the Arab Human Rights Organisation emphasised that his organisation would issue a statement on the non-legitimacy of the association in case of any intervention by the government or any attempt to impose any name not included in the final list of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Law above all
Social Affairs Ministry representative underlined that measures in this regard should be adhered to and legal views of some circles should be observed.
''Insertion or omission of Al Dehaim's name doesn't fall under his jurisdiction,'' he said, pointing out that he can attend as a listener without having the right to vote.
Commenting on the event, Dr Ibtisam Al Kitbi, a professor at the UAE University, termed the situation as ''awful''. ''We were all in a bad shape," she stated.
She affirmed that the Ministry of Social Affairs did not interfere with the forum to dictate or omit any names.
She went on to say that Al Dehaim confirmed to her when she informed him that he was seeking a legal way out of the fix.
Respect for all
Dr Hisa Lootah, another professor at the UAE University, called for not dramatising the event by giving it more attention that it deserves which at the end of the day will snowball into a form of conflict.
She called for prevalence of a minimum of respect among the present members.
Facts about the session
Around 23 members attended the first session of the association, according to the final list. Six members plus Al Dehaim withdrew and two members did not attend.
Ten women attended the session including Aysha Sultan who won 16 votes and became the deputy chairman.
Abdul Ghafar Hussein sat on the chairman's seat from the beginning of the meeting and the result of the elections confirmed him as chairman.
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