DUBAI: The UAE set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes yesterday that include giving authorities wider leeway to crack down on Web activists for offenses such as mocking the country’s rulers or calling for demonstrations.
The new UAE codes — posted on the official news agency WAM — raise questions about potential new red lines for the country’s huge expatriate work force in which parodies and pointed criticism of the UAE are common fodder on websites. It’s unclear, too, whether the codes could put a chill on media coverage of sensitive issues such as the rising profile of hard-line factions.
Many of the codes in UAE’s updated Internet law focus on issues such as online fraud, privacy protection and efforts to combat prostitution.
But a major section spells out sweeping limits and possible prison terms for any posts “to deride or to damage the reputation or the stature of the state or any of its institutions,” including the rulers and high officials across the UAE.
It also outlaws “information, news, caricatures or any other kind of pictures” that authorities believe could threaten security or “public order.” These include Web posts calling for public protests or “disobeying the laws and regulations of the state.”
The new codes said jail terms are possible for any Internet posts that “display contempt” for Islam or any other faith.
UAE adopts stricter online monitoring
UAE adopts stricter online monitoring
UNICEF chief says GCC central to supporting operations across the region
DUBAI: The Gulf Cooperation Council is playing a central role in combating acute crises affecting children and displaced people across the region, says UNICEF’s Gulf Area Office director, Lana Al-Wreikat.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit on Tuesday, Wreikat said the GCC had become central to supporting refugees, hygiene and children’s health through funding and diplomatic support.
“Our work with the GCC countries when it comes to the humanitarian crisis goes beyond the refugee response,” Wreikat said.
“We are also dealing with displaced communities inside countries. We also deal with big issues and sectors like the water, sanitation, hygiene, promotion, nutrition, child protection, education. We have our core commitments for children and young people, and these translate across all these sectors. The GCC … has been a very generous donor for us.”
Wreikat revealed the UAE had just announced a $550 million donation for the UN’s 2026 global appeal, part of which goes to funding UNICEF’s operations.
She said Gulf countries had become crucial to supporting the organization diplomatically, especially in difficult situations with access difficulties.
“They also play a big role in terms of the humanitarian diplomacy and negotiations around access, where we really need to support maximum number of children,” she said.
“In terms of their priorities, what’s really high on the agenda is Gaza, Sudan, Yemen, and Syria.”
