Human rights are legally protected by the Constitution of the United Arab Emirates, which confers equality, liberty, rule of law, presumption of innocence in legal procedures, inviolability of the home, freedom of movement, freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of communication, freedom of religion, freedom of council and association, freedom of occupation, freedom to be elected to office and others onto all citizens, within the limit of the law.[1] The UAE is held to be one of the most liberal countries in the Middle East, particularly if compared to its neighbors, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Due to the rapid development of the UAE from a traditional, relatively homogeneous society in the mid-20th century to a modern, multicultural one at the beginning of the 21st century, the concurrent development of legal provisions and the practical enforcement of existing laws has been challenging and, in consequence, problems exist mainly in regard to human rights of non-citizens, who make up around 80% of the population, with main issues including companies' and employers' non-compliance with labor laws, which[[[ for some are novel.
According to the U.S. Department of State annual report on human rights practices, the UAE is violating a number of fundamental practices. Specifically, the UAE does not have democratically-elected institutions and citizens do not have the right to change their government or to form political parties. In certain instances, the government of the UAE has abused people in custody and has denied their citizens the right to a speedy trial and access to counsel during official investigations.[2]
The government restricts freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and the local media practises self-censorship by avoiding directly criticizing the government.Freedom of association is also curtailed.