UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Official name: Al-Imarat al-Arabiyah al-Muttahidah (United Arab Emirates) Location: West Asia International organisations: The Arab League, The Non-Aligned Movement, The Organisation of Islamic Conference, The United Nations, The World Trade Organisation. Borders: Oman, Saudi Arabia Coastline: Persian Gulf Land area: 82,880 Km2 Population: 2,400,000

Ethnicity: Only 20% of the population are Emirate Arabs. Another 20% are Arabs from other countries, the largest groups being Egyptians and Omanis. The rest of the population are immigrant workers from South Asia (50%), Iran and other countries.
Languages: Arabic is the official language and the language of all natives of the Emirates, but is the first language of only 40% of the population. The most widely spoken languages in the immigrant communities are Malayalam (13%), Baluchi (8%), Pashto (6%), Farsi (5%), Telugu (5%), Somali (4%) and Bengali (3%).
Religion: Islam is the state religion and virtually all the Emirate Arabs are Sunni Moslems. A large majority of the immigrant population are also Moslems, with Shi'a Moslems making up 15% of the total population. There are small Christian and Hindi minorities.
Form of government: Presidential federation. The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven Emirates, all heriditary absolute monarchies, but has a republican form of federal government.
Capital: Abu Dhabi
Constitution: The Constitution of the United Arab Emirates (not available online) came into effect on 2 December 1971 and became permanent on 18 June 1996.
Head of state: The President, chosen by the Federal Supreme Council (consisting of the seven hereditary Emirs and their heirs) for a five-year term. In practice the post is always held by the Emir of Abu Dhabi.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President and accountable to him.
Legislature: The United Arab Emirates has a unicameral legislature, the Federal National Council (Majlis Watani Ittihad), which has 40 members appointed by the governments of the seven Emirates.
Electoral authority: None
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 6, Civil Liberties 5

Political history

The group of independent Emirates which now constitute the UAE owed a nominal alliegance to the Ottoman Sultan from the 16th century. The British entered the Gulf in the early 19th century to stop pirate raids on India-bound shipping, and in 1853 the Gulf Emirs were compelled to sign a "perpetual truce" and treaty of alliance with Britain. A second treaty in 1892 made the Trucial Emirates, along with Bahrein, Kuwait and Qatar, effectively British protectorates. The discovery of oil in 1958 made the larger Emirates, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, very rich and attracted many non-Arab guest-workers.

The British withdrew from the Gulf in 1971 and Bahrein and Qatar became independent. The seven smaller Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah) formed a loose federation. The Emir of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayyed bin Sultan Al Nahayyan, was elected President by the other Emirs in 1971 and retained the position until his death in 2004, when his son Sheikh Khalifah succeeded him. The other six emirates (which apart from Dubai are very small) retain control of their internal affairs.

There are no political parties in the UAE and the legislature is nominated by the Emirs. The majority of the population who are not Emirate Arabs have no civil or political rights, and groups such as Human Rights Watch are trying to persuade the government to improve their legal situation. The Emirates' great oil wealth has helped to prevent organised opposition.

Amnesty International's 2003 Report on the United Arab Emirates reported continuing human rights abuses: "New and broader security provisions facilitated the arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention of up to 250 United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals. Most remained in detention at the end of the year. The arrests, which began towards the end of 2001, were carried out in the context of combating "terrorism". Some of those detained were reportedly ill-treated. Dozens of people employed by the ministries of justice and education were forcibly retired or transferred as part of an ongoing policy of limiting freedom of expression and association." The Arab Gateway website provides information on events in the United Arab Emirates.