UN body finds US and UAE responsible for Afghan refugee's arbitrary detention
Sep 05, 2025
New York [US], September 5: A U.N. body has found that the United States and the United Arab Emirates are jointly responsible for holding an Afghan man in arbitrary detention in Abu Dhabi for over two years in a case rights groups say is emblematic of thousands of others.
The man, a former police force colonel who had worked with U.S. forces and received threats from the Islamist Taliban movement, was evacuated with his family during the hurried U.S. exit from Afghanistan in 2021 under former President Joe Biden.
Referred to as "Mr. B" for his protection, the man was evacuated by private U.S. operators who told him he would stay in the UAE for 14 days before being transferred to the U.S., the U.N. documents showed.
Instead, he was held in the "Emirates Humanitarian City" (EHC)- a vast housing complex the UAE says is used to house conflict evacuees - for more than two years under constant surveillance and subject to restrictions, they said.
The five-member Working Group, mandated by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty, asked both states to provide compensation and reparations.
It said that the U.S. violated the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - a legally binding treaty that guarantees freedoms.
The U.S. mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. State Department, which has helped resettle over 100,000 Afghans, has previously said under Biden it was committed to relocating and resettling all eligible Afghans.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation
