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A cross-party group can apply sanctions to stop further human rights abuses in the Gulf

Ben Keith and Rhys Davies comment in The Times on Thursday November 18 2021

To prevent the complete breakdown of international law, the UK government must look to target human rights abusers and corrupt regimes directly.

One of the weapons in the legal arsenal available to them is the use of individual sanctions. The new all-party parliamentary group on Magnitsky sanctions, chaired by two MPs, Sir Iain Duncan-Smith and Chris Bryant, has been launched to bring focus to the process of using sanctions to target high-profile individuals responsible for abuse.

The essential dichotomy of international law is its reliance on political will. The UK government seeks to do business with many regimes with horrific human rights abuses, but the use of sanctions is against individuals and can cut the gordian knot to allow individuals to be targeted without the UK having completely to stop doing business.

It is a solution that presents an opportunity for change through continued pressure and it is to be hoped that the all-party group will be able to highlight specific instances of abuse in individual cases.

In particular, the Foreign Office should sanction high profile individuals from the United Arab Emirates who are responsible for the unlawful detention and torture.

The UAE has a long history of human rights abuses committed against foreigners and those who come into conflict with the ruling elite will often have their business seized under pretence of legal proceedings and then serve long prison sentences in concocted criminal trials. The UAE has an unenviable record on human rights abuse and the Foreign Office often turns a blind eye to the abuses suffered by UK individuals in that country.

The recent cross-party fact-finding panel report by the MPs Sir Peter Bottomley and Debbie Abrahams and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC on the mistreatment of British women in the UAE brought together the stories of the victims of abuse. The panel was particularly concerned about the lack of support and action by the Foreign Office.

The report encourages ministers to take this matter seriously and learn from high-profile cases of not just British nationals, but also Emirati women who have suffered discrimination and injustice at the hands of UAE authorities.

The panel heard from a detained woman’s father that the Foreign Office is essentially proving itself in its actions or inactions to be complicit because its actions or inactions help the UAE authorities to “trample over UK citizens’ human rights”.

It is with this background and context that it is hoped that the all-party group will be able to put pressure on UAE individuals as well as the Foreign Office to stop further human rights abuses in the Gulf.

This article was first published in The Times on Thursday 18 November 2021, you can view the original article here.

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About the Authors

Ben Keith Barrister

Ben Keith is a co-founder of IHR Advisors and an internationally recognised lawyer specialising in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges, extradition, international human rights law and asylum. He is the co-author of Interpol, Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 2026). He is co-editor of Red Notice Monitor, the leading public resource on INTERPOL Red Notice abuse and the practice of INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of Files.

Ben represents clients across every region in INTERPOL Red Notice and Diffusion challenges before the Commission for the Control of Files. He has secured the deletion of Notices issued by states including Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Belarus, Iran and Venezuela, in cases involving journalists, opposition political figures, refugees, human rights defenders and business figures targeted in commercial and political disputes. He is the author of the INTERPOL chapter in The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations (Global Investigations Review, 2026).

Ben has appeared as counsel before the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber, the UK Supreme Court, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the UN Committee Against Torture. He is a member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

He regularly acts for politically exposed persons, journalists, human rights defenders and high net worth individuals facing extradition, INTERPOL Notices and other instruments of transnational repression. He provides legal commentary to national and international media including the Guardian, The Times, the Financial Times, The Telegraph, the BBC, Sky News, CNN, CBS 60 Minutes, The Economist, Politico and Al Jazeera.

Ben is ranked Star Individual in Chambers and Partners and a leading individual in The Legal 500 for extradition. He practises from 5 St Andrew’s Hill in London.

View Ben Keith's profile
Rhys Davies Barrister

Rhys Davies is a co-founder of IHR Advisors and an internationally recognised lawyer specialising in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges, international criminal law and international human rights law. He is the co-author of Interpol, Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 2026). He is co-editor of Red Notice Monitor, the leading public resource on INTERPOL Red Notice abuse and the practice of INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of Files.

Rhys co-authored the report Undue Influence: the UAE and INTERPOL with Sir David Calvert-Smith, examining the systemic misuse of INTERPOL’s Notice and Diffusion systems by the United Arab Emirates and the implications for INTERPOL’s governance. He represents clients in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges before the Commission for the Control of Files, with particular focus on cases involving Middle Eastern and Central Asian states, and on the position of refugees, journalists and political dissidents targeted through INTERPOL by their states of origin.

Rhys has significant experience of in-country legal advice and assistance, most recently in the West Bank, and a specific interest in the Middle East. He is a member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. He regularly speaks at, and chairs, events at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and at the House of Commons on matters of international law.

Rhys is the author of numerous articles on INTERPOL Red Notice practice and on justice in the Middle East, and is in demand as a commentator on international human rights. He provides legal commentary to national and international media including The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times, CBS 60 Minutes, Sky News, City AM and Al Jazeera.

Rhys is recommended as a leading individual in The Legal 500. He practises from Temple Garden Chambers in London and The Hague.

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