Arab News Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Arab News - Essay Example "Traditional rule in the emirates generally has been patriarchal, with political allegiance defined in terms of loyalty to the tribal leaders. Political leaders in the emirates are not elected, but citizens may express their concerns directly to their leaders via traditional mechanisms, such as the open majlis, or council" (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2001).According to the Constitution, Federal Supreme Council consists of the seven emirate leaders, which means, all regions have approximately equal access to legislative process. The Council elects President and Vice President directly among its members, and President is entitled to select Cabinet and Prime Minister. In spite of the well-known fact that emirate leaders normally meet in informal settings, the Constitution obliges them to assemble annually and determine legislation, country budget and further social policy. The Cabinet controls and manages the Federation on a daily basis, and the Federal National Council, the major advisory body, constitute a link between the Council and the Cabinet, as FNC officials are expected to provide consulting services to emirate leaders and make queries to the Cabinet, even though FNC has no legislative rights. Every region maintains control over its oil and mineral resources, local economic issues, inter-emirate trade and some aspects of local and regional security. The central Government declares dominance in terms of international affairs, defense strategies, and progressively more in terms of law and the provision of certain government services to population (bbc.co.uk, 2006). Judicial branch in UAE is mostly independent, but the court system is subordinated and in some sense managed by the federal Government, in particular, international cases and all events and crimes, associated with terrorism. Policing in United Arab Emirates is comparatively independent, since each region has its own internal police force, but they all are accountable to hierarchically vertically higher structures. The federation supports the establishment of free commerce and has market economy, basically maintained by oil and natural gas trade as well as light industry, like textiles and garments manufacturing. Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate is economic and political center, as the majority of petrol production businesses are situated in this region. The Emirate of Dubai is likewise an oil producer, as well as a growing financial and commercial center in the Gulf. "The remaining five emirates have negligible petroleum or other resources and therefore depend in varying degrees on federal government subsidies, particularly for basic services such as health care, electricity, water, and education. The economy provides citizens with a high per capita income, but it is heavily dependent on foreign workers, who constitute at least 80 percent of the general population" (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2001). Human rights in UAE are respected, but in fact not realized completely. For instance, there are some biases at governmental level, which support patriarchate and male domination, and correspondingly, there are almost no business or educational newspapers, intended for women. Furthermore, the Government rejects the citizens' right to change or elect authorities, and the press and television still omit or avoid direct criticism of authorities, as the most popular and available newspapers are government-oriented