'UAE: Fossil Fuels Poison Air', 4 December 2023

The United Arab Emirates’ fossil fuel industry contributes to toxic air pollution with a devastating impact on human health even as its government works to position itself as a global leader on climate and health issues at the United Nations climate conference COP28, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 24-page report, “‘You Can Smell Petrol in the Air’: UAE Fossil Fuels Feed Toxic Pollution” documents alarmingly high air pollution levels in the UAE, which create major health risks for its citizens and residents and contribute to the global climate crisis...

Human Rights Watch analysis of levels of PM2.5 (very small particles that measure 2.5 micrometers or smaller and can penetrate deep into the lungs and easily enter the bloodstream)...found that they were, on average, almost three times the daily recommended levels of WHO’s air quality guidelines...

Those in the UAE wanting to report on, or speak out about, the risks of fossil fuel expansion and its links to air pollution face risks of unlawful surveillance, arrest, detention, and ill-treatment. Over the last decade, the UAE authorities have sustained an assault on human rights and freedoms... Migrant workers described breathing air that burned their lungs, feeling out of breath at work, having itchy skin, and other health problems that they believe could be related to toxic air...

The government should tackle the root causes of air pollution by drastically reducing the release of pollutants that are harmful to human health, including by developing plans for a full phase out of fossil fuels, Human Rights Watch said...