GENEVA, August 14, 2025 - The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD or Working Group) has adopted an opinion holding the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States (U.S.) governments jointly responsible for the arbitrary detention of an Afghan refugee inside the Emirates Humanitarian City (EHC), in Abu Dhabi.
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the U.S., through a private entity named “Task Force Argo”, facilitated the transfer of more than 2,000 Afghan refugees from Afghanistan to the UAE. The EHC was intended to serve as a 14-day transit stop for the Afghan nationals before their resettlement in the U.S.
However, not all of them have been relocated, and the process has proven to be longer than expected. Instead, they have been detained for years in a so called “Humanitarian” city.
According to the UN opinion, Afghan nationals in the EHC live under conditions that may amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, facing severe restrictions of movement, intense surveillance, denial of medical care, legal assistance, and most critically, the obstruction of their right to seek asylum.
The Working Group explicitly recognised the EHC as a “place of deprivation of liberty”, and found that the U.S. was aware of the conditions at the EHC at the time of the transfer, making its government internationally responsible for the Afghan nationals’ arbitrary detention.
Officially presented as a humanitarian facility, the EHC is in reality a closed guarded compound in Abu Dhabi.
While welcoming efforts to relocate at-risk Afghans, the UN Working Group found the USA and UAE jointly responsible for the arbitrary detention Afghan refugees in this complex because both were involved in the transfer to, and prolonged confinement in, the Emirates Humanitarian City. The UAE directly managed and guarded the facility without legal basis, while the USA, through actors operating with its knowledge and involvement, helped arrange the transport, negotiated with the UAE, and participated in the facility’s management.
MENA Rights Group calls on the UAE and the U.S. to take immediate steps to improve the detention conditions of the Afghan refugees and ensure all individuals in EHC receive appropriate medical and psychological care. We also urge both governments to secure their release and allow them to seek asylum and resettle in the U.S. as initially intended.
