Lawyer Amal Clooney talks human rights in Mideast speech

Amal Alamuddin Clooney, writer, human rights activist, talks during the opening ceremony of the International Government Communications Forum in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 20, 2016. AP Photo

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates— Advocate and lawyer Amal Clooney says governments around the world should be vocal, consistent, principled and transparent about human rights.

Clooney spoke Sunday at the opening of a government communications summit in the United Arab Emirates. She was a headline speaker at the annual event, which included the ruler of the emirate of Sharjah.

She says Arab countries are facing “an unprecedented human rights crisis” and that criticism of ruling systems should be met with dialogue, not prison terms, and protests with “crowd control,” not bullets.

Clooney mentioned Iran and North Korea in her 12-minute speech, however she made no specific references to rights abuses in Gulf Arab countries or the humanitarian toll of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, which the UAE is also taking part in.