The United Nations says it will address the detention of Princess Latifa, the daughter of Dubai's ruler, with the United Arab Emirates.

Emirati princess Sheikha Latifa, one of the daughters of Dubai's ruler, says she is being held against her will in a barricaded villa.

Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum drew international attention in 2018 when a human rights group released a video she made in which she described an attempt to escape Dubai.

Last March, a London High Court judge said he accepted as proved a series of allegations made by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bint Rashid Al Maktoum's former wife, Princess Haya, in a legal battle, including that the sheikh ordered the abduction of Sheikha Latifa.

The sheikh's lawyers rejected the allegations.

In secretly recorded videos that have now gone viral, Princess Latifa says she fears for her life.

The footage prompted global calls for a UN investigation, while the UK has called the videos "deeply troubling".

Journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis has written extensively about the royal family in Dubai for Vanity Fair.

She spoke to ABC NewsRadio’s Thomas Oriti from New York.

Source: UN to address detention of Dubai's Princess Latifa