Geneva / Information Office / May 15
The State of Qatar has reiterated its continued cooperation with all United Nations human rights mechanisms, in particular the Human Rights Council, to achieve the objectives of the promotion and protection of human rights.
This came in a speech delivered Wednesday by HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi before the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the "Third Periodic Report of the State of Qatar".
"In the State of Qatar, we greatly value the important role played by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the Working Group to help countries to improve and enhance their commitments on the bases of the international human rights law," he said, stressing Qatar's support for and full cooperation with the UPR as well as other international and regional mechanisms towards the strengthening and protection of human rights.
HE Al Muraikhi pointed that the State of Qatar views the interactive dialogue as an exchange process that enhances understanding between itself and the Working Group. " No doubt that working with this group and the other treaty bodies is certainly a path to strengthen human rights and to attain the desired objectives," he said. adding that the State of Qatar considers the UPR process as important opportunity to improve its internal practices and advance them in the field of human rights.
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi indicated that the Stat of Qatar is very keen on holding a comprehensive and constructive discussion around the report. " We have an extended delegation that has come to Geneva to engage in this discussion. This delegation represents a number of government authorities and circles, all concerned with the protection and strengthening of human rights in its wholistic indivisible concept," he said.
His Excellency stressed that the size, level and formation of the delegation and the efforts that the State has put in to prepare the report underline the seriousness of Qatar in implementing its commitments under the UPR mechanism.
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi affirmed that the issue of promoting and protecting human rights is at the top of the priorities of the State of Qatar and constitutes the cornerstone of its comprehensive reform policy.
He pointed out that this was underlined in the Qatar National Vision 2030, the first national development strategy (2011-2016) and the second strategy (2018-2022).
He also pointed to the keenness of the State of Qatar to implement the commitments from the discussion of its first report, stressing that the Council of Ministers issued at its ordinary meeting No. (33) held on 24/11/2010 its decision on the continuity of the Committee which prepared the first report of the State to prepare the following reports and as a mechanism to follow up the recommendations.
His Excellency added that the report presented is the result of a broad consultative process, coordination, cooperation and expanded partnership between governmental and non-governmental bodies and with all groups and segments of society, and in accordance with the guiding principles, and the report included an introduction in the first part, while the second part included the follow-up methodology and the reporting process.
HE Al Muraikhi pointed out that the third part of the report, which represents the main part, dealt with the efforts undertaken by the State to implement the recommendations it accepted, which were classified according to thematic topics including adherence to international treaties, enactment of legislation, strengthening international cooperation, measures, strategies and policies for the promotion and protection of human rights, training and capacity-building and awareness-raising, and the report concludes with a section on challenges and future visions.
HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said that since the adoption of the second report, the State's efforts to promote and protect human rights, which have been discussed in detail in the third part of the report, have continued, stressing that the most important developments following the adoption of the second report, including Qatar's accession to the International Covenants on Human Rights (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by Decree No. 40 of 2018, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) by Decree No. 41 of 2018. The State of Qatar is therefore part of seven of the nine core human rights treaties.
He added that in recent years, the State of Qatar has carried out significant legislative reforms, the most important of which is the legal framework regulating the rights of migrant workers, who plays a pivotal role in the development of the country, and Qatar appreciates the contributions of expatriate workers.
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi further stressed that the strengthening and protection of the rights of the expatriate work force is a strategic choice for the State of Qatar, pointing to a number of legislations that have been enacted in this respect, such as law No 1 of 2015 amending some of the provisions of the Labor Law No 14 of 2004 on the wages protection system (WPS); Law No 21 of 2015 regulating the entry and the exit of expatriates, which has abolished the "Kafala" (sponsorship) system; Law No 15 of 2017 on domestic workers in a manner that is in line with the terms of International Labor organization's (ILO) convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers; the establishment of the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons, according to the Qatari Cabinet decision No 15 of 2017; Law No 13 of 2017 on the labor dispute settlement committee and Law No 17 of 2018 on the establishment of a fund to support and provide welfare for expatriates.
HE Al Muraikhi also pointed to Law No 13 of 2018 on the abolishing of the exit permit; Minister of Administrative development, Labor and Social Affairs' decision No 21 of 2019 on the measure of election of the representatives of the workers in the committees that are set up in various enterprises; signing 38 bilateral agreements with countries sending workers; signing , in October 2017, a technical cooperation agreement with the ILO covering the period 2018-2020 and including advise and counselling by the ILO on the implementation of labor laws according to international labor standards and the establishment of "Aman House" for workers who have sustained injuries, have been handicapped or have incurable diseases.
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs added that a number of human rights-related legislations have been enacted, such as Law No 10 of 2018 on permanent residency, Law No 11 of 2018 or regulating asylum and Law No 16 of 2018 on non-Qataris ownership of properties.
Concerning the empowerment of women, HE Al Muraikhi stressed that the State of Qatar has continued formulating plans and strategies to strengthen and to support the role of women in all fields, pointing that four women have joined the Shura Council, which reflects the Qatari leadership's keenness on strengthening the contribution of women in the all spheres, especially the legislative, and on promoting women's participation politically according to article 34 of the Qatari constitution, which provides for equality between all citizens in rights and in duties. He further noted the appointment of the first female spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The State has also continued its efforts to strengthen and protect the rights of the child and persons with disability in addition to the protection of the right to health and the right to education," he said pointing to the organization of the National Campaign on the right to education during the period (October 2018- April 2019), within the framework of the campaign organized by UNESCO on the same topic.
His Excellency said: "Under the Qatar National Vision 2030, which underlines the keenness of the State of Qatar to seriously participate in the international cooperation, the State accorded attention to bilateral as well as multilateral cooperation and to work with the friendly countries and international organizations." This has been attested to by acceding more than 328 Arab, regional and international organizations working in the field of social, economic, cultural, educational and scientific activities.
He added that the State was keen on extending its voluntary contribution to some 100 funds and programmes of the UN, pointing that the State of Qatar has announced, on the sideline of the Doha Forum 2018, that it will support the UN organizations with the sum of USD 500 million, to be distributed as follows: USD 28 million for UNDP; USD 8 million annually during (2019-2023) for UNHCR; USD million annually for UNICEF; USD 15 million annually for the Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC) of UN Security Council and USD 16 million annually for two years for UNRWA in addition to the USD 50 million contribution made during the ministerial meeting in Rome 2018.
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Marikhi said that Qatar has continued to support the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as it has contributed three million dollars over three years (2016, 2017 and 2018) in addition to the contribution that was made in 2017.
His Excellency continued by saying that the State of Qatar has also signed agreements with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Children's Fund in order to have offices for those organizations opened in the State of Qatar.
In the framework of international cooperation in the humanitarian field, the charity and civil society organizations and other civil society organizations in Qatar are a major pillar of development cooperation, particularly in vital fields such as health and education, adding the number of cooperation and partnership agreements between Qatar Charity, UN, humanitarian organizations, and international and regional donors have reached 93 agreements. The Qatar Red Crescent society provides services through 18 offices of which 25 countries benefited in 2017, he said.
His Excellency said the preparation of the report and its review come under exceptional circumstances as the State of Qatar has been subjected to unilateral coercive measures and unjust blockade by some countries of the region since 5 June 2017. The consequences of that were grave and continuing violations of human rights, in particular to the right to free movement, the right to residency and private property, to the right to work, the right to education, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to health, the right to freedom of belief, the right to development and other social violations in the form of separation of families, the most egregious violations.
He pointed out that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights sent a technical mission to the State of Qatar in November 2017, to find out the 'impact of the Gulf crisis on human rights'. The report of the technical mission reached the conclusions that all violations were committed and that the measures taken by the four states against Qatar were wide ranging and targeted individuals on the basis of their nationality or their belonging to Qatar, and therefore those were considered discriminative measures and disproportionate. Also, in an important conclusion from the report described these measures as they constitute "key elements of the definition of unilateral coercive action as defined by the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council" and that "most of these measures have far-reaching implications for the enjoyment of human rights", he said.
HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs explained that the State of Qatar has formed a committee to demand compensation on the basis of the effects of the imposed blockade, as a central committee that will receive the complaints of the blockade victims to study and determine the best way to deal with each case. However, Qatar continued to protect and promote human rights and ensure that the rights of citizens and residents have not been affected.
He stressed that within the framework of the State of Qatar's keenness to protect its rights, the State has resorted to international mechanisms to ensure the accountability of the blockade countries for violations of human rights, where the State filed an case before the International Court of Justice against one of the blockade countries on the implementation of the terms of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Court issued its ruling on interim measures on July 23, 2018, which called for the reunification of Qatari families separated by the measures taken by that country, in addition to allowing the opportunity for Qatari students affected to continue their education or obtain their education records if they wish to complete their studies in other countries, and allowing Qataris affected by arbitrary procedures to access the judicial organs of that State.
His Excellency added that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is currently considering two complaints submitted by the State of Qatar against two blockade states concerning violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination committed under the blockade and coercive measures imposed on the State of Qatar.
He said that despite the many developments that Qatar has witnessed in protecting and promoting human rights at the legislative, institutional and awareness levels, there are temporary challenges such as the unprecedented increase in population in Qatar in recent years, which reached more than 100%, the legislative and institutional development and the modernity of dealing with international human rights mechanisms.
He stressed that despite these challenges, the State of Qatar has spared no effort to promote and protect human rights. It has achieved remarkable results in a short period of time, and it looks forward to further achievements in this field. Qatar will continue to work as an active partner in the international community to enhance these achievements through the exchange of experiences and to learn from international best practices, looking forward to an extensive, constructive and useful dialogue with the working group to achieve the desired objectives, he said.
HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs concluded by stressing Qatar's continued cooperation with all United Nations human rights instruments, particularly the Human Rights Council, to achieve the goals of the promotion and protection of human rights.