Twitter Facebook Print

Diplomatic Institute Organizes Symposium on Effects of Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties

Diplomatic Institute Organizes Symposium on Effects of Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties

Doha / Information Office / February 16  

The Diplomatic Institute, in cooperation with the Department of Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized a symposium regarding the implications of ratification of international human rights treaties in Gulf states, using Qatar as a model.

Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law at Oxford University Nazila Ghanea spoke at the symposium, which was moderated by HE Director of the Diplomatic Institute Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Horr, in the presence of a number of Their Excellencies Ambassadors, researchers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and officials from the Department of Human Rights.

In her speech, Ghanea referred to the ratification by the Gulf countries of several international human rights conventions and said that Kuwait registered the first initiative to ratify an international treaty by ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1968. She noted that the motives of States to ratify the human rights document are: cultural change, countries' influence on each other and international pressures.

She explained that the civilized development and strong leadership in Qatar has a desire to develop and contributed to the speedy ratification of human rights conventions and documents, unlike some countries that have a desire for cultural change but don't have strong leadership.

Ghanea said that there is a specialized committee of the United Nations that monitors the commitment of member states to the various human rights conventions which issues periodic reports in cooperation with the ministries of justice and relevant judicial and legal institutions in these countries, noting that in most cases, the preparation of these reports depends on international human rights organizations.

She drew attention to difficulties facing some countries in implementing some provisions of the agreements, which is due to the primacy of national law over the international one, which necessitates issuing new laws or amending existing ones, indicating cooperation with these countries to overcome these problems.