Qatar Confirms Human Rights Promotion is Strategic Option

Doha, September 21 (QNA) - The State of Qatar has confirmed that the issue of promoting and protecting human rights is a strategic option for the state and forms the backbone of the comprehensive reform, including the constitutional, economic, social, and cultural reforms adopted by the State of Qatar. HE Assistant Foreign Minister for International Cooperation Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, who is also Head of Qatar's delegation in front of the Human Rights Council, said in a speech on the final adoption of Qatar's second national report that the issue of human rights is reflected in the foreign policy of the state through the rush in providing humanitarian aids and the required support for all those affected in the disaster areas all over the world and through Qatar Development Fund. He added that in spite of the efforts made by the State of Qatar in recent years and the achievements in the field of human rights, Qatar's big ambitions strengthen its determination to continue to work to overcome all the difficulties and to take advantages of international experiences, relying on the cooperation and dialogue with different human rights mechanisms such as monitoring committees and the Human Rights Council, which shows the desire of the State of Qatar to re-candidate for the Human Rights Council for the period 2015-2017. HE explained that our national experience to prepare for the periodic review was fruitful and led to an effective dialogue on human rights within government agencies and civil society. HE Assistant Foreign Minister for International Cooperation and Head of Qatar's delegation in front of the Human Rights Council Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said that the period between the review of the national report for the state last May and the hearing the final adoption on that day gave us the opportunity to classify the recommendations and conduct a wide consultative process with various government bodies and all segments of society, as well as to coordinate and consult with the National Committee for Human Rights in Qatar for the domestication of the opinion of the civil society from the state's position regarding the recommendations. He added that as a result, many of the recommendations are already implemented or are in the process of implementation and consistent with the country's objectives and strategy. Regarding the recommendations, which call for an immediate join to many international conventions, HE Assistant Foreign Minister for International Cooperation emphasised that the political will in the state of Qatar supports the trend to join many international agreements, but some temporary difficulties prevented the country to join more agreements in the current time, as the state's accession to many international and regional conventions in a brief period during the recent years formed a pressure and burden on the legislative bodies in the country due to the lack of technical and human cadres, which are also still in the stage of development. He explained that the State of Qatar is currently considering joining the two International Covenants (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). He also revealed that Qatar received when discussing its second report a number of recommendations on the promotion and protection of migrant workers' rights, and therefore an announcement has been made about the intention of the State to carry out sweeping reforms and bring more promotion and protection of the workers' rights. (QNA)