Qatar has implemented a fair and transparent system to protect and ensure human rights for all its population. The state has set up National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) as an independent and permanent official body with a separate legal personality and an independent budget to promote and protect human rights in the country. The committee acts as an advisory body concerned with human rights at the national level and also receives and investigates complaints from individuals and groups.
Since its establishment in 2002, the committee has actively worked to promote human rights at the national level while also collaborating with other national human rights institutions.
This week, the Arab Charter Committee on Human Rights discussed the third periodic report of Qatar, as a party to the Arab Charter on Human Rights. Addressing the opening session of the committee meetings, Minister of State for International Cooperation H E Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater presented a comprehensive overview of the fundamental reforms undertaken by Qatar in the field of human rights, noting Qatar’s firm commitment to human rights principles and constructive cooperation with the Committee.
The Minister of State provided concrete examples of these reforms through specific programmes and projects in several areas, including women’s empowerment, child protection, and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities.
The committee’s discussions focused on main axes, including the goals of the Charter, the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to life and physical integrity, combating slavery and human trafficking, the judiciary and the right to access it, civil and political freedoms, the right to individual property and freedom of opinion and expression, protection of the family, especially women and children, the right to work, the right to development, the right to health, and the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Charter Committee also held a closed meeting with NHRC to discuss the human rights situation in the country from the NHRC’s perspective. Chairman of the Arab Charter Committee on Human Rights H E Counselor Jaber Saleh Al Marri congratulated Qatar on its re-election as a member of UN Human Rights Council, and expressed his hope that this election would contribute to strengthening Qatar’s efforts in the field of protecting human rights at the international level.
In his recent address to the Shura Council, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also stressed the state’s keenness to protect rights and liberties of the people. “Our system is an emirate founded on justice, shura, which protects rights and liberties under the rule of law,” H H the Amir remarked.
