By Mohammed Osman
Doha: The Regional Conference on the Role of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in the Arab Region will kick off here on January 13.
Some 220 foreign delegates will take part in the two-day event and they will include 15 foreign ministers, including GCC ministers, said a Qatar National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) official here yesterday at a press conference.
The conference will be held under the patronage of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. The conference will bring together around 190 representatives of international and regional organisations, human rights institutions, civil society groups as well as human rights and legal committees of Arab parliaments and Advisory Council, GCC secretary General and the Organization of Islamic Conference States.
The senior NHRC official addressing the press meet didn’t wish to be named.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad, will take part in opening the conference, his first official visit to Qatar, along with the Secretary-General of the UN. The conference will not focus on certain countries or groups and will serve as a forum for an interactive dialogue on roles, best practices and expectations of various stakeholders in protecting human rights in the Arab region.
The conference will come up with recommendations at three levels: for the regional office of the HCHR, for governments and civil society organisations, said the official.
Media committee will be established from the local newspapers including The Peninsula to coordinate with the media section at the NHRC to cover the event, said an official from the media section.
The conference is to highlight appropriate approaches of the UN human rights system, particularly the role of OHCHR to promote and protect rights in the current context of the Arab region; assess the state of cooperation between Arab countries and the UN human rights system and share lessons learnt and support efforts of the UN regional office to strengthen human rights in the region.
According to a press release issued by NHRC, the conference also intends to discuss and create a common understanding of thematic rights priorities in the region including freedom of expression, association, human rights education, responses to regional basic human rights issues amid war and conflicts.
There will be several work papers presented at all the sessions and workshops. Papers will address issues such as Arab countries’ cooperation with UN human right organisations, ratification of core human right treaties. In addition to Arab countries’ engagement with the UN human rights mechanisms including Treaty Bodies and special procedures and implementations of the Universal Periodic Review recommendations.
In addition to QNHRC, OHCHR, Arab League and Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions are partners of the conference which will be organised in Arabic and English.
The Peninsula
