Alena Douhan addressing the media at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Pic:Salim Matramkot /The Peninsula
Terming the unilateral restrictions imposed against Qatar by four blockading countries on June 5, 2017 and later as ‘violation of international legal standards’, the UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights, Alena Douhan, has called upon Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to immediately withdraw all such restrictions.
Alena Douhan was addressing a press conference on the conclusion of her visit to Qatar, from November 1-12, yesterday. Sharing preliminary findings of her visit with media, she said that imposition of sanctions against Qatar by the four states lacked any legal basis.
She thanked the government of Qatar for enabling and supporting her visit. She said that the purpose of the visit was to assess the impact of unilateral sanctions imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt on the enjoyment of human rights by people living in Qatar, people living in the four countries and any other affected people.
The Special Rapporteur also commended the transparency and the constructive and co-operative way in which the Qatar Government facilitated this official visit, which allowed a frank and open dialogue. She will present a full report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2021.
During her stay in Qatar, she met with H E Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; H E Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs; H E Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs; senior government officials, representatives of international organisations, diplomatic community, civil society and national human rights mechanisms, lawyers, academics, activists, and victims and their families.
In a set of recommendations presented at the press conference, Douhan urged Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to immediately withdraw all sanctions/measures aimed at establishing restrictions on freedom of expression, movement, access to property, trade barriers, and ban tariffs, quotas, non-tariff measures, including those which prevent financing the purchase of medicine, medical equipment, food, other essential goods for people living in Qatar in violation of international legal standards.
She said that she also received credible information about hacking of Qatar News Agency, a significant increase of incidents of incitement to hatred of Qatar and people living in Qatar, losses of Qatar Airways, which had to cancel flights – closing offices – interrupting aviation schedules. “Immediately after the unilateral sanctions were imposed, the Qatari currency was impacted through alleged market manipulation.”
In the recommendations, the Special Rapporteur also called on the four states to guarantee freedom of opinion and expression by annulling all Qatar sympathy laws, to take all necessary legislative and organisational measures to guarantee that activities under their jurisdiction and control are taken without any discrimination, to not initiate hatred towards people living in Qatar; and to drop all cases related to the application of the Qatar sympathy laws to guarantee that no discrimination is applied.
The Special Rapporteur echoed the calls of the UN Special Procedures mandate holders and UN treaty bodies to the four states to review the definition of terrorism and terrorism financing in their laws and bring it into line with international human rights norms, and to refrain from using anti-terrorism and other forms of national security legislation to stifle peaceful and non-violent activities through the designation of people, journalists and NGOs, including Qatar Charity, as well as others not included in the UN Security Council lists.
“The designation of people and companies as being involved in terrorist activity can only be done bona fidae and based on clear standards with due account for fair trial and judicial guarantees under the control of the UN Security Council,” she said.
She said that families that include a Qatari, separated by the measures adopted by the four states on June 5, 2017, shall be reunited. “Qatari students affected by the measures adopted by the four states on June 5, 2017 and later are given the opportunity to complete their education in the four countries or to obtain their educational records if they wish to continue their studies elsewhere,” she said.
She said that Qataris affected by the measures adopted by the four states on June 5, 2017 and later be allowed access to tribunals and other judicial organs of the four countries without discrimination of any kind.
The Special Rapporteur also urged the four states to guarantee that no discrimination is applied towards people living in Qatar; that sport, cultural and academic events are used to enhance cooperation and development of people without any discrimination; and that any form of incitement to hatred is addressed, discontinued and prosecuted as required by international human rights law, article 20 of the ICCPR.
The Special Rapporteur stressed the need for all concerned countries to negotiate visa and residence issues, including the possibility to re-establish the freedom of movement provided for by the GCC documents for four of them; in the meantime, to establish reasonable transparent criteria for granting residence permits, issuing visas, allowing short-term visits and ensuring their safety.
Alena Douhan called on all parties to guarantee that all people enjoy fully their right to recognition before the law, including by issuing and renewing all necessary IDs and documents, especially for children. In the meantime, to fill the protection gap, the Special Rapporteur recommended that Qatar take all necessary steps to provide temporary or permanent IDs for affected people of the four states, and to establish centralized organs to provide them with asylum.
The Special Rapporteur called on the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain — which are all members of the GCC — to resume their close cooperation between member states and use existing dispute settlement mechanisms.
The Special Rapporteur noted that due to the extraterritorial character of international terrorism, human trafficking and other transboundary crimes, they can only be effectively combatted through cooperation and mutual assistance. She called thus on all parties to renew cooperation and intensify mutual assistance in criminal matters.
While recognising that Hajj and Umrah constitute an inalienable pillar of the exercise of freedom of conscience of any Muslim, Douhan called on the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to negotiate and conclude in good faith and without any discrimination protocols between the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in the State of Qatar and the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia providing for quotas, local contractors, airports of arrival, the possibility of land crossing points and other necessary elements as is done with other countries.
The Special Rapporteur called on all parties to defuse tension and tackle together the seriousness or severity of hate speech that may undermine traditional coherence and historical peaceful co-existence of people living in all five countries through full respect of fundamental human rights standards protecting free speech and expression, as well as six criteria and indicators derived from the Rabat Plan of Action. In order to achieve that, all concerned states should develop and implement their own Counter Hate Speech Strategy.
To a question from The Peninsula about possible practical steps and measures by UNHRC in September 2021 when the report of human rights violations by the blockading countries will be submitted, she said: “The very idea of the existence of special procedures is to collect information to analyse it and to bring to the attention of international community. The Special Rapporteur is individually just an expert who provides independent expert opinion and recommendations to the broad community. In my opinion, the best way to protect human rights is set a dialogue and find a general solution.”
