Cairo: Chairman of the Arab Human Rights Committee (Committee of the Arab Charter on Human Rights) Jaber Saleh Al Marri has thanked the State of Qatar for its commitment to submit its second report on human rights to the Committee on time, and in the presence of a high-level delegation headed by Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs H E Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, as well as for its response to prior questions, noting that there was cooperation and response from the Qatari delegation in this regard.
Al Marri said in a statement yesterday: “After extracting the results of the discussions, the committee’s draft recommendations will be sent to the State of Qatar within 15 days, provided that they will be answered if there are any observations on these recommendations before they are adopted."
Within a month these recommendations will be finally approved and sent to the General Secretariat of the Arab League and to be posted on the Charter Committee website.
In response to a question about the State of Qatar’s commitment to the provisions of the Charter on Human Rights, especially as it is one of the few countries that submitted its second report on time, the Chairman of the Arab Human Rights Committee said that the State of Qatar is committed to the provisions of the Charter and there are many domestic legislations in the State of Qatar that are compatible or identical with the provisions of the Charter, and we see that there is a noticeable positive movement and many legislations in the State of Qatar with regard to human rights.
On the extent of the commitment of the Arab countries signatory to the provisions of the charter, he explained that some of the countries that ratified the charter are committed to preparing the initial reports and are now being urged to submit the second report, noting that some countries are yet to submit their first report and were contacted through the General Secretariat to expedite that.
Regarding the extent to which Arab countries are keen to adhere to human rights in general, the Chairman of the Arab Human Rights Committee said that according to what we see, there is an Arab interest in the field of human rights, and there are many legislations in all countries that have been amended based on their accession to the Arab Charter on Human Rights, and these local legislations are in conformity and compatible with the provisions of the charter and all the agreements to which countries have acceded.
The Arab Human Rights Committee (the Committee of the Arab Charter on Human Rights) concluded its 17th session, which was held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League last Tuesday, where an interactive dialogue was held with the delegation of the State of Qatar, which included the axes of the second periodic national report of the State of Qatar as part of the entitlements of its accession to the Arab Charter on Human Rights.
The Committee also held two closed hearing sessions with representatives of civil society organisations and the Qatar National Human Rights Committee, which included a presentation of the reports submitted by the aforementioned bodies.
A statement issued by the committee on Wednesday confirmed that the delegation of the State of Qatar responded to and welcomed the interactive dialogue during the discussion, stressing that it deals with all matters raised with great interest, and is aware of the importance and value of the provisions of the charter as well as its mechanism.
