Qatar underlines focus on stability, peace in developing countries

Qatar has affirmed its focus on maintaining stability and civil peace in developing countries because of their importance in bringing projects and aid, as one of the most important principles of the Doha Declaration; pointing to its support for the peace process and its sponsorship of the negotiations that resulted in the Chadian parties signing the "Doha Peace Agreement and the participation of the political-military movements in the comprehensive, sovereign national dialogue in Chad".
This came in the statement delivered by HE Director of Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Turki bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud, at a side event organised by Qatar's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) under the title "From Commitment to Action: Advancing Human Rights and Development through Doha Programme of Action", on the margins of the 53rd session of Human Rights Council.
HE Dr al-Mahmoud noted Qatar's role and its commitment to implementing the Doha Declaration, which is done by supporting development in the developing countries which include humanitarian projects.
In order to avoid the dependence of the developing countries on financial aid and donations, Qatar supports sustainable development in these countries through the establishment of many development projects, hospitals and educational institutes, as reflected in its support for the efforts of the UN Industrial Development Organisation (Unido), to which Qatar has made development contributions in a number of poor countries, he added.
HE Dr al-Mahmoud noted that Qatar's commitment is also achieved through the mobilisation of international support for the developing countries, referring to the hosting of the Least Developed Countries' meeting which resulted in an international pledge of $1.3bn to support the 46 least developed countries.
He added that Qatar is considered one of the largest supporters of many countries such as Sudan, as the total governmental and non-governmental assistance provided by Qatar to the Sudanese government during the period from 2014 to 2022 amounted to about $500mn.
In light of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan since April 15, Qatar has also provided various humanitarian aid, including a full field hospital that includes intensive care rooms, integrated medical supplies, as well as foodstuffs and supplies, in addition to its recent participation in the donors' conference for Sudan and its financial pledge of $50mn.
He noted that Qatar also provided a lot of aid to Afghanistan, established development projects in the country, and was one of the important players to restore stability to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, HE Dr al-Mahmoud added that most of the aid to Syria was concentrated in the humanitarian field, given the current situation; indicating that the aid was directed to projects related to assisting the displaced inside Syria, especially in northern Syria, in addition to projects aimed at supporting refugees in other countries.
He noted that the assistance provided by Qatar to Syria contributed to the achievement of several goals within the sustainable development goals, most notably areas of eradicating poverty and hunger, health and the provision of quality education; in addition to other goals that were achieved within the assistance provided during the period 2014-2021.
He added that Qatar participates in all conferences on Syria, the latest of which was the 7th Brussels Conference, in which it pledged $75mn.
HE Dr al-Mahmoud explained that the Doha Programme of Action adopts effective and adaptive follow-up and monitoring mechanisms at the national, sub-regional, regional and global levels; pointing to the particular importance of arrangements at the national level, given that the Doha Programme of Action is owned and managed by the least developed countries.
He called on the General Assembly to consider a comprehensive mid-term high-level review of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action in 2026.
He touched on the most important areas of the Doha Programme of Action and its role in protecting and preserving human rights in the least developed countries; noting that it is impossible to preserve human rights without ensuring development, which is what the Doha Programme aims for.
He explained that the six items of the Programme are necessary to achieve and guarantee human rights in the least developed countries, and to focus on investing in people by fighting poverty and building capacities so no one is left behind, especially people with special needs, women and children.
HE Dr al-Mahmoud pointed to harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation to face multidimensional weaknesses and achieve sustainable development goals, saying that this supports structural transformation to achieve prosperity in the field of trade and enhances the participation of the least developed countries in international trade and regional integration.
He noted the importance of confronting climate change and environmental degradation, the recovery from Covid-19 pandemic, and building resilience in the face of future shocks in order to achieve sustainable development that is aware of risks in the path of achieving the most important principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He said that the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States continues to co-ordinate technical support for the global review of the Doha Programme of Action.
He noted the importance of the commitment of other countries, whether they are contributing countries or countries that receive development assistance, to implementing these programmes, and the need for political and security stability to implement them. This is necessary to achieve the goals of any kind of human development. He also noted the importance of the participation of civil society organisations that depend on monitoring the implementation of projects and report any kind of defects in their implementation.