Qatar has called on the Human Rights Council and the international community to exert pressure on the siege countries to end the coercive measures imposed on the State of Qatar and its citizens a year ago, stop the violations resulting from these measures and to hold those responsible accountable and compensate those who have been affected.
Addressing the 38th session of the Human Rights Council during the general debate under Item 9: Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance: follow-up to and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, Qatar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva ambassador Ali Khalfan al-Mansouri underlined that the worst forms of racism and racial discrimination are those that result from government decisions and State policies which constitute legal and institutional discrimination based on official decisions enforced by the force of law by all State institutions.
On June 5, 2017 Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut transport and trade links with Doha, accusing it of backing terrorism - a charge it strongly denies.
The boycott disrupted Qatar's shipping routes through the Gulf and blocked imports across its only land border with Saudi Arabia, previously the route for its perishable food supplies and construction materials. The unjust measures separated families and violated human rights.
Al-Mansouri explained that the unilateral coercive measures taken by the siege countries against Qatar and its citizens a year ago had targeted individuals only on the basis of their nationality or relation with the State of Qatar, and thus they were classified by the technical mission of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as discriminatory and disproportionate measures, resulting in gross and continuing violations of human rights.
Al-Mansouri noted that the credibility and mechanisms of the Human Rights Council depend mainly on how effectively it responds to abuses.
When talking about the competence of the Council and its mechanisms, al-Mansouri said, "We stress the need for the Council to intervene urgently to address the violations that accompanied the siege and the coercive measures, as ending such violations could not be dependent on a political solution to the crisis as the siege countries claim.
"Despite Qatar's full support for the mediation and the efforts exerted by the sisterly State of Kuwait, the dispersed families, the students who have lost their right to education, the citizens who have been deprived of their property and those others affected by the unfair racist measures cannot wait for a political solution", ambassador al-Mansouri said.
He noted that Qatar has lodged complaints with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and filed a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice against the discriminatory measures taken by the UAE.
Al-Mansouri noted that the credibility and mechanisms of the Human Rights Council depend mainly on how effectively it responds to abuses.
