HE the Chairman of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Dr Ali bin Samikh al-Marri underlined that National Day is an occasion that reminds of the efforts exerted by the Founder Sheikh Jassim bin Mohamed bin Thani in order to develop the state and its human resources, adding that Sheikh Jassim laid down the foundations for establishing a state characterized by moderation and balance in all issues, whether at the national level, or at the regional and international levels, enabling Qatar to become one of the preferred destinations for mediation in many conflicts.
In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), HE Dr Ali bin Samikh al-Marri said that the people of Qatar see this day as a national platform to draw inspiration from lessons, inspect the accomplishments and what must still be achieved, reinforce the strengths and address the weaknesses, in order to continue the process of construction, in accordance with a national vision that promotes the value of the human being as the main focus for preserving a civilisation that has perpetuated the meaning of rights and duties.
The NHRC chairman noted that since the announcement of the Covid-19 as a global pandemic, the National Human Rights Committee has carried out its humanitarian and human rights duty, within the framework of its legal responsibilities and the exercise of its competencies in accordance with the law of its establishment, and in accordance with the Paris Principles. The NHRC launched a hotline to provide legal advice to ensure the continuation of its services within the framework of the precautionary measures adopted to limit the spread of the pandemic among members of society. The Committee also sought to communicate with government and non-governmental agencies in order to address the challenges and help complainants.
He added that the NHRC issued a statement on the measures to confront the outbreak of the coronavirus, through which it expressed the need for concerted efforts by the government and all groups of the society in giving priority to the right to health for all and respect human rights without discrimination.
The statement also urged the competent authorities to move forward with its measures expand the response to confront this pandemic, provided that these measures are in line with human rights standards. In the same context, the NHRC quickly formed a team of the "Field Visits and Monitoring Committee" to conduct field visits to places designated for quarantine, places of detention and workers accommodations in order to assess the humanitarian conditions and precautionary measures, in addition to a second team specialises in awareness and education to ensure that the target groups acquire the information needed for protection against the pandemic.
The NHRC chairman noted that the coronavirus pandemic has proven to be the widest challenge in the world, and the health authorities have shown a response befitting the scale of the pandemic. The NHRC monitored all the measures adopted by the state in this regard and noticed the great sacrifices made and are still being made by the medical teams on the front lines to contain and control this pandemic.
He added that the state faced many challenges in the past period, however it created great opportunities to confront these challenges by promoting many rights. The state joined the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in addition to adopting a series of reforms and legislative developments in the Qatari Labor Law, and hosting many United Nations offices and special rapporteurs in 2020, which confirms the State has used the challenges to further improve the protection and promotion of human rights.
The NHRC also paid visits to the quarantine centres designated to receive the category of workers in order to assess the humanitarian conditions of the quarantined, and similar visits to quarantine hotels, workers accommodation and the Industrial Zone.
In this context, the Committee issued a report and distributed it to the competent authorities in the state accompanied by a package of recommendations, including distributing more free masks and sanitisers to the most vulnerable groups, such as low-paid workers, detainees and prisoners; spreading awareness on the right way to dispose masks and gloves and setting severe penalties for throwing them in the streets and public places; continuing the inspection campaigns on workers accommodations in all residential neighbourhoods in the country by the Ministry of Labour, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment and the Ministry of Public Health to monitor the health requirements for housing. It also estimated the number of workers that each housing accommodates and evacuate the surplus labour; in addition to demanding the punishment of violating companies and the creation of a blacklist of the names of the violating companies on the Ministry's website, and other recommendations related to the measures to limit the spread of the pandemic among the most vulnerable groups.
On the achievements of the National Human Rights Committee, HE Dr al-Marri affirmed the keenness on achieving the goals of the National Vision 2030 which aims at transforming Qatar into an advanced country capable of achieving sustainable development. He noted that the national human rights institutions are among the most important bodies that monitor the extent of states implementing their obligations in the fields of human rights, and promote the commitment of states to those rights. In this context, the NHRC works to achieve these goals and develop a strategic plan for helping other countries implement their commitments towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
On the international co-operation, the NHRC chairman said that the Committee has large international and regional partnerships that qualify it to play a pivotal role in the process of strengthening these partnerships for achieving sustainable development. He noted that the international and regional weight of the National Human Rights Committee has resulted in its assumption of four leadership positions in the largest umbrella incubator for national human rights institutions in the world, which is the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), represented in the positions of the Vice President, Secretary-General, a member of the Wise Men Committee and a member of the Alliances Executive Committee.
The National Human Rights Committee has previously assumed the chair of the International Accreditation Committee of the Alliance which is specialised in classifying national human rights institutions in the world and accrediting them as an original member of the Alliance.
The NHRC was also the first president of the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions and hosts its permanent headquarters. By 2021, the NHRC will assume the presidency of the Arab Network again. The Committee also hosts the permanent headquarters of the APF office, and is still working to expand a network of international and regional partnerships despite the current health challenges represented by the coronavirus pandemic by developing communication mechanisms and benefiting from the Internet at the widest points to ensure continuity. It will also build an international cooperation strategy that would contribute to addressing the challenges of implementing the second strategy 2018-2020, and providing the appropriate environment that enables the improvement of work on the level of national and international development, within the framework of the role of national institutions in monitoring of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.