Dr. Al-Marri: We call on the Qatari government not to engage in any dialogue to resolve the crisis without abolition of arbitrary measures and redress of the victims

Dr. Ali Bin Samih Al Marri, president of Qatar National Human Rights Committee, welcomed the report issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) after seven months of the blockade imposed on Qatar, noting that it is the first UN report condemning the arbitrary measures and violations committed by the countries of the blockade, describing these measures as unilateral coercive measures as defined and standardized by the United Nations, calling at the same time for the inclusion of these violations in the report of the High Commissioner to be presented to the next session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in next February.
Al-Marri called on the Qatari government “not to engage in any dialogue or negotiations to resolve the crisis without the elimination of arbitrary measures, compensation of victims”, stressing the need to “raise the impacts of the blockade before the UN General Assembly, the Security Council, the International Court of Justice”.
This came during a press conference held at the headquarters of the National Human Rights Committee in Doha, during which Dr. Al Marri launched the report prepared by the High Commissioner following the visit of the OHCHR technical mission to Doha during the period from 18 to 23 November 2017. Al-Marri pointed out that the OHCHR team met with representatives of 20 governmental and non-governmental organizations. The team also met with 40 persons who filed complaints at the National Human Rights Committee.
“This report affirms, in a non-interpretive manner, that the measures adopted by the countries of the blockade are arbitrary and unilateral and explicitly violate international law, the principles of international relations and human rights conventions” said Al Marri. The report also criticized the measures taken by the countries of the blockade and stated that there is no evidence of any legal decisions motivating the various measures taken, and due to the lack of any legal recourse for most individuals concerned, these measures can be considered as arbitrary.
Al Marri “The report confirmed that the measures taken by the countries of the blockade do not distinguish between the government and civilians, especially the holders of Qatari nationality, and that this is dangerous. The economic impact of the embargo also amounts to economic wars. ”
“The report stressed the negative and dangerous impact of unilateral measures on individuals and the psychological impact on the population. This has been exacerbated by campaigns of incitement, media defamation and hate campaigns against Qatar, its leadership and its people. On the other hand, the report affirms positively that the government of Qatar has not taken any reprisals against the citizens of the countries of blockade operating in Qatar, and did not deal or reciprocate on the violations.
Al-Marri made eight recommendations to the OHCHR, including “to move further at all levels of international human rights mechanisms and the United Nations Human Rights Council, to raise the issue of the impacts of the blockade in the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the next session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, to address specialized international organizations such as the International Labor Organization, UNESCO, WTO and ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) to share information and promote the complaints against the countries of the blockade, call on the United Nations special rapporteurs to act promptly to address the issues of the victims of the blockade and to visit the countries of the blockade and to include the impacts of the blockade in their reports to the Human Rights Council, to invite the technical mission to visit the countries of the blockade to identify the impacts of the blockade on their citizens and citizens of the State of Qatar, and to include the impacts of the blockade in the General Report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
On the other hand, the President of the National Committee for Human Rights made six recommendations to the Government of the State of Qatar, including to accept any solution to the crisis or any negotiations before lifting the violations and injustice and redress for the victims, the need to refer to the report of the Technical Mission in supporting complaints before the World Trade Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and UNESCO, to move and raise the issue in international and regional forums to lift the injustice suffered by the victims, to move at the level of the Human Rights Council to present a draft resolution on the impacts of the blockade on citizens and residents of the State of Qatar, to move and raise the issue in before the General Assembly of the United Nations and the Security Council, access to the International Court of Justice, arbitration committees and national and international specialized courts, the need to bring some of the perpetrators of defamation and hatred campaign launched against Qatar from the countries of the blockade to justice, including the Adviser to the Royal Court in KSA, who was orchestrating the media campaign against Qatar for the crimes of hostility and incitement in violation of international law and domestic laws; noting that the NHRC monitors and reports all the defamation and hatred campaigns lunched by that official and the officials of the countries of the blockade to carry out legal movements, and to call on the national compensation claims commission to expedite the proceedings of litigation and international arbitration and depending on the report of the mission to facilitate the role of the appointed International Law Office.
Al-Marri made 6 recommendations to the countries of the blockade, including to deal positively and immediately with the findings of the report of the technical mission of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the abolition of all unilateral arbitrary measures, to respect for its obligations under international human rights law and the immediate lifting of violations and redress of victims, to allow the technical mission to conduct their visits and to observe closely the effects of the measures taken on the citizens of these countries and the citizens and residents of the State of Qatar, to allow field visits of special rapporteurs and international human rights organizations, to allow victims to resort to national justice and litigation procedures to recover their rights, and the immediate cessation of defamation and hatred campaign and provocative calls and accountability of the perpetrators.
In conclusion of the press conference, Dr. Ali addressed the future steps to be taken by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, including to convene a meeting with the Department of Special Procedures of the Commission to hand over the cases to the UN Special Rapporteurs, each according to its competence, information to be provided to some specialized international organizations, such as the International Labor Organization, and The Commission to hold a meeting with the diplomatic missions of the countries of the blockade at the United Nations in Geneva to inform them of the report and cases and try to find solutions
As for the steps to be taken by the National Human Rights Committee, circulation of the report to all international organizations and the global alliance of national human rights institutions and discuss with them a mechanism for action at the national, regional and international levels, to circulate the report to all international parliaments, to circulate the report to the human rights mechanisms of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the League of Arab States and the Gulf Cooperation Council, to present the findings of the report in the proceedings of the Human Rights Council and the United Nations human rights mechanisms, to follow-up on the cases with United Nations special rapporteurs, each according to its competence, and to follow-up on the cases with specialized international organizations such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNESCO.