Al-Marri calls on the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances and the Working Group on arbitrary detention to dispatch a joint mission to Saudi Arabia to investigate the situation of the detained Qataris in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

We call on the UN to monitoring the implementation of the decisions of the International Court of Justice by the UAE

Diplomatic missions to the countries of the blockade insist on continued violations before the Human Rights Council

The report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions recognized the violations resulting from the blockade, but did not recognize the extent of the suffering of the victims

Geneva: 14 September 2018

Dr. Ali bin Samikh Al-Marri, chairman of the National Human Rights Committee, called for conduct extensive investigations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE for gross and systematic violations, as well as discriminatory measures taken against Qatari citizens and residents of Qatar. Dr. Al-Marri stressed the importance of monitoring the implementation of the decision of the International Court of Justice by the UAE authorities to seek redress against acts of racial discrimination through UAE courts and institutions, take all necessary steps to ensure that families separated by the Discriminatory Measures are reunited and to allow Qatari students to complete their education at UAE universities or to obtain their educational records if they wish to continue their studies elsewhere. He stressed that the NHRC in Qatar is working to monitor the enforcement of the decision of the International Court of Justice through its mechanisms, pointing out that the discriminatory measures taken against the Qataris are not limited to the UAE only, but equally in other countries of the blockade. Commenting on the report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions reviewed before the Human Rights Council last Wednesday, Al-Marri said that despite the fact that the report acknowledged in paragraphs 9 and 10 the illegality of the measures taken by the blockading countries and endorsed the positions of the High Commissioner Human rights and recent decisions of the International Court of Justice, as well as its recognition of the persistence of the blockading States in their violations; however, it did not recognize the extent of the suffering of the victims and was not as strict as hoped. Al Marri added: We call on the Special Rapporteur to act urgently and take firmer positions against the countries of the blockade and to visit the State of Qatar and the blockading countries for the grave human rights-related repercussions resulting from the blockade.

This came during a series of intensive meetings held by the chairman of the National Human Rights Committee on the sidelines of the 39th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where Al Marri met with members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Working Group on Arbitrary Disappearance, and Committee on Enforced Disappearance. Al Marri also met with the head of the Middle East and North Africa Division of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Director of the treaty mechanisms of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in addition to a number of permanent delegates to the Human Rights Council and the head of the European mission to the HRC. Al-Marri explained during his meetings the provisional measures of the decision of the International Court of Justice, calling on the United Nations human rights mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the decision by the UAE. During his meeting with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Al-Marri said that the NHRC has been following up the UAE’s compliance with the ICJ’s decisions and called on The Committee on Racial Discrimination to undertake extensive investigations into the discriminatory violations of the United Arab Emirates and the monitoring of the enforcement of the decisions of the International Court of Justice. Al-Marri provided the Commission with reliable information and strong evidence for serious violations and systematic campaigns by Saudi Arabia and other blockading countries against Qatari citizens. Al-Marri called for urgent measures to be taken to investigate the discriminatory practices of the Saudi authorities against Qataris and residents of Qatar. Al Marri called on the United States to monitor violations of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in its report to the Human Rights Council and to appeal urgently to the countries of the blockade to urge them to respect human rights conventions and charters, particularly the recommendations and decisions contained in the six letters of appeal of the Special Rapporteurs of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Al-Marri briefed the cases of obstructing and preventing Qataris from resorting to the courts of the blockading countries, and called for an urgent investigation of the matter and attacks on the independence of the judiciary, lawyers and court officials in the countries of the blockade, especially with regard to resorting to national courts. He also called for the inclusion of such attacks in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of the judiciary and lawyers before the Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly, in addition to presenting a background to the decision of the International Court of Justice on the immediate right to litigation and demanding the monitoring of the UAE’s commitment to these decisions.

During his meeting with a number of members of the Committee on Arbitrary Detention and Forced Disappearance, Dr. Ali Bin Smaikh Al-Marri extended thanks to the two Committees for their urgent actions regarding the Qatari nationals detained by the Saudi authorities. However, Al-Marri stressed that the Saudi authorities have not yet released the detainees or allowed to connect with them. Al-Marri called for the importance of dispatching a joint mission by the Committee for Arbitrary Detention and Forced Disappearance to Saudi Arabia to understand the root causes of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and forced disappearance of Qatari nationals. Al-Marri said that Qataris are subject to these illegal measures if they enter Saudi Arabia if they are allowed to enter. The findings of the UN technical mission report should be included in the Commission’s annual report to the Human Rights Council.

In the same context, Dr. Ali Bin Smaikh met with a number of permanent delegates to some of the Member States of the Human Rights Council and met with the Head of the European Delegation to the Council. During these meetings, Al-Marri discussed the latest human rights violations resulting from the blockade on Qatar and gave them a background on the legal moves of the NNRC along with the decision of the International Court of Justice and demanded that they take strict positions in the Human Rights Council against the violations of the countries of the blockade. Al-Marri said such statements are evidence and proof of their rejection of all calls, statements and reports issued by the United Nations confirming the intention of the blockading countries to continue their violations and ignore the international human rights system.