Bogota, November 23

HE Chairman of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri, who is also Deputy Chairman of the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions, Secretary General of the alliance has affirmed his commitment to continue exerting every effort to make the Global Alliance stronger and more effective in its relationship with national human rights institutions to achieve the overarching goal of protecting human rights throughout the world.

His Excellency noted that the Global Alliance had come a long way in the past ten years and had been recognized internationally, and many achievements had been made, which had enabled it to become the main interface of national human rights institutions at the global level, and speak with one voice on behalf of its members.

This came during the participation of HE Dr. Al Marri in the annual meeting of the Office of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions in Colombia on November ,20, 21 and 22 for the first time since his election as Secretary-General and Deputy Chairman of the Global Alliance.

The National Human Rights in the State of Qatar (NHRC) has won the confidence of 120 national human rights institutions across the world to assume leadership positions in the global coalition, where HE Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri unanimously elected to the positions of Deputy Chairman and Secretary General of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, and member of the Executive Office of the Alliance National Human Rights Institutions.

Dr. Mohammed bin Saif Al-Kuwari, Deputy Chairman of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) was selected to serve as a member of the Board of Elders of the Asia-Pacific Forum in accordance with the election results held on the sidelines of the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions, hosted by Hong Kong, China on September 18 and 19, 2018.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Office of the Global Alliance of NHRIs in Colombian city of Medellin, HE Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri praised the hosting of this historic event, expressing appreciation to the commitment of the members of the Global Alliance of NHRIs for their continued commitment and will to make the organization more participatory, more representative and more powerful than ever.

He also appreciated the support of UNDP partners, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and their long-term partnership with the Global Alliance for the Protection of Human Rights worldwide, along with the appreciation of the efforts of United Nations Headquarters in Geneva to support the necessary cooperation and synergy between the Office of the President and the Office of the Secretary-General in order to achieve common goals.

Dr. Al Marri said: “As the Chairman of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions has emphasized, human rights are not mere words, but are obligations to take responsibility for taking effective and concrete action. It has continuously grown to become more visible and recognized globally, and many achievements have been made thus far, and the Global Alliance has been able to become the main interface of NHRIs globally, speaking with one voice on behalf of its members.”

HE Dr. Al Marri reviewed some of the benefits and achievements of the Global Alliance, starting with the signing in May 2019 of the agreement with the European Union in relation to the second phase of the project of national human rights institutions. He noted that last June, witnessed the most prominent and very fruitful event through the 9th annual meeting of Cooperation between the three parties, namely, the United Nations Development Program and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the four regional networks of national human rights institutions to help intensify cooperation on many topics in order to continue to implement the common protocols for cooperation in cases of national human rights institutions that are under threat.

Moreover, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, through its four regional networks and national human rights institutions, is now considered a more active and key player in dialogues on global issues such as migration as recognized in the Global Migration Charter and its role has also emerged recently during the Cairo conference and the subsequent Cairo Declaration adopted two weeks ago, HE Dr. Al Marri added .

His Excellency pointed out that a great deal of work had been done successfully in recent months by the members of the Alliance and through its offices and under the leadership of its adviser Mrs. Luna Lindhout, reflecting the expectations, mission and vision of the Alliance in addition to its values with respect to the coming years in the plan for the new strategy of the Global Alliance, noting that numerous constructive and valuable discussions will be held in the coming days to strengthen this plan.

His Excellency stressed that in order to strengthen our role in collecting and representing different voices from the lowest levels to the global levels and implementing the global vision at the local level, a larger network of national human rights institutions had been established that complies with the principles set out in the Paris Convention. The breakthrough in recent months shows not only how the Global Alliance, in partnership with external partners, had become a source of inspiration, but also how much internal coordination can be achieved of efforts is tremendous .

He concluded by noting that the meeting of the Global Alliance Office constituted the decisive steps towards building a global alliance of national institutions for the promotion of human rights commensurate with the future, expressing thanks to all for their valuable and effective discussions through these collaborative processes.

“We fully believe that our mutual support is the key to global success, and we will continue to make efforts to make the Global Alliance of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights a stronger and more effective alliance with national human rights institutions to achieve the ultimate goal, which is the protection of human rights throughout the world, HE Dr. Al Marri said.”

Last Monday, on the eve of its annual meeting in Colombia, the Office of the Global Alliance for Human Rights held a conference on migration, during which it had discussed the Global Alliance’s vision and future strategy to address the problem of migration.

The conference discussed two main items, the first related to the study of the “Marrakech World Charter”, which was adopted at the Marrakech Conference held in December 2018, and ratified by about 164 countries around the world, the conference also addressed the safe, orderly and regular migration and expresses “a collective commitment to improve cooperation in international migration”.

The agreement, published by the United Nations following its ratification in Marrakech, included 23 goals under which it seeks to better manage migration at the local, regional and international levels.

The Global Alliance for Human Rights also discussed among other issues, the outcome of the meeting of the Working Group on Migration of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions, held in Cairo on 5 and 6 November 2019, which discussed the implementation of the Marrakesh Global Charter on Migration on the ground, and the common vision of national human rights institutions on the Charter, and the opportunities and challenges that migration raises.

After three days of discussions, the Global Alliance meeting presented the updated version of the approved Strategic Plan and presented the final conclusions and remarks by HE Chair of the Global Alliance Carlos Alfonso Negrete Mosquera.