We are concerned about the blockade and forced disappearance of Qatari citizens
The Gulf peoples are subjected to arrests solely for their sympathy for the State of Qatar
Forcibly disappeared people are at increased risk of abuses that amount to murder
The celebration of the International Day must be a human rights demonstration to hold those involved in forced disappearance to account
Doha: 30 August 2019
Dr. Mohammed bin Saif Al-Kuwari, Vice-President of the National Human Rights Committee, said that the practice of enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity as defined in international law and that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or the threat of war, internal political instability or any other situation may be invoked as reason to justify enforced disappearance.
Al-Kuwari said in a press statement on the occasion of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance: “The international community in the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance has resolved to prevent enforced disappearances and combat impunity for the perpetrators of enforced disappearance. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed an unjust blockade on the State of Qatar and its citizens and residents on its territory, pointing out that many citizens in the Gulf region have become targets to enforced disappearance, especially human rights activists and many of them have retained their views for fear of being subjected to enforced disappearance or arbitrary detention, especially under the law enacted by the blockading countries, which criminalize expressing sympathy With the State of Qatar. Al Kuwari pointed out that about two weeks ago, the National Human Rights Committee in the State of Qatar has received confirmed information from reliable sources regarding the enforced disappearance of Qatari national Ali Nasser Ali Jarallah, aged 70, and his son Abdul Hadi, aged 17, in Saudi Arabia. who entered Saudi Arabia under a family permit on Thursday, 15 August 2019.
According to information received by the National Human Rights committee, they were forcibly disappeared on Sunday, August 18, 2019, at 1:00 pm, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, where they were arrested by the Saudi authorities and hidden to an unknown location.
Al-Kuwari added: The blockading countries have always fabricated false pretexts to detain Qatari citizens in violation of all international conventions, instruments and norms of human rights, pointing out that reports from international organizations indicate that victims of enforced disappearance include all races, including children, but the vast majority are men, and that disappeared persons are at high risk of torture because they are absolutely isolated from the protection of the law, without any possibility of obtaining legal defense; they are also at increased risk of other human rights violations amounting to murder.
Al-Kuwari noted that the preamble to the Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance took into account the right of everyone not to be subjected to enforced disappearance, the right of victims to justice and compensation, and the right of every victim to know the truth about the circumstances of enforced disappearance and to know the fate of the disappeared person, as well as his or her right. Freedom to collect, receive and disseminate information to this end. It called on all States parties to take appropriate measures to investigate the protection of persons from being subjected to enforced disappearances by persons or groups of individuals and to bring to justice those responsible for such violations. In addition, measures should be taken to make enforced disappearance a crime in its criminal law. Noting that on 14 and 15 April 2019, the National Human Rights Committee organized the International Conference on National, Regional and International Mechanisms to Combat Impunity and Ensure Accountability under International Law, in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Parliament and the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, Its main objective was to develop a real and practical vision by a range of international policymakers and experts to seriously and effectively hold perpetrators of abuses around the world accountable for impunity, pointing out that the recommendations of the conference were a real beginning of a long path towards achieving the rule of law and impunity, and a strong start with hope for finding practical solutions to redress victims and reparations.
“The international community has been keen to protect people from enforced disappearance through an integrated international convention, but there are still those who are trying to evade international law in flagrant violation of human rights,” Al Kuwari said. This event should be an occasion to remind all States of their international obligations in this regard. In the 1992 Declaration of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance, the UN General Assembly affirmed that it was necessary to prevent enforced disappearances; to ensure strict adherence to a set of principles relating to the protection of the rights of persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment and to the principles of effective prevention and investigation of executions. Al Kuwari said: “We demand, as stated in the Declaration, that accurate information be provided on the detention of Qatari citizens, and that such information be made available to the families of the victims, their lawyers or any other person with a legitimate interest in receiving this information. We also call on the occasion of the International Day for the Victims of Enforced Disappearance to provide appropriate compensation to the victims of these cases, Qatari citizens and their families, including the means to ensure their full rehabilitation.
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