Qatar Considers Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

The State of Qatar reiterated that the promotion and protection of human rights, including the rights of the child, is a strategic option and constitutes the backbone of the comprehensive constitutional, economic, social, cultural and educational reform policy it pursues. This was reflected in the development and enhancement of the human rights infrastructure at legislative and institutional levels.
Qatar said that this was also highlighted in the comprehensive development vision (Qatar National Vision 2030), which included important axes on key human rights issues in the fields of education, health, environment, expatriate labor rights, empowerment of women and children's rights, along with the Strategic Development Plan (2011-2016) and the Second Strategic Development Plan (2017-2022) which aimed at transforming the objectives of the National Vision 2030 into reality as it charts the practical development of Qatar's economic, social, cultural, humanitarian and environmental development in the coming years.
This came in a statement delivered during the discussion of the third and fourth joint report of the State of Qatar under Article (44) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by HE Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, the head of Qatar's delegation to the 75th Session of the CRC, which is being held in Geneva.
In its statement, the State of Qatar stressed that the issue of the rights of child is one of the most important priorities of development planning in the country. It is highly regarded by the political leadership and planners in the governmental and private sectors who spare no effort to develop efficient and effective plans, programs and institutions concerned with children to ensure the survival, safety and development children and to protect them from all forms of violence and exploitation as well as to ensure their participation in activities appropriate to their age.
The Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry said that the State of Qatar regarded the interactive dialogue with the Committee as a reciprocal process that would enhance mutual understanding. "We found that working with your esteemed committee as well as other monitoring committees and the useful dialogue represents a source of encouragement to move forward towards ensuring the rights and objectives. And we consider access to reports by the committee a valuable opportunity for us to identify the strengths and weaknesses in order to continuously improve our internal practices," he said while at the same time appreciating the interactive dialogue taking place in an objective, transparent, non-selectivity and in a constructive approach that avoids confrontation and politicization.
Al Hammadi added that the presented report is the result of coordination and cooperation in the field of monitoring the implementation of the agreement between all parties concerned with children. It was prepared by a national committee formed by the Council of Ministers in May 2012 under the chairmanship of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (at that time) and several other government agencies including the Foreign Ministry, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Interior (juvenile police department), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, Qatar Armed Forces, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Public Prosecution (family prosecution and juvenile prosecution). The Committee also included other parties such as the National Human Rights Committee, the Qatar Foundation for the Protection of Women and Children (at that time), and the Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking (at that time), the Qatar Orphans Foundation, and the General Authority for Minors Affairs.
The Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry pointed out that the permanent constitution of the State of Qatar and related legislation guaranteed the right of the child to access health care, education, social and economic protection and comprehensive protection from various types of violence and exploitation, adding that the State has witnessed in recent decades huge achievements in the building and expansion of the primary health care network and health care centers which helped in delivering health services to all the country's population. Education has expanded at all levels of education stages to become accessible to all children, he said, adding that Qatar attained also a great achievement in living conditions and more forms of economic well-being for all categories of society. 
HE Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed out that these achievements reflected an important and positive development in the indicators of childhood and motherhood, the most prominent of which are the low level of childhood mortality, high enrollment rates in all levels of education for both males and females and high level of social care services. 
He added that the State of Qatar has made remarkable progress in the child's physical, health and educational well-being where more than 95% of infants under the age of one year have received all kinds of basic vaccines. 
The infant mortality rate in Qatar has improved considerably over time, falling from 10 deaths per 1000 in 2000 to about 4 to 6 deaths in 2015. Mortality rates have also improved from 1 to 4 years, from 2 to 3 in 2000 to 1to 6 in 2015 for children under five years of age. The enrollment rate of Qatari children aged between four and five years old in kindergartens are about 95.4% in 2015, and as for juveniles, the number of beneficiaries of the programs of supervision, care and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents sponsored by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs increased from 247 in 2011 to 571 in 2015. 
He emphasized that the issue of children's rights had received considerable attention in the National Development Strategy 2011-2016, which included sectoral strategies and programs for the implementation of Qatar National Vision 2030. These include the strategy of the family cohesion sector and the empowerment of women, the health sector strategy, as well as the Social Protection Sector Strategy, which were addressed in the joint report before you and in the State's responses to the list of issues submitted by your esteemed Committee, and many of the programs and initiatives included in it have been implemented for children, HE Dr. Al Hammadi underlined. 
HE Dr. Al Hammadi noted that many institutions for the rights and protection of children have been established in the period following the submission of the joint report by the State such as the Qatar Foundation for Social Work (QFSW) which was established in 2013 with the aim of developing the civil society organizations working under its umbrella, by strengthening their capacities and activating their role in the society, based on the Qatar National Vision 2030, the principles of human rights, and the international conventions and conventions related to social work ratified by the State of Qatar. 
The QFSW supervises the following institutions and centers: Social Protection and Rehabilitation Center, Family Counseling Center, Orphan Care Center, Elderly Care Center, Shafallah Center for People with Disabilities, Center for Social Development, and BEST BODIES. 
He said that among the efforts of the State to promote and protect human rights is the decision of the Cabinet at its Ninth Ordinary Meeting of 2017 held on 1/3/2017 to approve the formation of the National Governmental Committee for Preparing the National Plan of Action for Human Rights as well as the Cabinet's decision No. (15) of 2017 on forming a national committee to combat human trafficking. 
He noted that the State of Qatar had paid great attention to international cooperation and has scoffed at its human and financial resources in this regard. On this basis, Qatar has been providing development support to developing and least developed countries around the world. The humanitarian and development assistance (governmental and non-governmental) for the benefit of 100 countries around the world, especially the least developed countries provided by Qatar, during the period 2011-2015, amounted to QR13.1billion , he said. 
HE Dr. Al Hammadi added that the State's contributions were not limited to providing humanitarian and developmental assistance, but also included international humanitarian and development initiatives. The State of Qatar has launched a number of initiatives, such as the 'HopeFor' initiative, the Protection of Education in Conflict Areas (Silatech), Reach Out to Asia (ROTA), and the Child Science Initiative. This development support, he said , has contributed to achieving numerous developmental, economic and social goals of these countries, including the promotion of children's rights in health and education. 
Concluding, HE Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi affirmed that the State of Qatar looks forward to an extensive, constructive and useful dialogue with the Committee on all issues relating to Rights of the Child. 

Source: QNA