The Ministry of Interior pavilion at Darb Al Saai.
The Ministry of Interior continued its achievements in preserving and enhancing security and peace in the country, according to a comprehensive strategic vision that absorbs the current challenges on the global security scene, and responds to the upcoming requirements, and with a clear vision that aspires regionally and internationally leadership.
The achievements of the Ministry of Interior for the year 2019 were in line with its strategy for the period 2018-2022, which includes ambitious goals that the Ministry set to keep pace with the current situation in its various dimensions, and respond to future development benefits, as well as an optimal preparation for securing the FIFA World Cup 2022, which was set as the main goal of the strategy.
Those achievements included various axes, whether related to further reducing crime rates, or related to traffic situation, drug protection, and coastal and border security, and the security and safety of facilities, protection from disasters, and other accomplishments that positively reflected on the indicators of the State of Qatar at various levels. On the level of crime rates, the country has witnessed a significant decrease in statistics of security-related crimes compared to the global level, especially with regard to major crime reports at the level of specialized and geographical security departments.
Statistics confirm the low rates of committing major crimes in the State of Qatar compared to global safety rates, despite the increase in the population within the country during the past years, the vast majority of crimes recorded in security departments were simple crimes.
As a result of these achievements, Qatar ranked first in the world in terms of security and safety, according to the Global Annual Crime Index Report 2019 issued by the World Database Encyclopedia Nambio, out of 118 countries included in the evaluation.
Nambio Encyclopedia is one of the largest and most famous databases on the Internet, which is concerned with assessing the level of crime and the degree of safety in the countries around the world, by measuring the rates of committing premeditated murder, robbery, rape and other forms of crime.
The State of Qatar has maintained its supremacy in this global indicator since 2015, to remain the first in the Arab world throughout this period, in addition to its advancement to the first position in the world in 2017 and 2019, which reflects the constant level that the state has enjoyed in the field of security, surpassing that of many major and developed countries worldwide and the region.
The State of Qatar topped the list of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region in the Global Peace Index and was ranked 31 out of 163 countries included in the report of the Global Peace Index for 2019 issued by the Institute of Economics and Peace in Australia, where Qatar’s progress in this indicator came despite the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East region that made the world less secure, according to the index. The Global Peace Index relies on a number of criteria, including the level of security and safety in society, local and global conflict, the degree of military power supply and other indicators.
In the traffic sector, the State of Qatar recorded a new world record in decreasing road traffic deaths, which reached 4.9 deaths per 100,000 people last year, compared to 5.4 recorded in 2017 while expectations indicate that the rate will continue to decline during the current year 2109.
Traffic death rate in Qatar has continued to decline since 2008, which recorded 230 deaths, at a rate of 12 cases per 100,000 people of the population, to continue to decline over the past eleven years, with a decline rate of 59.2 percent, with a slight fluctuation in only two years during this period.
In an indication of its excellence in the traffic sector, the State of Qatar deserved this year the award for the best global project in the management of traffic safety and sustainable transport in the competition of the Freight Transport Association in Britain. Qatar also won the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.
In the area of drug control and community protection from this scourge, the Ministry of Interior and the relevant authorities have tightened their procedures and raised the level of international coordination with countries that have the highest attempts to smuggle narcotic drugs as more points of contact have been activated to exchange information and coordinate international issues and then thwarting drug smuggling operations before entering the country.
With regard to securing coasts and borders, the Ministry of Interior this year launched the new headquarters of the General Directorate of Coasts and Borders Security at Al Daayen Naval Base, which is the largest in the country, to enhance maritime security operations, prevent smuggling and illegal immigration, and develop search and rescue operations, and other specialties that the base undertakes.
In 2019, the administration continued its efforts to raise the level of capabilities and enhance its operations by supplying the administration with marine parts and long and medium-range boats, as well as specialized boats for rescue, special missions, and other equipment.
The administration also carried out many maritime exercises with the aim of raising the level of readiness of coast and border security personnel, and covering and securing the safety of seaports, by arranging fixed and mobile maritime patrols within the ports areas, tightening control across the nation’s shield system and conducting joint exercises to find out the readiness and speed of response.
In the sector of guarding and securing establishments, the Ministry of Interior recorded a great success in securing the various events hosted by the state during the current year, from conferences and forums and regional and international sports competitions, to prove the State of Qatar’s superior ability to secure crowds and manage major events.
The General Directorate of Civil Defense continued its efforts to enhance security and safety in the installations, carry out rescue missions, and organize inspection campaigns on vital installations to ensure their compliance with security and safety standards.
The department recently inaugurated (13) modern fire trucks, as part of efforts to modernize and develop the fleet to keep pace with the urban development taking place in the country and in line with the strategy of the Ministry of Interior 2018-2022, especially the security and safety sector.
In the field of planning and development, the Ministry of Interior continues to work in accordance with its strategy for the years 2018-2022, which outlines work mechanisms, plans, programs and projects to achieve sectoral results for the security and safety sector, and in line with the significant expansion the country is witnessing at various levels.
In terms of capacity building, the Ministry of Interior has strengthened its training plans for the current year, keeping in mind the upcoming benefits, on top of which will be the country hosting the 2022 World Cup.
In this context, the Ministry celebrated this year the graduation of the first batch from the Police College, the graduation of the first and second batches from the Ras Laffan Emergency and Safety College, and the increase in the number of scholarships to study in civil and military colleges inside and outside the country, and raising the pace of training workshops at the Police Training Institute, and raising the level of capabilities in the field of information security.
The Ministry of Interior in the technical sector achieved during the two years 2018-2019 important achievements, including the completion of the inauguration of a number of operating rooms of the security departments and linking them to the main operations room at the National Command Center and linking the security coverage system to streets with surveillance cameras, and linking the meteorological system with the central operating room besides completing a number of other security systems that enhance security in the country.
The State of Qatar won the first place and the gold medal in the field of security systems during the 11th International Invention Fair in the Middle East (IIFME), which was hosted by Kuwait in February of this year. Qatar also won the Excellence in GIS Awards in July 2019 from the American ESRI Institute.
These advanced security indicators had their role in Qatar occupying high ranks in a number of economic indicators, in which the security component plays an important role, including achieving it second regionally and tenth globally ranking in the Global Competitiveness Index for 2019 out of 63 countries issued by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland.
