The fabricated Gulf crisis was aimed to harm the people of Qatar, break down their will and subject the country to the will of others, infringing upon its sovereign decisions. However, the outcome of that has gone in a direction that is not desired by those planned and imposed the siege on Qatar on June 5, 2017.
Contrary to the wishes of blockading countries, the crisis triggered the public energy and discovered unexpected potential of the Qatari youth in different fields, creating new realities on the ground to re-affirm that Qatar is a force that is difficult to subjugate or infringe its sovereign decisions.
There are hundreds of examples proving this fact, at national and individual levels, but one of the vibrant examples is of human rights advocacy whose positions, credibility, visions and performance not only impressed the locals, but also regional and international community.
Since the imposition of the unjust siege on Qatar, the National Human Rights Committee (QNHRC) has played a crucial role in stopping the violations of human rights by siege countries. For the second year of the ongoing siege, the QNHRC kept urging United Nations and concerned human rights organisations to assume their responsibilities to stop human rights violations resulting from the continued blockade and unilateral coercive measures imposed on Qatar.
The committee not only expressed its hope to stop these violations, but carried out outstanding efforts to document siege related grave violations to human and called for compensating the victims and hold those responsible accountable.
The Qatari position against the violations of human rights is not limited to the violations related to the Gulf crisis but also took strict stances advocating rights of peoples in countries engulfed by war and political crisis such as Syria, Yemen, Libya and the ongoing construction of settlements and the unjust siege on Gaza.
The NHRC’s achievements and contributions to the defence of human rights issues in Qatar and the region, and its efforts and international moves to face the blockade imposed on Qatar and its credibility was appreciated by the international community and this culminated in the nomination of the committee to chair three leading positions through election that took place during the General Assembly meeting of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).
The three positions assigned to the Chairman of the NHRC, Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri in GANHRI are vice-president, secretary and member of the bureau.
To gain the confidence of the GANHRI means that QNHRC is in full compliance with the Paris Principles, appreciation of the international organiSations and recognition of its efforts and contributions in defending human rights issues.
NHRC has become a model for human rights institutions in the region and the world as it is the only one in the GCC to receive an ‘A’ status from GANHRI, after following a rigorous accreditation process, and supervision.
