Qatar human rights ‘inhumane’: Jameela Salman

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The human rights issue in Qatar is characterised by inhumanity as it tends to hide behind organisations that it has established and financed to cover up its miserable situation in this field.

This was according to the Second Deputy Chairperson of the Shura Council, Jameela Salman, as he spoke during the Bahrain TV’s “Special Programme” recently. The programme exposed Qatar’s gross human rights violations against its citizens and expatriate workers.

Salman said that Doha has paid huge bribes and sums in the form of donations to foreign institutions in order to whitewash its human rights image, noting that it tends to attack countries by making allegations of human rights in them in an attempt to distract international public opinion from its violations in the human rights field.

Salman stressed that reports of human rights organisations and the US State Department prove that the human rights violations in Qatar have become horrific at all levels, and have been exposed to the world, despite Doha’s attempts to show off its fictitious achievements in this field by issuing laws or regulations or creating bogus institutions, without a real application of the values of protecting and promoting human rights.

She pointed to the violations that Qatari citizens are subjected to, whether in terms of freedom of opinion, the freedom to practice religious beliefs or women’s rights, as well as the violations against Qatari tribes, such as Al Ghufran and Al Murra, including the revocation of citizenship, confiscation of property and their deprivation of the most basic human rights such as the right to health, in addition to the grave human rights violations that foreign workers in Qatar are subjected to.

The Shura Council’s Second Deputy Chairperson also touched on Qatar’s sponsorship and financing of terrorism, being one of the biggest violations of human rights as it poses a threat to international peace because terrorism results in depriving people of the rights of security and life, which are among the rights stipulated in human rights documents.

Suffering from inequality

Regarding women, Salman asserted that contrary to Doha’s claims, Qatari women are not empowered, and do not enjoy their full rights, as they suffer from inequality and the absence of social justice, and are treated as not fully-competent citizens in legislation and daily practices.

In this context, she cited the remarks of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention during their visit to Qatar and the reports of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which indicated that Qatari women under the age of 25 cannot exercise their civil rights, such as signing contracts, leaving the homes of their relatives, or travelling outside the country without the consent of their male guardians.

Added to this, Qatari women cannot obtain driving licenses or join a government job without the consent of male guardians, which confirms that Qatari women are subject to guardianship in their most basic rights.

The situation of foreign workers, who account for 95% of the workforce in Qatar, is no better, she said, noting that they have been subjected to a large number of grave human rights violations and have fallen victims to the Qatari labour system, which is characterised by exploitation.

In this regard, she cited the international reports that have exposed the massive violations suffered by foreign workers participating in building the facilities related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.