Qatar contributes to international efforts to address COVID-19 pandemic: Lolwah Al Khater
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar has been stressing the need for international solidarity and combined efforts to overcome the challenge.
Upon the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the country has generously given medical as well as financial aid to over 80 countries in need of support to battle COVID-19.
As the country continues its humanitarian efforts in this regard, Her Excellency Assistant Foreign Minister and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater has highlighted that Qatar's strategy is based on three basic axes.
These are: protecting citizens and residents by strengthening the health sector, providing the necessary support to the economic sector to reduce the pandemic's negative effects, and contributing to international efforts to address the pandemic by providing support to needy countries and concerned international organizations.
HE Al Khater mentioned this during a high-level segment of the 46th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday.
At the session, the Assistant FM drew the attention of the international community to the importance of ensuring that Palestinians in the occupied territories receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Qatar reminded international community that providing COVID-19 vaccine to Palestinians in occupied territories is a responsibility of occupation authorities before international law. This came in Assistant FM speech before UNHRC.https://t.co/N1EzjllFHrhttps://t.co/GJvWrWuVED pic.twitter.com/asvwzas7xN
— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) February 22, 2021
She said this "is one of the responsibilities of the occupation authorities before international and humanitarian law and that their disavowal of this responsibility can only be understood as an apartheid regime that must be condemned and denounced," according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
She also spoke about Qatar’s consistent efforts to improve human rights conditions under the country’s National Vision for 2030.
In this light, Qatar has been able to successfully meet several sustainable development goals, HE Al Khater said, adding that in recent years the country has reached high positions at the level of the countries of the region in human development reports.
Qatar climbed to the top of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa in the ranking of the 2020 Global Peace Index. It was also ranked first in the Arab world in the index of the most secure and peaceful societies, and has secured the highest level of women's participation in the workforce in the region with 58.3 percent, the official highlighted.
The country's decision to hold the first elections for the Shura Council, in October this year and its focus on modernizing the legislative system to advance worker's rights were also included in HE Al Khater's speech.
She also spoke about Qatar's acceptance of the Al-Ula Declaration saying that the country "welcomed this agreement out of its firm conviction that constructive dialogue is the way to resolve differences by peaceful means based on the rules of international law, the principles of good neighborliness, and respect for sovereignty and independence of states."
HE Al Khater also highlighted various other regional issues including those that affect the people of Palestine, Syria, Libya, and Yemen.
The full statement by MOFA is available here.
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Source: MOFA
