Qatar rejects US rights report

Andrews
By Andrews

A top official at the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has slammed a report of the US Department of State on Qatar’s record in human rights as “politicised” and “full of wrong information”.
NHRC secretary general Ali al-Marri said the report has ignored the progress made by Qatar on its human rights record.
“The US report, whether this year’s one or the previous years reports, include lots of wrong information that does not reflect the reality of human rights situation in Qatar, al-Marri said yesterday at a press meet to announce an anti-human trafficking awareness campaign.
?We are not much concerned with the American report. At the end it is issued by a single state, even if it is a super power.
?We only consider the reports issued by the international organisations and the UN.?
Al-Marri added that the report has nothing to do with the right criteria for monitoring human rights issues.
“We know the report is mainly based on the information provided by the US embassy in Doha. But I met with some officials at the US embassy here and they told me that the embassy gives the right information, but the US State Department shows only what it wants to show,” Dr al-Marri said.
Qatari Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking director general Mariam al-Malki denied that the campaign is in response to the US report, reiterating that the campaign had been planned earlier.
On human trafficking in Qatar, al-Malki blamed such cases on the “countries of origin of the workforce coming to Qatar”.
“There might be some unlawful practices, but there is no organised human trafficking crime. The crime is committed in the countries from where the victims buy visas at very high prices after false promises given to them.Al-Marri hailed the new sponsorship law, saying it included many ?steps forward by introducing further mechanisms for sponsorship transfer through the Minister of Interior and the labour department if the sponsor is proven to have behaved in an arbitrary fashion.
“The pervious law was putting both the sponsorship transfer and exit permits solely in the hands of the sponsor. This is not the case now as the Ministry of Interior can also issue exit permits under specific circumstances,” he added.
However, al-Marri hoped that more teeth can be added to the law to create a balance between the rights of the employees and the employers.
The anti-trafficking campaign, to be held jointly by the NHRC and the al-Malki?s Qatari Foundation, will seek to educate people on the crime of trafficking in persons as well as ways to combat it.
“There would be seminars, lectures and TV programmes till the end of the month. We will also hold a meeting with the head of the diplomatic missions whose countries export workforce to Qatar,” al-Malki elaborated.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=276690...

By Andrews• 4 Mar 2009 11:24
Andrews

ngou...thanks for the link

" Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated"

....G.B. Shaw

By ngourlay• 4 Mar 2009 11:09
Rating: 2/5
ngourlay

LINK IS HERE > > >

It's the report on Human Rights published by the US State Dept last week. Received no coverage in Qatar. In fact, it was only the story in the Gulf Times this morning that prompted me to go looking for it. They would have been better off not mentioning it, and it would have been missed completely.

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119125.htm

By nicaq25• 4 Mar 2009 09:47
nicaq25

by CIA - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/qa.html#Issues

"I do live by the motto that pessimists are usually right, but all the great change in history was done by optimists" -Thomas Friedman

By The rock• 4 Mar 2009 09:36
The rock

Well said and explained jackmohan

------------------------------------------

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

By anonymous• 4 Mar 2009 09:19
anonymous

Exit Permits are like Region Code for DVDs....they dont serve the purpose and are a burden for genuine people....

...the fraud people take bank loans and go on emergency leave...and never come back.....then they go to Dubai ....Do the same thing.....then they go to some other country....

A fraud is a fraud where ever he goes!!!

Same is the case of a hacker...who is able to bypass the Region CODE in DVDs no matter where he is or what code the DVDs are while the genuine customer can use his DVD in only one country/continent and one DVD Player.

Also Exit permit & Sponsorship/NOC transfer prevent the demand-supply market to address itself thereby attracting average quality labour at high prices.

The Region Code has prevented the DVDs from becoming a rage in spite of Ease of use, multi format playing capability, ease of storage, long life, no degradation, high quality & sound. All these were not the case with VHS Tapes!!! Region Code has in fact hampered the sale of DVDs and DVDs sell at high prices...unlike the VHS tapes.

By tallg• 4 Mar 2009 08:52
Rating: 3/5
tallg

I think this is six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Qatar definitely has human rights and human trafficking issues, but they do seem to be making steps in the right direction. However, they don't always seem prepared to admit how bad the problems are, which is one reason why they always reject these reports from the US.

The other reason they reject the reports is because it seems the US really don't do their research and tend to just cut and paste from the previous years report, without paying any attention to the improvements Qatar has made.

By anonymous• 4 Mar 2009 08:30
Rating: 3/5
anonymous

every country has the right to refuse entry to non-nationals but refusing exit once they have allowed them in is imprisonment!

Yes if they have overstayed in the UK they may have to pay a fine and they may be denied entry in future but they will not stop them leaving to return to their own country

By GodFather.• 4 Mar 2009 08:22
Rating: 4/5
GodFather.

Free movement is like on the Corniche.. Not an entry and exit of into a country.. Every country has some rules and immigration polices when people enter and leave the country.. Now in the UK they has started checking passport of people leaving the country in case they have overstayed ..

-----------------

HE WHO DARES WINS

By anonymous• 4 Mar 2009 08:19
Rating: 5/5
anonymous

sign up to the UN Convention on Human Rights in which one of the articles states you should not limit the movement of people. They must be in breach as an exit permit system enshrined in law prohibits the free movement of individuals.

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