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UN warns of rights violations in Qatar crisis

June 15, 2017 at 11:10 am

People queue for flight details during a land, sea and air blockade applied by the GCC countries, at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar on 12 June 2017 [Ahmed Youssef Elsayed Abdelrehim/Anadolu Agency]

Gulf States should respect human rights in the midst of the Qatar crisis, UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein warned yesterday.

“I am alarmed about the possible impact on many people’s human rights in the wake of the decision by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar,” the UN official said in a statement.

“It is becoming clear that the measures being adopted are overly broad in scope and implementation, and have the potential to seriously disrupt the lives of thousands of women, children and men, simply because they belong to one of the nationalities involved in the dispute,” the UN official added.

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He said that the three Gulf States involved in the crisis with Qatar had issued directives to deal with the humanitarian needs of the members of mixed-marriage families and their children, but noted that these measures were inadequate.

He also expressed concern with the news that the UAE and Bahrain will take punitive measures against their citizens who show sympathy with Qatar.

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“I am also extremely troubled to hear that the UAE and Bahrain are threatening to jail and fine people who express sympathy for Qatar or opposition to their own governments’ actions,” he said, stressing “this would appear to be a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression or opinion”.

The UN official called for solving the crisis peacefully in a way that does not have a negative impact on the lives, freedom, work and welfare of all citizens.