Qatar tells ICJ: UAE violations against Qataris ‘unprecedented’

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had committed “unprecedented” violations against Qatari citizens since the Gulf crisis erupted more than three years ago, Doha’s legal representative said on Wednesday.

“In 2017, the UAE began unprecedented discriminatory measures that violated the human rights of Qataris,” Mohammed Al-Khulaifi said, adding that the UAE severed ties with Qatar overnight, and singled out Qataris for discriminatory treatment.

According to Al-Khulaifi, Emirati authorities collectively expelled Qatari residents and prevented others from entering their territories as part of an organised incitement campaign.

“The UAE has violated international law by interfering in the internal and external affairs of other countries by demanding Qatar to shut down the Al Jazeera channel and stop diplomatic and military relations with some countries, which are unjustified and unacceptable demands,” he said, adding that the UAE’s actions against Qatari citizens are at the core of the evil that the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has been designed to combat.

Earlier on Monday, the UAE representative denied that his country had practiced any discriminatory actions against Qatari citizens, saying the ban that Abu Dhabi imposed on the entry of Qataris was later amended.

The two countries are currently appearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as part of the 2018 case filed by Qatar against the UAE accusing it of breaching the CERD as well as of creating a “climate of fear” for Qataris living in the Emirates.

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